y sunburnt face, in a wearisome walk, miles away,
to the head of the ditch, as they call the prettiest little rivulet
(though the work of men) that I ever saw? Yea, verily, this have I done
for the express edification of yourself and the rest of your curious
tribe, to be rewarded, probably, by the impertinent remark, "What!
_does_ that little goose Dame Shirley think that _I_ care about such
things?" But, madam, in spite of your sneer, I shall proceed in my
allotted task.

In the first place, then, as to the discovery of gold. In California,
at least, it must be confessed that, in this particular, science
appears to be completely at fault, or as an intelligent and
well-educated miner remarked to us the other day, "I maintain that
science is the blindest guide that one could have on a gold-finding
expedition. Those men who judge by the appearance of the soil, and
depend upon geological calculations, are invariably disappointed, while
the ignorant adventurer, who digs just for the sake of digging, is
almost sure to be successful." I suppose that the above observation is
quite correct, as all whom we have questioned upon the subject repeat,
in substance, the same thing. Wherever geology has said that gold
_must_ be, there, perversely enough, it lies not; and wherever her
ladyship has declared that it could _not_ be, there has it oftenest
garnered up in miraculous profusion the yellow splendor of its virgin
beauty. It is certainly very painful to a well-regulated mind to see
the irreverent contempt shown by this beautiful mineral to the dictates
of science. But what better can one expect from the root of all evil?
As well as can be ascertained, the most lucky of the mining Columbuses
have been ignorant sailors, and foreigners, I fancy, are more
successful than Americans.

Our countrymen are the most discontented of mortals. They are always
longing for big strikes. If a claim is paying them a steady income, by
which, if they pleased, they could lay up more in a month than they
could in a year at home, still they are dissatisfied, and in most cases
will wander off in search of better diggings. There are hundreds now
pursuing this foolish course, who, if they had stopped where they first
camped, would now have been rich men. Sometimes a company of these
wanderers will find itself upon a bar where a few pieces of the
precious metal lie scattered upon the surface of the ground. Of course
they immediately prospect it, which is