244 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



stantly up hill, and down again. A man who is well off 

 to-day, may go to bed to-morrow evening without a cent 

 in his pocket. Some weeks ago I considered myself a 

 well-to-do miner; to-day I can hardly afford to offer a 

 smoke to my friends, who come to see me in my tent. But 

 it must be a. long road that has no turn; if it is "up hill" 

 now, it certainly must go "down hill" sooner or later. I 

 mean to keep cool and to do all I can. If I only can keep 

 in good health now; of the rest I shall take care. 



There is still considerable sickness here, but the tem- 

 perature is improving; now and then we see rain clouds, 

 and — what is very pleasant — nearly every day at about 

 noon, we have a strong wind from the north, moderating 

 the heat and purifying the atmosphere. 



On our wingdam we shall probably not work again. 

 Two of our company have died of fever, and all the rest 

 of us are down with it yet, with the exception of myself 

 and another— an American. Our prospect, too, was so 

 poor, and we have to dig so deep for the gold, that it 

 will not repay us. 



But let us turn now to something more pleasant, — to 

 your dear letters. You ask me several questions which 

 I will now answer. 



First let me thank you, my dear father, for the kind 

 advice you give me, based on your own experiences dur- 

 ing your campaigns. Such things we soon learn here 

 from one another; the whole life of a Calif ornia miner is 

 nothing else but a campaign. If he has a claim which 

 gives him work for any length of time, he generally lives 

 in a tent; drives four low posts into the ground, nails to 

 these two pieces lengthways and two across; on these he 

 nails a few potato sacks, and thus he has a solid bed- 

 stead. Only when he is traveling or prospecting he 

 sleeps out in the open. 



But you and all of you may rest perfectly tranquil. I 

 know too well what a blessing it is to enjoy good health, 

 and how easy it is to get careless in regard to it. It needs 

 no admonishing about that, because our work here is 

 already dangerous enough to health and limbs; besides, 

 there is no escaping the inevitable. 



