re full of wisdom, so
resolved to follow them. I had fallen in with a man bound for the Cape
of Good Hope Colony, and, listening to his representations, agreed to
accompany him. Out to the Cape I went, but soon discovered that a
farm-life was not to my taste; and so, meeting with some sporting
companions, I spent my time in shooting elephants and lions, and other
beasts of the forests and mountains of that wonderful land. As my
expenses at this sort of work were far greater than my profits, I spent,
in time, all the money I possessed, and had at length to engage as a
labourer on a property of which, on first landing, I might have become
the owner. This was not what I had bargained for; and hearing that
fortunes were to be made rapidly in South Australia, I saved enough
money to carry me to Cape Town, where I found a ship calling in on her
way to that colony. I shipped on board her to work my passage; but
finding the work I had to do and the treatment I had received very far
from my taste, I resolved never again, if I could help it, to place
myself in the same position. I found, on reaching Adelaide, that if
fortunes were to be made in a hurry, they were to be lost still more
rapidly--not that I had myself any opportunity of making the experiment
I tried all sorts of plans which I thought would prove short roads to
what I so much desired--to become rich; but, somehow or other, none of
them proved satisfactory. At length I had struck out something new
which would, I really believe, have been a great success, when the news
of the wonderful discoveries of gold in California reached the colony.
Wonderful to relate, I had made enough money to pay my passage, which I
took on board one of the first vessels sailing for those regions I
considered myself wonderfully fortunate to get there, for I had now no
longer the slightest doubt of success. San Francisco was already a
wonderful place. Everybody on board hastened to the shore as soon as we
entered the harbour, and in the course of two or three days the whole of
the crew, except the captain and first mate, had deserted the ship. The
central part of the city consisted at that time chiefly of
lodging-houses, gambling-houses, and houses of entertainment. The
lodging-houses, fast as they could be put up, were crowded, and were of
the most wretched description. The best to which I could gain admission
was a long barn-like edifice, with bunks or berths like those on board a