76 ^ HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



heated to a very high degree the air in the interior 

 of the box. Into this the patient screws himself, and 

 there remains until a profuse perspiration is produced, 

 which is checked suddenly bj a plunge into the chilly 

 waters of the river. This is of the nature of a Thomp- 

 sonian remedy. 



The absorbing interest with which the gold-seekers 

 proceed in their work is admirably depicted by one 

 of the adventurers, in a book published after his 

 return.* 



" Arriving on the har^ the scene presented to us 

 was new indeed, and not more extraordinary than 

 impressive. Some with long-handled shovels, delved 

 among clumps of bushes, or by the side of large rocks, 

 never raising their eyes for an instant ; others with 

 pick and shovel worked among stone and gravel, or 

 with trowels searched under banks and roots of trees, 

 where, if rewarded with small lumps of gold, the eye 

 shone brighter for an instant, when the search was 

 immediately and more ardently resumed. At the 

 edge of the stream, or knee deep and waist deep in 

 water, as cold as melted ice and snow could make it, 

 some were washing gold with tin pans or the common 

 cradle rocker, while the rays of the sun were pouring 

 down on their heads, with an intensity exceeding any 

 thing we ever experienced at home, though it was but 

 the middle of April. 



" The thirst for gold and the labor of acquisition 

 overruled all else, and totally absorbed every faculty. 

 Complete silence reigned among the miners ; they 

 addressed not a word to each other, and seemed averse 

 to all conversation. All the sympathies of common 



* Sights in the Gold Region, or Scenes by the Way, by Theodore 

 T. Johnson. 



