HISTOHY OF CALIFORNIA. 77 



humanity, all the finer and noble attributes of our 

 nature seemed lost, buried beneath the soil they were 

 eagerly delving, or swept away with the rushing waters 

 that revealed the shining treasure." 



This extract is suggestive of considerable reflection. 

 The same amount of attention given to any pursuit 

 must produce results equally as satisfactory as that 

 given to gold-seeking. But gold carries with it such 

 obvious enjoyments to the grosser minds, that the 

 pursuit of it alone can attract their attention sufficiently 

 to effect any thing considerable. Could the pure 

 enjoyments connected with the practice of virtue be 

 made as obvious to all minds, the result would be 

 something at which the philanthropist might rejoice. 



The extremes of heat and cold, during the summer, 

 in the valleys and canons of the gold region, are very 

 remarkable. From nine o'clock in the morning till 

 five in the afternoon, the heat is almost intolerable. 

 The sun's rays pour down through an atmosphere 

 clear and dry, and their power is increased by reflec 

 tion from the sides of the canons and mountains, and 

 from the surface of the streams. During the night, 

 the air becomes so cold as to render blankets very 

 serviceable. This is caused by the waters of the different 

 streams rising during the night, their volume being 

 increased by the melting of the snows of the Sierra 

 Nevada, by the heat of the previous day. 



Thousands of Indians, belonging to the Snake, 

 Shoshonee, and Crow tribes, are at work at the mines. 

 They are generally employed by some of the wealthy 

 white men, and are paid in provisions and a sort of 

 liquor made from California grapes, ' called pisco. 

 What money or gold they get for themselves is spent 

 in gambling a vice to which they are most excessively 



