Tour of the Gold-fields 237 



money enough to get back with, and that nothing 

 would induce them to settle here. They have 

 unfortunately not seen the lower part of the valley 

 and what lies about Los Angeles and to the south- 

 ward — that is the flower of California. 



April zgth. Alas, is it for good or for bad 

 luck, that I have just learned that Layton and 

 myself cannot travel with safety across the country 

 here, as below, on account of the ill-will of the 

 Indians, and that a party of less than six will be 

 unsafe up and across the middle fork of the Amer- 

 ican River. How stories of Indians are told to 

 every traveller. Though often near them, I have 

 never found any who were not greater cowards 

 than myself, and we leave today for Sutter's Mills, 

 Georgetown, etc., in good health and spirits. 



May 4th. Coloma. "Sutter's Mills" is about 

 fifty miles [distant], nearly east of Sacramento. 

 The road to it after passing the first four or five 

 miles runs through a sandy soil, covered at present 

 with what we call "sneeze-weed." There is no 

 water, until after leaving the river, American 

 Fork, we crossed a pretty little "spring branch" 

 as it would be called in Louisiana. The grass is 

 sparse and poor along the whole route, and the face 

 of nature looks like August in the eastern states, so 

 completely that as the refreshing cool breezes come 

 to us each morning, I almost fancy it is the first of 

 September. But in the valleys and on the hillsides 



