^02 JOURNEY TO THE GOLD MINE OF 



he had turned all our saddles out of his house, and 

 for some little time he would not speak to me; 

 however, I insisted that he should point with his 

 finger where the saddles were, and accordingly I 

 found them on the ground, outside a little hut, in 

 which was one of the miners cooking our supper: 

 however, we had slept so long in the open air, 

 that it was of little consequence. I must do this 

 man the justice to say, that though he was na- 

 turally a sulky fellow, he had intended to do right. 

 He wished to have done the honours of his hut 

 to strangers, and he accordingly gave the Cornish 

 miner some eggs, but the man intending to pay 

 for them, honestly told him there were not half 

 enough, which the landlord considered as a breach 

 of politeness. 



While I was sitting on a horse's head, writing by 

 the blaze of the fire, I saw two girls dressing for 

 the ball. They were standing near a stream of 

 water, which was running at the back of the hut* 

 After washing their faces, they put on their gowns^ 

 and then twisting up their hair in a very simple* 

 pretty way, they picked, by the light of the moon, 

 some yellow flowers which were growing near them^ 



