68 



HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



upon a productive sand ; but very often, indeed, those 

 who adopt this mode of gold washing toil long at bar 

 ren soil before they discover the uselessness of labor 

 ing thus arduously. 



" I noticed, that although the largest proportion of 

 the gold obtained in this manner presented the appear 

 ance of a fine powder, it was interspersed, here and 

 there, with large scales of the precious deposit, and 

 with a few solid lumps. The metal was of a dingy 

 hue, and, at a cursory view, might easily have been 

 mistaken for particles of yellow clay, or laminae of 

 stone of the same color. The Sonomeans placed the 

 product of their labor in buckskin bags, which were 

 hung around their necks, and carefully concealed 

 inside of their shirts. They work in this fashion at 

 the mines in their own country ; but I doubt if any 

 other than a native constitution could very long bear 

 up against the peculiar labor of ' dry-washing' in such 

 a climate and under such difficult circumstances. I 

 felt half tempted to try the process myself, for the 

 surface of this sandy bed was literally sparkling with 

 innumerable particles of the finest gold, triturated to 

 a polish by the running of the waters as I conjec 

 tured ; but I soon discovered how fruitless my efforts 

 would be. Had I possessed any chemical agents at 

 hand, however, I might soon have exhausted the bed 

 of its precious contents, and should, doubtless, have 

 realized an immense weight of the metal of the very 

 purest quality. 



" I may as well mention here, that of the various 

 new machines manufactured and sent out to Califor 

 nia for the purpose of digging and washing gold, the 

 great majority have been found quite useless. There 

 are two or three of them, however, that have been 



