CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. MANTELL. 225 



produce ; but there are results of deep interest which may 

 grow out of it, that may prove a compensation, at least, to 

 California. Although a considerable part of the popula- 

 tion that has gone and is going to California, may be of the 

 class of those who clustered around David when he was a 

 hunted and hated exile, when " every one that was in dis- 

 tress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that 

 was discontented, gathered themselves unto him "and no 

 doubt they will muster, in California, not only David's four 

 hundred, but more, probably one hundred times that num- 

 ber, still, there will be found among them no small pro- 

 portion of excellent men, with the best principles, habits, 

 and views. Many such have gone from this place and from 

 other parts of New England, and they will, I trust, prove a 

 pioneer pilgrim band which, like that which peopled these 

 Northern States, will establish good institutions and laws, 

 and remain behind and possess the land. You will see, in 

 the January number, the views of Mr. Dana, who has seen 

 the country, and if he is correct, the gold may not be soon 

 exhausted ; but the people cannot live upon gold, and many 

 will, we trust, find it more comfortable, and in the end, not 

 less profitable, to bend their backs to agriculture, and thus 

 draw from those rich valleys wealth more enduring than 

 that of the auriferous sands.* 



FROM DR. MANTELL. 



Aprill^ 1850. 



I AM, indeed, much gratified and affected by the 



affectionate and just tribute to the departed excellence you 

 have to deplore ; but your separation can be but for a brief 

 space, and your reunion will endure forever.f How con- 



* I received last evening a printed expose of a projected railroad from 

 Memphis in Tennessee, on the Mississippi, to California, 1500 miles. If it 

 is ever attempted, it must be as a national road, by national resources, and 

 be maintained in the same way. 



t The reference is to the death of Mrs. Silliman. F. 



VOL. II. 15 



