to receive ladies, and it was only after some persuasion,
and as a favor to me, that they consented to let me come. They intend
soon to build a handsome house, for it is thought that this valley will
be a favorite summer resort for people from the cities below.

The American Valley is one of the most beautiful in all California. It
is seven miles long and three or four wide, with the Feather River
wending its quiet way through it, unmolested by flumes and undisturbed
by wing-dams. It is a superb farming country, everything growing in the
greatest luxuriance. I saw turnips there which measured larger round
than my waist, and all other vegetables in the same proportion. There
are beautiful rides in every direction, though I was too unwell during
my stay there to explore them as I wished. There is one drawback upon
the beauty of these valleys, and it is one peculiar to all the scenery
in this part of California, and that is, the monotonous tone of the
foliage, nearly all the trees being firs. One misses that infinite
variety of waving forms, and those endless shades of verdure, which
make New England forest scenery so exquisitely lovely. And then that
gorgeous autumnal phenomenon, witnessed, I believe, nowhere but in the
Northern States of the Union, one never sees here. How often, in my
far-away Yankee home, have I laid me down at eve, with the whole earth
looking so freshly green, to rise in the morning and behold the
wilderness blossoming, not only like the rose, but like all other
flowers besides, and glittering as if a shower of butterflies had
fallen upon it during the silent watches of the night. I have a vague
idea that I "hooked" that butterfly comparison from somebody. If so, I
beg the injured person's pardon, and he or she may have a hundred of
_mine_ to pay for it.

It was at Greenwood's Rancho that the famous quartz hoax originated
last winter, which so completely gulled our good miners on the river. I
visited the spot, which has been excavated to some extent. The stone is
very beautiful, being lined and streaked and splashed with crimson,
purple, green, orange, and black. There was one large white block,
veined with stripes of a magnificent blood-red color, and partly
covered with a dark mass, which was the handsomest thing of the kind I
ever saw. Some of the crystallizations were wonderfully perfect. I had
a piece of the bed-rock given me, completely covered with natural
prisms varying in size from an inch