ast the principal
diggings. It was a fearfully wild spot--mountains on all sides, almost
destitute of trees, with the river running between them; the ground in
every direction was full of burrows, as if the habitation of rabbits;
but the chief work was going forward by the banks of the river, where
hundreds of men were labouring away from morn till night with very
varied success. My partner and I set up a hut; it was a wretched
affair, but not worse than many others; then we turned to with eager,
beating hearts. We dug and washed hour after hour, but, toil as we
might, we had not, at the end of the day, obtained more than would pay
our expenses; sometimes not so much. We toiled on. We had no choice;
we must find gold or starve. With the cold wind descending from the
mountains at night, and the chill fogs; the hot sun by day striking down
on our heads while we stood up to our knees in water--no wonder that all
suffered more or less from ague and fever. Many died from disease, some
went mad, some committed suicide. There was no one to care for them, no
one to mourn them; bowie-knives were in constant requisition, murders
frequent. One day I heard shots fired, and ran to see what was
occurring. Some strangers, that is, natives of various countries, had
trespassed on the ground claimed by a company of Americans. Without
giving any warning, the latter assembled and fired on the new-comers,
killing several; then rushing on them with bowie-knives, axes, and
revolvers, they desperately wounded or killed several more, putting the
rest to flight. `There, I guess they'll not try it on again,' I heard
one of the victors say, as he kicked the dead body of one of the
conquered party. I could describe many other similar scenes. At night
we always slept with our pistols under our pillows, and our knives at
our sides, ready to start up at a moment's notice. Several successful
diggers were murdered for the sake of their wealth, and others were cut
off by Indians, while prospecting beyond the chief diggings.
Altogether, I don't think that any place on earth could have been more
like Pandemonium than were those Californian diggings at the time I was
there, for I have not mentioned half of its horrors and abominations. I
resolved to get out of them. An unexpected run of success gave me the
means; the news of the discovery of gold in Australia expedited my
movements. My partner agreed to share my fortunes. We got back to San