220 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



It looks now as if we were going to have continued fair 

 weather. If this should be so, I shall soon again have 

 some money in my pocket. Since my last letter (April 

 5th) I have paid all my debts,* and have about thirty 

 dollars left— not much, but it is something— at any rate 

 better than nothing. 



I do not know yet if I shall remain all summer on this 

 bar; to be honest I must confess that the delight of travel- 

 ing makes me restless again; I shall be guided by circum- 

 stances. To determine here upon a trip of — say — three, 

 four or five hundred miles, and to start upon it is usually 

 all done within an hour; all a man has to do is to roll up 

 his blankets, and with a couple of shirts and an ax, and 

 his rifle on his shoulder he is ready to rove through Cali- 

 fornia in any direction. I am thinking of going to the 

 Trinity river, a tributary to the Klamath in Oregon. The 

 river is rich and has been mined but little ; a great many 

 are afraid of the climate; the winter there brings snow 

 and ice. 



Ere I finish this I glance again at your letter. You 

 ask me, my dear father, if the sun has not bronzed me 

 considerably and add that that would form a nice con- 

 trast with my blond hair. Yes— I am bronzed consid- 

 erably, but— I am sorry to say— the contrast is not 

 very pleasing, because the color of my sunburnt skin 

 is of such an infernal dirty yellowish hue that anywhere 

 in Europe I would be suspected of not having touched 

 soap and water for at least six months, and that is any- 

 thing but pleasant. 



Thanks for the latest news from papers. How glad I 



Through an inundation caused by a rapid rising of the river 

 (the Yuba rose about 15 feet) the writer lost all he had, and 

 was even in danger of losing his life during several hours. To 

 supply himself again with the most indispensable things at exorbi- 

 tant prices however, a rocker at 24 dollars, a shovel at six, a pick 

 at four and one-half dollars, and everything else at the same 

 rate ; and having been severely hurt on his right foot and thereby 

 confined to bed for several weeks, the writer of the letter was 

 compelled to borrow some money. 



