CHAPTER XV.-THE GOLDEN STATE.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 225, 18 October 1873, Page 3

CHAPTER XV.- THE GOLDEN STA TE .

*I write of a land of wonders,' says an Ampucan authoi — ' I write of California while she is stili \outhful, and full of marvels; while her populatiou l 1l 1 - still unsettled; >tlulc her business is still fluctuating, Tier wuge-» high, her gold abundant, and her birth btill fiesh in the memory of men and women who have scarcely reached thpir majority. I write of her while she still offers a w ide field foi the adventurous, the enterprising, and the young, who have life before them, and wish to commence it whero they may havo the freest career, in full stght of the greatest rewards for success, and w U h tlio ie«a>t chances of failure ' It was at this period in tho wonderful history of the Golden State, that Walter Clint nnd Lawrence Daly left England to fejk thoir foitun> tliote They wire young and nnaginati\c> ntUenturou-, ai.d ambitious, though in dilierent ways; and the enterprise- had other charms for them than that of its pi ofej-ed and prim ipal o">jYct— the acquisition of gold. Lawlence Daly Lad the t>tull' in him ol which the piouecisof MJticty are made. He would have exchanged the city for the desert, with pleasure and alacrity, any day ; and the disappointment, the final solution of the long-diaun spell of uncertainty, which set him free to make the exchange if he chose, was t-ecretly welcome to him. Walter was of a different stnmp, mid of a feebler nature ; but he had caught trom ln> fi lend »ome of his enthusiasm, and, m addition to the stronu practical motive which had decided him, there arose before his fancy a msioii of tho great, new country, and the wild fiee life there, with its absolute novelty, which had power to charm him, even when he most completely appreciated tho price he must pay for its leahsation m a long separation from Florence. To her, indeed, the heaviest portion of this trial was allotted. It is always so to those who remain An absolutely novel journey, full of adventure and possibilities, with an arduous struggle, and the chances of a splendid success at the end of it, ennobled by a high and independent purpose, was enough to fire a more listless fancy than Walter's, lie had not such rich and aned intelligence, so highly cultivated a mind as Dal.\ 's, nor was there so much of daring and endurance in him ; but he was exactly calculated to follow the lead of a superior intellect ; and his sweet temper, complying ways, and general easy-goingness, made him a congenial companion to Lawrence. Though society hail become to a certain extent organized, and the time of leckless \agabondism, which had pouied itself forth over California, on the iirat discovery of had somewhat abated, under the steadily repressive of the absolute necessity for haid work, and the • action of a wonderful system of police, the place whither the friends came fiom the other side of the world to seek iheir foitune, was wild and wonderful. Inidefined ruffianism abounded in it still, and extraordinai y mixture of sa\age loughne&s and epicurean luxury, which is one of the strangest featuies of mining life. When, in after-days, Walter Clint's wife learned the tiue story of the caiavan journey from the coast to the mines, pei formed by Walter and Lawrence, she wondered that no subtle influence had convey ed to her a SPnse of its danger, its toils, and its privations Her husband's letteis touched but lightly upon these, while dwelling upon the wondeiful and beautiful, the grand ternble objects which occupied their attention. He wiote of the mighty mountains and the boundless plains; of the plateaux where deer and buffalo still abounded, and whence the Indians had not yet been banished ; of the deep rich green of the cotton-wood groves ; of the sycamore and the honey locust, too soon passed ; of the j ellow earth, the yellow grass, and the groves of giant sun-flowers. He bade her follow theii track with her fancy, over the Great Plains, so full of life, so lonely, and yet never wearisome, with all the grandeur of monotony, and yet continual change ; where the sparkling atmosphere, the never-failing breeze, the solitnde, which no words can paint, the boundless prairie swell, convey anidoa of vastness almost awful, but quite delicious. Of the places thiough which their toilsome waylay, Walter wiote much to Florence— of the companions of their journey little. The rough, wild, wicked men, as some of them were, though mnny were only harmless, honest, hard-working; the bad language, the toils, the dauser, the irresitible despondency which sometimes attacked them, sure accompaniment of severe fatigue and overtaxed nerves ; tho een«e of utter removal from all the Habits of their former life, both physical and mental— these thingr 9 he did not tell her They would have terrified Florence, for whom the idea of wild nature had a strong charm, but that of undisciplined human passions and lawless human life had unspeakable repulsion. The journey had no exceptional features. Some years ago, every such journey seemed a marvel, and every particular was eagerly caught at. Use has lessened the marvel, and the story has been told so that none can hope to rival the narrative. They