S04 CALIFORNIA AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 



' Right under the craft there,' is the reply. ' And what do 

 you ask for it?' ' Fifteen thousand dollars.' ' I'll take it.' 

 ' Then down with the dust.' So the water lot, which mortal 

 eyes never yet beheld, changes its owners, without changing 

 its fish. 



" ' I have two shares in a gold-mine,' cries another. 

 4 Where are they?' inquire the crowd. 'Under the south 

 branch of the Yuba River, which we have almost turned,' is 

 the reply. 'And what will you take?' 'Fifteen thousand 

 dollars.' 'I'll give ten.' 'Take it, stranger.' So the two 

 shares of a possibility of gold, under a branch of the Yuba, 

 where the water still rolls, rapid and deep, are sold for ten 

 thousand dollars, paid down. Is there anything in the ' Ara- 

 bian Nights' that surpasses this ? 



" But glance at the large wooden building which looks as if 

 the winds had shingled it, and the powers of the air pinned its 

 clapboards in a storm. Enter, and you find a great hall filled 

 with tables, and a motley group gathered around each. Some 

 are laying down hundreds, and others thousands, on the turn 

 of a card. Each has a bag of grain-gold in his hand, which 

 he must double or lose, and is only anxious to reach the table 

 where he can make the experiment. You would advise him at 

 least to purchase a suit of clothes, or repair his old ones, 

 before he loses his all ; but what cares he for his outward 

 garb, when piles of the yellow dust swell and glitter in his 

 excited imagination? Down goes his bag of gold — and is 

 lost ! But does he look around for a rope, or pistol, that he 

 may end his ruin ? No : the river-bank where he gathered 

 that gold has more ; so he cheers his momentary despondency 

 with a strong glass of brand} 7 , and is off again for the mines. 

 He found the gold by good fortune and has lost it by bad, and 

 now considers himself about even with the world. Such is 



