Tour of the Gold-fields 203' 



settled by the diggers, and the law is enforced by 

 an alcalde. Many is the week's work, the men 

 say, when they do not get the price of their board, 

 and again large amounts are found. One indi- 

 vidual told me he was getting two ounces a day, 

 and gave his claim up, to join a company in digging 

 out the bed of a river which they had drained ofif. 

 He worked a month at the river scarcely making 

 two dollars a day, while the man who bought his 

 first place, had accumulated several thousands. I 

 have heard fifty such stories, but as a whole this 

 country will pay the laborer and the mechanic 

 better than the miners, unless the latter have cap- 

 ital. Had we come my route and reached here 

 with a hundred mules, a fortune could soon have 

 been made by packing. But, alas! against my 

 better judgment I allowed myself to be swayed by 

 Col. Webb, who had his own way at the cost of 

 twenty-seven thousand dollars, thirteen lives, and 

 the loss of many months to all the men who came 

 through. 



Chinese Diggings. February 1st, 1 8^0. Friday, 

 and a most beautiful day; birds all around are in 

 gay chatter, and the song of the raven, jay-like, but 

 sweet to listen to, from the attempt at softness, as 

 he ncfds and bows with swelling throat to his mate. 

 It is like March in Louisiana. Alas for the poor 

 fellows who have left the southern states to come 

 to this, and settle here as farmers; to be drowned 



