372 



PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT AND LAW. 



they could not subsist on gold, and that after the first deposits were 

 gathered in the most accessible regions, it was necessary for them 

 to wander farther and farther from the coast settlements, until they 

 were lost in the lonely and barren glens of the mountains. There, 

 at the approach of winter, they found themselves without the means 

 of comfort or support. In the meanwhile, however, the news of 

 the discovered El Dorado crossed the continent, and although its 

 marvels were regarded by many as fabulous, there were others who 

 resolved at once either to abandon their homes for the wilderness 

 or to despatch valuable cargoes whose enormous profits would ab- 

 sorb the miner's wealth. 



Under these mingled temptations of trade and discovery, an im- 

 mense immigration, chiefly of males, poured into California, not 

 only from the United States but from Oregon, Mexico, Chili, Peru, 

 China and the Sandwich Islands, all of whom soon saw the neces- 

 sity of once more subdividing human labors into their ordinary 

 channels as well as proportions; and thus, while commerce took 

 the lead in the ports and warehouses, mechanical and professional 

 pursuits equally assumed their relative importance, and partly re- 

 stored the endangered balance of society. 



Within a year after this wonderful discovery, the Californians felt 

 that they were no longer outlying colonists of the American Union, 

 requiring pecuniary support from the mother State and military 

 protection against savages. Their lot was strangely reversed in the 

 history of distant settlements, for wealth had been secured in ad- 

 vance of inhabitants and trade. Gold, a large population, and re- 

 constructed social relations, brought w T ith them the necessity for 

 firm, fixed constitutional government. The fermenting elements of 

 a motly society were effervescing, and the substratum of order and 

 civilization was rapidly chrystallizing. The dollar dulled the bowie 

 knife. Immense fleets, arriving from all parts of the world, poured 

 large revenues into the national coffers. Intelligent and industrious 

 men thronged the towns that sprang up, as if by enchantment, 

 at every advantageous point. All the great mercantile interests 

 were rapidly developed. Property in land and moveables become 

 suddenly valuable beyond the hopes or dreams of the early settlers. 

 Discussions arose as to titles and rights. Spanish laws, uncertain 

 in their character or sanction, and American laws of doubtful appli- 

 cation, were hastily enforced by judges whom the wants of the 

 time summoned to the bench from uncongenial pursuits to adminis- 

 ter justice in courts which were quite as incongruously constructed. 



