GOLD MINE OF CAKEN. 



After inspecting the old holes which had been 

 worked on the lode, and gazing with great interest 

 at the Pacific, which was apparently hanging in the 

 air beneath us, we descended the side of the rock, 

 sometimes upon hands and knees, for about three 

 hundred and fifty feet, until we came to the hut 

 where we had slept. The situation of this hut was 

 singularly perilous. The path which ascended to 

 it from the plain was so steep, that in riding up we 

 constantly expected to tumble backwards over the 

 tails of our mules ; and when we got near the hut^ 

 the muleteers declared that it was altogether im- 

 possible to proceed, and this was so evident, that 

 we dismounted and scrambled over the loose stones 

 until we got to the hut. 



The mine had not been worked for a hundred 

 years, but it was now for sale. The hut had been 

 just built, and a couple of miners ordered to live in 

 it. A small space had been scarped out for the 



