passenger from the Sandwich Islands to Sydney, and subsequently to England;—other papers, written by different hands, and a few pieces of quartz containing gold. From the, length of time that has elapsed since, the owner is probably dead, and there can be no harm in my putting the contents of these papers into the form of a brief narrative.
Among the earliest arrivals at San Francisco, after the discovery of the existence of gold in California, was an Englishman named Rawlinson, and his two sons, Arthur and Geoffrey. All three were of great height and strength, and many a man who saw them walking along the streets together would have been glad to have joined them in their gold-seeking operations. At this time the city had a large number of miners in it who had been successful at the diggings, and the sight of these men squandering their money in the most wasteful manner, and indulging in the wildest debauchery so inflamed the minds of people with the desire to become rich with equal rapidity, that it was only by paying enormous wages that a servant could be kept even for a month or two, at the end of which time, having sufficient money to purchase the requisite tools, he would start off in search of gold. The Rawlinsons were anxious to get a man whom they could trust, to go up with them for the purpose of preparing their food and taking care of their tent; but they soon saw that this was impracticable, and, like others in similar circumstances, they gave up the idea, and determined to do the best they could for themselves. They bought two mules to carry their baggage, as being likely to be of more service to them than a vehicle, and, in company with a number of others, they set out for the “placers.” Although they had no objection to travel with others, any more than others had to travel with them, up to a certain point, yet on reaching this point they most of them separated, each party taking its own course, anxious, if they made a discovery, to have the entire benefit to themselves. With the help of a tolerable map and a compass, the Englishmen managed to direct their course pretty well in the direction in which they had decided on going, the region which they were bent on reaching having been selected from their belief that it was the place referred to by an old traveller as abounding in gold, which he said, “lay about there in lumps like stones in other parts of the world.”
Travelling among the mountains of the Sierra Nevada was very difficult, and their progress was very slow, but this last they thought of little moment, because it gave them an opportunity of examining the nature of the rock and the earthy deposits as they went. Journeying on and on, day after day, they came to a narrow valley or gorge in the mountains, about a hundred yards in width, and with a little stream of water winding through it, most beautifully transparent. Contrary to what might have been expected in such a region, the banks of the stream were covered with rich vegetation, which must have been fed by the moisture condensed on the sides of the mountains i trickling down during the night and early morning. The mules had by this time become so worn and bruised by excessive hard work and falls, that but for this unexpected Goshen they must soon have died; the family decided, therefore, on spending as many days here as they might find necessary to bring the animals into good condition, and to explore the valley until they had satisfied themselves whether it was auriferous or not. There being nothing to kindle a fire, they suffered greatly from the cold the first night, much more than when they had slept in more exposed places, which they supposed to be owing to the cold vapour in the atmosphere; but by moving a few hundred yards higher up the valley they found a pine wood, which enabled them to sleep in comfort, and also gave them protection from the attacks of wild beasts, in the event of there being any in the wood. That there were animals of some kind they knew, from indications scattered thickly round; but this was cheering rather than otherwise, for the flour and meat they had started with was nearly exhausted. The first thing they did after discovering the wood, was to fell one of the pines, strip off the larger branches, and after pointing the ends, drive them into the ground in a circle, so as to form a shelter for the mules and themselves at night against the attacks of bears. As for any other kind of molestation, they never thought of it; the solitude they had experienced since they had entered the mountains had prepared them for any amount of isolation, and nothing would have surprised them more than the sight of a human being. The day they began their exploration, they kept together for mutual protection, and had the good fortune to meet with a bear, which had either never seen a man before, or was over-confident of his powers, for he raised himself on his hind quarters, and never offered to run away. They shot him; and as he was much too heavy to carry, they rolled him into the stream, and thus dragged him easily along to the place where they had camped. Their minds being now at ease on the score of food, they gave themselves up fully to the business which had brought them there, and the following morning each took his hammer and his gun, and commenced an independent search for gold. On this day the father was the only one of the party who was in any degree successful; the sons returned with aching arms, only to say that they had not met with the slightest trace of the metal. The discovery made by the elder Rawlinson was merely a block of granite, which exhibited a few specks of gold, but as these sometimes indicated a large quantity of the metal within, it was not to be passed over without further examination. The granite was of a white colour, with a reddish tinge here and there, and excessively hard, so that they had to work a long time before they were able to satisfy themselves that it was not sufficiently rich to make it worth quarrying. Such disappointments as these are not at all unusual in prospecting, and soon cease to be felt as such. When they had given all the time necessary for examining the rocks within a convenient distance of the place where they had camped, they reloaded their rifles, and ascended the valley a few miles, where they again camped,
