452 THE CALIFORNIA GOLD MIXES. 



Jerusalem. Mr. Humboldt expressed the pleasure lie 

 had derived from his acquaintance, and wished to know 

 whether the Captain was aware that he had put his name 

 in the last volume of the recent edition of the work, The 

 Aspects of Nature. This is in connection with the account 

 of the Captain's visit to Popocatepetl. lie then showed 

 us the English translation of this work by Mrs. Sabine. 

 "The name of Colonel Fremont happening to be men- 

 tioned, Humboldt spoke in high praise of his contribu- 

 tions to geographical science, and thought it unfortunate 

 he had returned as a prisoner by the very road which he 

 travelled as an explorer. He thought the day would 

 come when Col. Fremont's works would be much better 

 appreciated than at present. He expressed the opinion 

 that the probable produce of the Californian gold mines 

 had been over estimated, for that up to the present time 

 the yield had been much less than that of the Russian 

 mines, the latter having often produced annually thirty 

 millions of dollars. No such large pieces had been 

 found in California. One solid piece of eighty pounds 

 had been found in ."Russia, and many of forty, thirty, 

 twenty, and sixteen. He was surprised that no platina had 

 been found. These are only a few of the remarks made 

 in a conversation, which he, of course, conducted almost 

 without remarks on our side. He seems to have an 

 inexhaustible store of facts, and to be accurately informed 

 about everything and everybody. His friend said, after 

 we came away, that the way to hear him to the greatest 

 advantage was to ask his opinion on any given point, 

 when his wonderful knowledge would be brought to bear 

 upon it in a manner most satisfactory to any sceptic as to 

 the extent and minuteness of his information. We left, 



