HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 59 



to bend mj hack to pick up one of the pieces, and had 

 decided on not doing so, when, further on, another 

 glittering morsel caught my eye — the largest of the 

 pieces now before you. I condescended to pick it up, 

 and to my astonishment found that it was a thin scale 

 of what appears to b.e pure gold.' He then gathered 

 some twenty or thirty similar pieces, which on exami- 

 nation convinced him that his suppositions were right. 

 His first impression was, that this gold had been lost 

 or buried there by some early Indian tribe — perhaps 

 some of those mysterious inhabitants of the West, of 

 whom we have no account, but who dwelt on this con- 

 tinent centuries ago, and built those cities and tem- 

 pleSj the ruins of which are scattered about these 

 solitary wilds. On proceeding, however, to examine 

 the neiojhborinf' soil, he discovered that it was more or 

 less auriferous. This at once decided him. He mounted 

 his horse, and rode down to me as fast as it would 

 carry him, with the news. 



"At the conclusion of Mr. Marshall's account," 

 continued Captain Sutter, " and when I had convinced 

 myself, from the specimens he had brought with him, 

 that it was not exaggerated, I felt as much excited as 

 himself. I eagerly infjuired if he had shown the gold 

 to the work people at the mill, and was glad to hear 

 that he had not spoken to a single person about it. 

 We agreed," said the Captain, smiling, " not to men- 

 tion the circumstance to any one, and arranged to set 

 off early the next day for the mill. On our arrival, 

 just before sundown, we poked the sand about in 

 various places, and before long succeeded in collecting 

 between us, more than an ounce of gold, mixed up 

 with a good deal of sand. I stayed at Mr. Marshall's 

 that night, and the next day we proceeded some little 



