m I have written, requesting him to
transmit the package to England by one of the monthly steamers. This
will save you a heavy charge for postage, which, I dare say, you would
not thank me for.

You can't conceive, my dear brother, how often I have wished you were
out here with me. Your engineering talents would have been invaluable
in inventing some method of procuring the gold dust, or rather of
separating it from the soil, which would have been much more effectual
than the rude way in which we went to work. At the same time, I am now
thankful you are at home. It is easy to get gold here, but it is very
difficult to keep it. In fact, after all, the affair is a hazardous
lottery; and those who may succeed in getting off with their pounds of
gold dust and flakes to Europe, or to the States, will be the few who
will win the great prizes.

In my diary, you will find a very detailed account of our various
operations and successes. The first place we made for was on the south
bank of the Americans' River, and when the Lower or Mormon diggings, as
they are called, got over-crowded, we marched off further up the river,
which soon divides itself into two branches, forming the North and
South Forks. We reached the saw-mill, where the discovery was first
made, and worked there some time; but finding inconveniences in the
way, and hearing of another station, we started again. This new place
is called Weber's Creek, and sometimes Rock Creek, and is a small
stream running into the North Fork of the river. We being upon the
southern bank of the South Fork, and Weber's Creek running into the
North Fork at the north bank, we had to ford both branches of the
stream to get to our new station, which we found very productive; the
gold being more plentiful than in the lower diggings, and discovered in
short veins, and in lumps amongst the rocks of the neighbouring
ravines. We should probably not have gone any further than Weber's
Creek--I sincerely wish we had not--but a good deal of fever and ague
got about. The sun was terribly hot in those deep valleys all day, and
the nights chill and damp. After some weeks here, then, we got
restless, and set off once more, directing our course three days'
journey to the north, to a place upon the Bear River, where we were led
to expect not only plenty of gold, but a better temperature and a
healthier climate. It was after we reached Bear Valley that our
reverses began. It is utterly a savage countr