had entered on their adventurous undertaking with but vague information to guide them, and little definite notion of their (best modes of proceeding. But they had found intelligent companions, and gleaned a good deal of knowledge on their toilsome -way, and had resolred to try Placer County. They allowed themselves only a ghort interval of rest on their arrival at San Francisco, after the two long sea-voyages and the crossing of the isthmus. The strange and exciting aspect of the great Pacific city, the restIcjs flood of its feverish life, the amazi q variety of character, the extraordinary contrast to every experience of their former li\e\ had unbounded attraction for the two young men. But they had neither time nor money to spare for the indulgence of their curiosity. The mo~t interesting and romantic portion ol their adventurous journey lav before them, when they joined a miners' tram, bound for Placer County. 'The whole county is rugged and mountainous, and much of it is covered with heavy timber ;' thus ran Walter's description ; ' the diggings are likely to last for many years. There is probably no part of the state where the single miner, without capital, has a better chance to dig gold with profit. This is exactly the place for us, and we have determined to try our luck there Three men travelling with our caravan are also bound thither. lam getting this letter ready, by bits nnd scraps, to be despatched from Carson City, w hen we >.hall have emerged from the desert. It is a dreadful place, but it has shown me one spectacle which I can never forget Try to picture to yourself a glittering plain, stretching as far as the eye can reach, in irregular humps, no level ground, no field, no house, no tree, no|green, not even earth, only an incrustation of salt and mud, flawed and fissured here and there. This plain is bounded, in the far dim distance, bv lofty mountains of fantastic outline ; but to the right and left it his no bounds, and touches the sky like tho horizon at aea We were ploddmg along beiido a wagon in silence, two days ago, oppressed by the solemn, immense ! W«le, when an Indian, the chief of some "braves" of a frienVlly tribe, whom we have met, pointed to a certain spot on the horizon ; an action which surprised me, for the Indians seem to me to be totally insensible to the abounding natural phenomena of their wonderful country. 'I looked, and saw before us a stately river, whose banks were skirted with pyramidal trees resembling poplars Its water was so beautiful and limpid, the green avenues appeared so fresh, that we panted with longing to roach them. Soon the river seemed to expand and overflow on all sides, forming a sea which bathed the foot of f mtastic mountains. Islands with festooned outlines rose from the bosom of this unknown ocean, which was ploughed by vessels of every shape, their white sails swelling to an invisible breeze TCeadlands with sinuous uneven crests, and their sides pierced with mystpuous grottoes, stood out from the mountains like the flying buttresses of an old cathedral. In a little bay in one corner of this picture, enormous whales gambolled on the surface, and spouted up the water in silvery showers. In the foreground of this marine landscape rose elegant habitations in the Italian style, which seemed to be set in the midst of woods of bushy tiees Then it was an army on tho march, with its staff gorgeously equipped, its band, its artillery, its squadrons commanded by chiefs decorated with waving plumes There were also droves of cattle which quietly grazed beside fat sheep and bounding goats. Whirlwinds of dust rose in lofty columns to the sky, and were reflected in the minor of the waters Some of the men of our caravan had seen wonderful mirages in America, Africa, and Oceania but they said that this one far surpassed them nil Nothing was wanting to captivate the eye, and the details were metamorphosed so quickly, that the pencil could not reproduce them. ' Every one in our caravan perceived the images in the samo way— the Indians as well as ourselves ; these images were soilearly defined, that we were at first home away by the charm of the illusion, and wore a few minutes before we could recognise that it was a mirage. The phenomenon began at one in the afternoon ; the wind was blowing from the south ; we were journeying to the east. It was more particularly towaids the north that the mirage was most distinct and thu inoit animated. The suu was shining, and the sky cloudless, but the atmospheie did not appear to possess its usual limpidity. At three o'clock the curtain fell on this fairy scene, and we were brought kick to the reality of a horrible salt desert.'

Wlnlf a steward in one of the Mayaville (Kentucky) rhurehe* was handing round the contribution-box a fow Suil'liiys since, taking up a collection for foieign mitmons, Ins »ye and heart were gladdened by ob'ernng amorrr n3n 3 ( mfenta a. neatly rollod paokago that one could easily imagine 1 >bo a cheque, or sonu-tliint; of that agreeable nature *On l'aitily ni\ Mtigatmg, his former beliof in tlie depravity of hara-tn nature was changoil to a cortainty, by discovering a Hollar und a cent, and upon the paper tlio followini; :— 41 The f-cut is for tlic hcUhcu, and tho dollar fco «et it to them "