ation. This was by the side of
a dried-up water-course, through which, in the wet season, a small
rivulet joined the larger stream; we did not, however, immediately set
to work to make the necessary arrangements for the night. Our fingers
were positively itching for the gold, and in less than half an hour
after our arrival, the pack-horse which carried the shovels, scoops,
and pans, had been released of his burden, and all our party were as
busily employed as the rest. As for myself, armed with a large scoop or
trowel, and a shallow tin pail, I leapt into the bed of the rivulet, at
a spot where I perceived no trace of the gravel and earth having been
artificially disturbed. Near me was a small clear pool, which served
for washing the gold. Some of our party set to work within a short
distance of me, while others tried their fortune along the banks of the
Americanos, digging up the shingle which lay at the very brink of the
stream. I shall not soon forget the feeling with which I first plunged
my scoop into the soil beneath me. Half filling my tin pail with the
earth and shingle, I carried it to the pool, and placing it beneath the
surface of the water, I began to stir it with my hand, as I had
observed the other diggers do. Of course I was not very expert at
first, and I dare say I flung out a good deal of the valuable metal.
However, I soon perceived that the earth was crumbling away, and was
being carried by the agitation of the water into the pool, which
speedily became turbid, while the sandy sediment of which I had heard
remained at the bottom of the pail. Carefully draining the water away,
I deposited the sand in one of the small close-woven Indian baskets we
had brought with us, with the intention of drying it at the camp fire,
there not being sufficient time before nightfall to allow the moisture
gradually to absorb by the evaporation of the atmosphere.

After working for about half an hour, I retraced my steps with my
basket to the spot where we had tethered the horses, and found the
animals still standing there with their burdens on their backs. Mr.
Malcolm was already there; he had with him about an equal quantity of
the precious black sand; it remained, however, to be seen what
proportion of gold our heaps contained. In a short time Bradley and Don
Luis joined us, both of them in tip-top spirits. "I guess this is the
way we do the trick down in these clearings," said the former, shaking
a bag of golden sand.