HISTORY OF CALIFOKNIA. 



65 



in this part, though formerly so much frequented ; and, 

 with the exception of a few traders, who, having taken 

 up their station here when times were good, had not 

 yet made arrangements for removing to a more pro 

 ductive place, not a soul was to be seen. 



" I walked on until I reached the trading-post of 

 Mr. Anderson, formerly our interpreter in the Lower 

 Country, whom I felt delighted to meet with again. 

 His shed was situated in one of the dampest parts of 

 the mine, and consisted of a few upright poles, tra 

 versed by cross-pieces, and covered in with raw hides 

 and leaves, but yet much exposed at the sides to the 

 wind and the weather. He had a few barrels of flour 

 and biscuit, which he retailed at two dollars a pound ; 

 for he made no difference between the price of the 

 raw and the prepared material. The flour would go 

 further, it was true ; but then the biscuit required no 

 cooking on the part of the miner, whose time was 

 literally money, and whose interest therefore it was to 

 economize it in every possible manner. . He also sold 

 unprepared coffee and sugar at six Yankee shillings a 

 pound ; dried beef at one dollar and a half ; and 

 pork, which was regarded as a great delicacy here, at 

 two dollars for the same weight. The various articles 

 of which his stock-in-trade consisted he had brought 

 all the way from Monterey at considerable labor and 

 expense ; but, by the exercise of extraordinary tact, 

 perseverance, and industry, he had succeeded in esta 

 blishing a flourishing business. 



" I discovered, however, that he possessed another 

 resource by which his gains were marvellously in 

 creased in the services of seven or eight Indians, 

 whom he kept constantly at work, in the rear of his 

 shed, digging gold, and whose labor he remunerated 

 6* 



