200 Audubon's Western Journal 



January 7th, 1850, as we had a cold northeast 

 drizzle, we lay by, and the following morning, 

 January 8th, left for our destination, the Chinese 

 Mines. Many of the views before us, as we 

 mounted hill after hill looking towards the moun- 

 tains, are very beautiful park-like country; the 

 roads are a series of mud-holes and quicksands at 

 this season, and the trees, either swamp, or post-oak, 

 with occasionally a fine ridge of a species of live- 

 oak. At times we had to pack the cargoes of the 

 weaker mules, every few hundred yards, and at one 

 place, had nine mules mired at the same time, the 

 mud being so tenacious that even when the packs 

 were taken ofif, the poor animals could not get out 

 without our help. Three days of such travelling 

 brought us to our present camp, the soil red clay 

 and sand, mixed thinly with white quartz of var- 

 ious sizes, but generally small, not more than two, 

 or at most, three inches in diameter, and generally 

 even smaller. 



[No date.] We went up to the "diggings"^ on 

 the morning after our arrival, and looked round to 

 see what prospects were ahead of us. We found 

 the little branches bored, and pitted, and washed 



^ There is a map of the mining camps in H. H. Bancroft's 

 History of California^ vol. vi, pp. 368-369. Topographical 

 details are given in the "Claim" sheets, issued by the United 

 States Geological Survey. The inset in the map of Audu- 

 bon's route, at the end of this volume, is intended to locate 

 only the places visited by him. 



