the account of their property was taken by
the Government for the purpose of extortion and seizure. The Apaches
have committed no depredations of late, but the Navajoes have broken
their treaty by stealing several thousand sheep from the settlements on
the Rio del Norte.

In the Utah Territory the Mormons have temporarily settled the question
of slavery, by leaving it to the choice of the slaves themselves. If the
slave chooses to leave his master, there is no power to retain him; if
he chooses to stay, no one is allowed to interfere.

Our news from California is to the first of January. The steamers
Carolina and Columbus sailed from San Francisco on that day, with 330
passengers and about $1,500,000 in gold dust. Business was very dull,
both in the ports and inland towns of California, and the trading
communities among the mines. The immense shipments of goods which had
arrived from the Atlantic States had produced a complete stagnation in
the market, bringing many kinds of merchandise below cost prices. After
the first showers of the rainy season, early in December, the miners
withdrew to the dry diggings, when the rains ceased, and three or four
weeks of clear and delightful weather left them without employment. The
richest localities are very thickly populated, the miners having built
themselves log-cabins and organized communities for the winter. On parts
of Feather river, the American Fork, and the Mokelumne, Tuolumne, and
Mariposa rivers, the diggings were still yielding a good return. New
discoveries of rich veins of quartz-bearing gold continue to be made. A
mine of silver ore, of a very rich quality, is reported to have been
discovered in the neighborhood of Monterey. A company is being formed at
that place for the purpose of working the mine upon an extensive scale.
The Sacramento papers state that a large mine of lead, in an almost pure
state, exists near Johnson's Ranche, about thirty miles from that city.
The ore is represented to lie on the surface of the earth, in heavy
masses, so that vast quantities could be obtained without sinking a
shaft.

On the evening of December 14th another fire broke out in San Francisco,
in a large zinc building owned by Cooke, Baker & Co. By the exertions of
the firemen and the citizens the conflagration was subdued, after
consuming this building and three or four others of less value. The
large building belonging to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company was in
the utmost da