74 
CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATED. 
until its very sides would quake. ¥e finally prepared to ad¬ 
journ for dinner, took out the screen, put the contents of our 
machine in a pan, and commenced to wash out the dirt, which 
required some time, then walked up to dinner. On our arrival 
at the tent, we weighed the gold, and found it worth one dollar. 
As it was our first day in the mines, we resolved to dine on 
pork, a favorite dish in California. We cut a quantity into 
slices, put it into the frying-pan, laying on it a quantity of sea- 
biscuit, filling the pan with water, and covering it with a tin 
plate. We kept it on the fire until the water evaporated—it 
was then ready for use. Our coffee, in the mean time, was boiled 
in the tin coffee-pot. Seating ourselves on rocks in front of 
the tent, we expressed our appreciation of the swine tribe in 
unmeasured terms. We take a respite of an hour, and return 
to our labor. We are anxious to get down to the granite, 
as we are sure of finding there a rich deposite. Towards even¬ 
ing we struck the granite, and were within reach of a fortune, 
deposited here by nature for our express benefit. As it was late, 
we resolved to wash down what we had in the machine, and 
prepare for a successful effort on the following day. On our 
arrival at the tent, we found “Harry” and “Sam,” stretched 
out on the ground, groaning with fatigue, declaring that they 
had never worked so hard before, nor would they again. They 
had seen enough of the mines, and were determined to return 
to Sacramento. After telling them of the brilliant success that 
was about to attend our efforts, they agreed to remain another 
day. We had pork for supper, and spent the night in dreams 
of luxury. After an early breakfast we were again at our 
“lead.” We were particular to scrape the granite, as we 
uncovered it, and after running through ten buckets, we raised 
the screen ; to our surprise, we were doing no better than on the 
previous day. This we could not account for. The only 
solution was, that the gold had never been there, and why, we 
could not divine. It had the same appearance as the General's 
lead, which was paying the three from fifty to eighty dollars 
per day. 
We worked on for some time, when “Bent” went up to cook 
the dinner, (we had resolved to have pork,) and I took the 
pick, shovel, and pan, and went “ prospecting.” After walking 
