GOLD MINES OF LA CAROLINA. 6S 



their value, but these poor people (accustomed to 

 change gold for silver) all shook their fingers in 

 my face, and in different voices exclaimed " No 

 vale nada," (gold is worth nothing,) and among such 

 wild mountains, the great moral truth of their as- 

 sertion rushed very forcibly into my mind. 



I offered them the piece of four dollars for what 

 they only asked two and three dollars, but they 

 would not. take it ; and we had hardly silver 

 enough among us to remunerate our landlord for 

 the board and lodging which he had afforded us. 



Our horses which we had brought from San 

 Louis were caught, and put into the corral the 

 evening before we left the town, and they had con- 

 sequently nothing to eat all that night. 



The following day, as I have stated, we rode 

 them sixty miles, and as it was then too late to 

 turn them out, they were kept by the peon in the 

 yard all that night. 



The next day while we were inspecting the mines^ 

 they were turned out for four or five hours to 

 graze among stones and rocks, where there was ap- 

 parently nothing for them to eat, and they were 

 then brought into the yard, where they remained 



