GOLD MINES. 369 



a traitor, convicted, and hung on the 19th July ! 

 What curious individuals one does sometimes meet 

 far away from home I 



There were two mines within easy reach, the one 

 breaking up from forty to fifty tons of quartz daily, 

 the other only seven to eight ; each ton, I understood 

 the owner to say, yielding about three ounces of gold, 

 or in the proportion of one in ten thousand, which, in 

 California is considered a good return. The depth at 

 which these mines were worked was 600 to a 

 1,000 feet, but the number of men employed below 

 was inconsiderable, — I think sixteen in the smaller 

 works ; labour is dear, fifty to sixty dollars a month 

 besides board. A common, slatternly servant girl I 

 noticed at the manager's cottage got thirty dollars 

 monthly wages. Since my return I have heard that 

 both these mines have been sold to companies for very 

 large sums of money. 



After a good deal of discomfort during my mountain 

 journey which had occupied several days, I was glad to 

 get into more open country. Bower's Estate was my 

 next halting place ; it belonged to a Frenchman who 

 had been a settler in these regions for many years, and 

 who undoubtedly swears by California ; he has a large 

 family around him, and farms thousands of acres re- 

 quiring very little help, excepting during harvest-time, 



BB 



