HISTOBY OF CALIFORNIA. 173 



ing gold has cropped out, and been disintegrated, 

 crumbled to fragments, pebbles, and dust, bj the 

 action of water and the atmosphere. The gold has 

 been left as it "was made, in all imaginable shapes ; 

 in pieces of all sizes, from one grain to several pounds 

 in weight. The evidences that it was created in 

 combination with quartz are too numerous and striking 

 to admit of doubt or cavil. They are found in com- 

 bination in large quantities. 



" A very large proportion of the pieces of gold 

 found in these situations have more or less quartz ad- 

 hering to them. In many specimens, they are so com- 

 bined they cannot be separated without reducing the 

 whole mass to powder, and subjecting it to the action 

 of quicksilver. 



" This gold, not having been exposed to the attrition 

 of a strong current of water, retains, in a great 

 degree, its original conformation. 



" These diggings, in some places, spread over val- 

 leys of considerable extent, which have the appear- 

 ance of an alluvion, formed by washings from the ad- 

 joining hills, of decomposed quartz and slate earth, 

 and vegetable matter. 



" In addition to these facts, it is, beyond doubt, 

 true that several vein-mines have been discovered in 

 the quartz, from which numerous specimens have been 

 taJien, sho"sving the minute connection between the 

 gold and the rock, and indicating a value hitherto 

 unknown in gold-mining. 



" These veins do not present the appearance of 

 places where gold may have been lodged by some 

 violent eruption. It is combined with the quartz, in 

 all imaginable forms and degrees of richness. 



" The rivers present very striking, and, it would 



15* 



