118 fHE FOGY DAYS AND NOAV ; 



they would sometimes resort to racing, not horse racing, for a 

 horse cannot be got down into that abyss alive, nor could a 

 race track be secured in that rouo-h reoion ; not foot racinof 

 for even a man had to pick his way down there, yet the boys 

 had racing, "kritter racing;" the racers were "body kritters." 

 The boys would select from their persons the best bred of 

 these little fleet footed fellows, put them in a tin plate, push a 

 coal of fire behind them, when around the track they would 

 gallop at an astonishing pace to those unacquainted with the 

 sport, till the third, or any number of rounds agreed upon by 

 the bettors, and of course the foremost "kritter" won the race. 

 Often large bets were made on these pets, and some of them 

 have frequently been known to win their weight in gold 

 dust. 



Californians did not regard these little "kritters" with the 

 prejudice and disgust that seems general in the Eastern States. 

 These body "kritters" were simply unavoidable in the California 

 camps ; they were indigenius to the soil and climate, and indeed 

 usage and customs have much to do with our likes and dislikes 

 in different parts of the world. The French like horse steak^ 

 the Chinaman rat pies, the Dutch dog sausage, the cannibal 

 human flesh, and the American eats the filthy hog. In the 

 California diggins in those days, if one of the boys were asked 

 "what's the matter — fleas?" He would invariably reply, 

 "No, I'm not a dog, its nothing but a louse ; " but we will not 

 dwell longer on a subject so repugnant to our present country 

 men. 



The mining section of California seems to have been an ele- 

 vated plateau intermediate between the Nevada mountains 

 and the lower plains adjacent to the Pacific Coast, and the 

 heavy winter rains causing the torrent streams in their descent 



