--

tale, when first told, appeared to be one of those fables for which that part of the world has become celebrated; and it was not for some time credited, that the precious metal in dust and lumps was to be obtained in great quantities, without the aid of tools or any implements, by whoever was on the spot to gatherit. The matter gradually became better authenticated. A well-informed American journal says: "From the various accounts that have been received from California from time to time, within the last eight months or a year, we think there is little room to doubt that that newly acquired territory of the United States is rich, to an extraordinary and almost unparalleled degree, in mineral resources. We were not disposed to place much reliance on the first statements which we got thence, because the finding of gold among the sands of rivers, in such large quantities as were represented, is altogether unprecedented. Instead of the accounts first received thence being exaggerations, they were, if the intelligence recently received from that country is to be credited, rather within the truth. The excitement in that territory on the subject is increasing, too; old and young, male and female, the halt, and we verily believe the blind, too, are on their way to the land of promise and gold, cup and tin kettle in hand, to avail themselves of the riches so unexpectedly developed. The men of the sea vie with those of the land in pursuit of the treasure-the occupant of the bench is capsized in endeavouring to outrun the sheriff; the lawyer jostles against his client; the farmer and mechanic throw aside their implements, and there is nothing but a busy, exciting

race, each on his own account, and the devil take the hindmost, to reach the gold region first, and to be the first in reaching the rivers, among the sands of which they find the object of their pursuits. This picture is not too highly coloured. It is beyond all question that gold, in immense quantities, is being found daily in this part of our territory, and that every pursuit of trade or business is abandoned. If the product is as great as it is represented to be, and the trouble of gathering it so slight, it will effect great changes in the value of precious metals all over the world."

The extent of the district, or the probable value of the treasure discovered, is not yet ascertained, and it is not the province of this "CHRONICLE" to do more than record the fact and the wonderful excitement which followed its announcement. Another account says:

"Adverting, in the first place, to the facts of the case, we find that those now before us fully confirm the previous statements. The supply of the precious metal'now precious' no longer-is declared by intelligent eye-witnesses to be literally inexhaustible, and the American assayers find that the quality of the gold is not inferior to its quantity. The consequence of this discovery is a complete revolution of society. Innumerable bands of emigrants are hastening to the scene of action from all parts of the American continent, from the Canadian districts especially; and, to borrow a comprehensive phrase of a local writer, the whole country is now moving on the mines.'

are drained of their male inhabitants, and a stranger arriving at any of those cities would suppose he had arrived among a race of women, who, by some anomalous provision of nature, multiplied their images without the presence of the other sex. Every bowl, tray, warming-pan, and piggin have gone to the mines-everything, in short, that has a scoop in it that will hold sand and water. All the iron has been worked up into crowbars, pickaxes, and spades. And all these roll back upon us in the shape of gold. We have therefore plenty of gold, but little to eat, and still less to wear.

"Every seaport as far south as San Diego, and every interior town, and nearly every rancho, from the base of the mountains in which the gold has been found to the mission of San Luis, south, has become suddenly drained of human beings-Americans, Californians, Indians, and Sandwich Islanders; men, women, and children, indiscriminately. Should there be that success which has repaid the efforts of those employed for the last month during the present and the next, as many are sanguine in their expectations, and we confess to unhesitatingly believe probable, not only will it witness the depopulation of every town, the desertion of every rancho, and the desolation of the once promising crops of the country, but it will also draw largely upon adjacent territories-awake Sonora, and call down upon us, despite her Indian battles, a great many of the good people of Oregon.

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At present the people are running over the country and picking it out of the earth here and there, just as a thousand hogs, let loose in a forest, would root up ground

nuts.

Some get eight or ten ounces a day, and the least active one or two. They make the most who employ the wild Indians to hunt it for them. There is one man who has 60 Indians in his employ; his profits are a dollar a minute. The wild Indians know nothing of its value, and wonder what the pale faces want to do with it; they will give an ounce of it for the same weight of coined silver, or a thimblefull of glass beads, or a glass of grog; and white men themselves often give an ounce of it, which is worth at our Mint 18 dollars or more, for a bottle of brandy, a box of soda powders, or a plug of tobacco. As to the quantity which the diggers get, take a few facts as evidence :I know seven men who worked seven weeks and two days, Sundays excepted, on Feather River; they employed on an average 50 Indians, and got out in these seven weeks and two days 275 pounds of pure gold. I know the men, and have seen the gold, and know what they state to be a fact-so stick a pin there. I know 10 other men who worked 10 days in company, employed no Indians, and averaged in those 10 days 1500 dollars each; so stick another pin there. I know another man who got out of a basin in a rock, not larger than a washbowl, 2 lbs. of gold in 15 minutes; so stick another pin there. Not one of these statements would I believe, did I not know the men personally, and know them to be plain matterof-fact men-men who open a vein of gold just as coolly as you would a potato hill.'"

"Thus far the gold has been obtained in the most primitive manner, by washing the earth in tin pans, wooden bowls, Indian

baskets, &c. The average, I am told, has been 16 dollars per day for each man engaged, and the deeper the soil is dug the richer it becomes. One man obtained over 30 dollars in one washingsay 15 minutes. I was told by an old miner that not more than onehalf of the gold is secured in the present rude careless way of working. With a proper machine and the use of quicksilver, double the amount could be taken from the same soil. The largest amount taken by one person in one day was 200 dollars. The pieces are of an extraordinary size, the largest weighing half an ounce. The mountains have been explored on every side, and gold found in every creek. It is the opinion of all, that 30,000 or 40,000 persons could be profitably employed on the ground now explored. Nor is gold the only mineral discovered here. Platina has been found in one place in some considerable quantity; and very extensive mines of silver ore have recently been discovered within five miles of the saw-mill, and are said to be very rich. Iron is also abundant, and

will pay

about 85 per cent."

As the wonders of the "gold diggings" became known, the most ungovernable excitement seized the minds of mankind, and the rush thither from all parts of the world was unparalleled. The whole coasts of South America, the colonists of Australia and New Zealand, the Spaniards from Luconia, Malays and Chinese precipitated themselves on to the desired spot. In England ships were fitted out for emigrants, and by joint-stock

speculators by scores, companies were formed, many tradesmen sold their goods and embarked as adventurers for the new El Dorado. In the United States the insanity was more irrepressible. Strange to say, the people of these States are further from their own province than almost any other of the emigrating nations. The nearest route from New York is down to the Isthmus (30 days), across to Chagres, and thence to San Francisco, (3700 miles), but this is at the best a journey of some months; although there is no difficulty in getting to the Isthmus, there are no conveyances beyond, and there the adventurer is stopped in mid course in a deadly region. The next course is round Cape Horn (17,000 miles); this is a voyage of seven months. The other course is across the deserts; but this route of 2000 miles from the frontier point can be performed only by stages of 15 miles a day, and is, in fact, not practicable for parties of more than ten or a dozen, so that an adventurer starting from London would get to California in less time and for less money than one from New York. Nevertheless, ships in hundreds were shortly to be seen flying down the coast of South America on the double voyage; and it is computed that the immediate emigration to the auriferous province will not fall short of 50,000 persons. Thus Divine Providence turns the avarice of mankind to the most beneficent purposes, and peoples desert places, and brings strange lands under the blessings of civilization.