MINING LAWS. 69 



To be a good miner requires strength and moral 

 energy. One must know a little of several handicrafts, such 

 as digger, stone-cutter, ploughman, bricklayer and wood- 

 cutter, be able to resist the intensity of the sun's rays, the 

 humidity of the dew and rain, and so forth. In fact it requires 

 a fine constitution and the habit of hard working, as well as 

 to be able to fight against the Indian or others, for the preser- 

 vation of one's property. 



No other title is required than possession. Everyone has 

 a right to forty five feet in length on the bank of the river or 

 elsewhere with the power to follow the gold vein as far as it 

 goes in the adjacent hills. For a larger site, it requires the 

 association of several individuals. In the quartz mines, no 

 special rule is fixed about the size of the claim for each indi- 

 vidual. Property exists as long as work is resumed. But if 

 work is entirely abandoned during ten days, anyone can take 

 possession of it. To this simple and rational system is due 

 the extraordinary extent of the excavations on all sides. 



Soon after the discovery of gold, all sorts of bad characters 

 from all countries invaded the mines. Robberies and murders 

 were very frequent, in consequence of which committees of 

 public safety were formed and the Lynch Law was applied 

 with excessive severity. In a very short time, judgment and 

 execution were carried out. 



But as a rule a cordial understanding existed between all 

 the miners. Close together you found representatives of all 

 countries, American, Indian, German, Russian, French, 

 English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, etc. The latter is the 

 most patient, the French the gayest, the German, American 

 and English the most industrious and obstinate. Never before 

 has such a cosmopolitan work as that of the Californian mines 

 ever been seen, and there is no doubt that the discovery of 

 gold in California opened a new era in the history of the 

 world. 



As I shall have to write ag^ain about California in des- 

 cribmg my second voyage to that countrv, in 1877, I shall 

 leave it for the present, and continue the relation of my 

 travels. 



