STRAWS FROM THE GOLD COAST. (From the Polynetian.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 453, 5 December 1849, Page 3

STRAWS FROM THE GOLD COAST. (From the Polynetian.)

My dear Polynesian, — " Money makes the mare go." The true primum mobile of of man's world is gold. One glance at California proves it. Here are men from all the nations under the whole heavens, almost, planning and plotting, toiling and tugging, with a will and an efficiency scarcely known elsewhere, and all for the accumulation of a few pints, or pecks, as lite case may be, of that which they call "dust," aud which lies buried, or has lain buried, in the snowy mountains. Here arc several hundred beautiful and staunch vessels, huge "oak leviathans" that have been floated hither from 15 or 20 thousand mites off, freighted richly with all manner of merchandise and still more richly with thousands of intelligent and enterprising men from the cities and villages of the east; men trained to industry and good morals, of lofty aims and high hopes ; — and all this because the wherewithal is understood to be attainable more abundantly than at home, in the defiles and gorges of our now famous Sierra Nevada. But analyse this organ of "acquisitiveness" this apparent " lust of lucre," and is it lust of lucre after all ? If it for th.c mere hoard-

ing of money that these thousands of noble young men are crowding hither? Ob, not to say so is a libel on human nature keener iban it deserves. Could we read the heart* we should learn that human nature is really honoured by the impulses Which actuate large 1 numbers of the comers to California, and that the real motives that have brought men here^ though all disguised under the desire of gain, are as various as the springs of human action. One has found himself with a large family on his bands, which all his exertions, in his circumstances at home, have bjen insufficient to maintain, and breaking away from the" strong ties which bind man to his bonte 1 and kin, he has exiled himself for a year or iwb in the hope of here accumulating the means of placing his family in a state of ease and temporary enjoyment. Last week I chanced to overhear the conversation of two young men recently from the States and pushing energetically for the mines. One of them had a lady love there — but she was rich and he was poor — and the parents were inexorable on the score of the deficit of, cash. His spirit is stirred, and he resolves that a few thousands shall not stand long as a bar betwixt him and happiness. He will at once win his fortune and his bride by vigorously plying bis pick and shovel. I know another who aspires to the band and has won the heart of, a gentle one, at home. But with chivalric delicacy he cannot think of making her a sharer in his fortunes till he has the means of treating her as he thinks so rare a bride ought to be treated. He braves the fierce sun of the gold regions and works, slave-like, in dirt add water, at the peril of his Hie, that the one whom he holds as dear to him as life may not lack for any comiort, or be reduced to the necessity of toiling for a subsistence* Another has an aged mother dependent on his exertions, and he counts each day of toil and suffering in the mountains, a joy, in the anticipation of soon returning to the maternal roof with the means of making that beloted parent comfortable in her declining years. Now these are not fancy sketches. A thousand such examples might be given — were the tablets of men's hearts visible and legible. What man of sensibility does not honor such feelings, and say that to hunt for gold with such aim is anything but disreputable. But among the crowd, it is true there are some who appear to accumulate from sheer Jove of accumulating — and others, more id number, who dig just for the sensual delights which the gold they dig will euable them to purchase. Many a man spends in a week at San Francisco or elsewhere, in drunkenness and revelry, what it has cost him a moath of severe toil to procure. Hundreds, especially sailors and soldiers, within three weeks after they have come from the mines are as poor as the day they entered them, although they may have brought away with them anywhere from one to five thousand dollars of pure gold. I knew a camp of sailors in the mines — six in number — and their boisteroasness attracting my attention, I watched their way of life. Daily, all were drunk bui one, who looked after the cooking and general affairs of the camp. The rest were shouting, singing, gambling, and rollicking after every possible manner — or,which generally happened the latter portion of each day, they were slumbering in thtf embrace of Bacchus, like a dead log in the folds of a luxuriant vine. They took turns in keeping sober, — one each day, — and the sole end of the digging they did, seemed to be to get liquor. For so Jong as '.he junk bottle contained a drop, not a pick was touched nor a bowl oi earth washed. But so soon as the bottle became empty, and the party began of necessity to get a little sobered in consequence, you would see some of the number making their way into some neighl'ouring ravine, and digging most resolutely, till enough gold had been obtained for a new supply of liquor, at 10 or 15 dollars a bottle. This gold was quickly taken to the grogbooth, and transmuted into drugged brandy, aud this brandy as quickly, when taken to camp, metamorphosed all the company but one into noisy, senseless, roistering, degraded brutes, a curse to the community and a disgrace to the name of man. You may see such camps all up and down the mountains f Is it my wonder that men die in the mines ? (hat sickness prevails ? Bather, is it not strange that of the regular "soakers" so many ever come out of the mountains alive? It is a matter of curiosity te notice the effect of the sudden acquisition of wealth, on individuals. There are now hundreds of men in California worth from to,QOfr to to 270,000 dollars, who a year ago, were scarcely able to pay their tailor's bills. Some the sudden change fills with pride, and they put on airs that say plainly *' the chief end of man" is to be rich. They hane» sworn allegiance to the " Almfghty Dollar" «ud fancy themselves premier* and; prime mi*

nisters, and all other " prime" things under the new found sovereignty. Others, who before were counted generous, seem to have the " milk of human kindness" utterly dried up by their good luck — they become close fisted and penurious. But large numbers I have seen whom the rapid influx of wealth seemed not to affect at all, unless to make them feel more deeply their obligations to their kind, and waken in their bosoms new emotions of thankfulness and philanthropy, which in their more limited circumstanres had never been called forth. No doubt, sudden opulence is one of the strongest trials of principle and piety. This country is a great fiery furnace to the manners and morals of multitudes. If the ordeal is successfully undergone, all the brighter and purer for the trial will shine the cardinal virtues which a man possesses. There will be a development of good and influential men in such circumstances, which otherwise had not taken place. But that great, fiery furnace — how much of what has come here labelled as virtue will it turn to dross. Wax in the heart of Kilauea will not sooner melt and fly to vapour, than will the " principles," so called, of scores that are New England born and New England trained. It is melancholy to see the havoc daily wrought iv the habits and characters of men who all their lives heretofore have borne fair reputations. But " all is not gold that glitters'"- — " All are not Israel thut are of Israel." Those that return from California unscratched, may be noted with white chalk and admitted to the seat of the honourable. Thanks to an overruling providence, and to the spirit of all grace, the numbers of -such will not be small ; and as moral jewels, they will exceed in fineness and in preciousness all the gold and gems that lie stored in these mountains. I am, &c, Panorama.