n hiring a horse of the hotel-master here,
besides being far more agreeable to have a horse of one's own; for
everybody, the commonest workman even, rides in this country. The gold
excitement increases daily, as several fresh arrivals from the mines
have been reported at San Francisco. The merchants eagerly buy up the
gold brought by the miners, and no doubt, in many cases, at prices
considerably under its value. I have heard, though, of as much as
sixteen dollars an ounce having been given in some instances, which I
should have thought was over rather than under the full value of gold
in the United States. I confess I begin to feel seriously affected with
the prevailing excitement, and am anxious for Wednesday to arrive.

_May 17th_.--This place is now in a perfect furor of excitement; all the
work-people have struck. Walking through the town to-day, I observed
that labourers were employed only upon about half a-dozen of the fifty
new buildings which were in course of being run up. The majority of the
mechanics at this place are making preparations for moving off to the
mines, and several hundred people of all classes--lawyers, store-keepers,
merchants, etc.,--are bitten with the fever; in fact, there is a
regular gold mania springing up. I counted no less than eighteen houses
which were closed, the owners having left. If Colonel Mason is moving a
force to the American Fork, as is reported here, their journey will be
in vain.

Our trip has been delayed to-day, for the saddler cannot get our
equipments in readiness for at least forty-eight hours. He says that
directly he has finished the job he shall start off himself to the
diggings. I have bribed him with promises of greatly increased pay not
to disappoint us again. As it was, we were to pay him a very high
price, which he demanded on account of three of his men having left
him, and there being only himself and two workmen to attend to our
order.

I told Mr. Bradley of our misfortune. He promised to wait for us, but
recommended me to keep going in and out of the saddler's all day long,
in order to make sure that the man was at work, otherwise we might be
kept hanging about for a fortnight.

_May 20th_.--It requires a full amount of patience to stay quietly
watching the proceedings of an inattentive tradesman amid such a
whirlpool of excitement as is now in action. Sweeting tells me that his
negro waiter has demanded and receives ten dollars a-day. He is forced
to