o have it tested; for it was still a matter of doubt whether
this yellow metal really was gold. Bennett told his errand to a friend
whom he met in San Francisco, and this friend introduced him to
Humphrey, who had been a gold-miner in Georgia, and was therefore
competent to pass an opinion.

Humphrey looked at the dust, pronounced it gold at the first glance, and
expressed a belief that the diggings must be rich. He made inquiries
about the place where the gold was found, and subsequent inquiries about
the trustworthiness of Mr. Bennett, and on March 7th he was at the mill.
He tried to induce several of his friends in San Francisco to go with
him; they all thought his expedition a foolish one, and he had to go
alone. He found that there was some talk about the gold, and persons
would occasionally go about looking for pieces of it; but no one was
engaged in mining, and the work of the mill was going on as usual. On
the 8th he went out prospecting with a pan, and satisfied himself that
the country in that vicinity was rich in gold. He then made a rocker and
commenced the business of washing gold, and thus began the business of
mining in California.

Others saw how he did it, followed his example, found that the work was
profitable, and abandoned all other occupations. The news of their
success spread; people flocked to the place, learned how to use the
rocker, discovered new diggings, and in the course of a few months the
country had been overturned by a social and industrial revolution.

Mr. Humphrey had not been at work more than three or four days before a
Frenchman, called Baptiste, who had been a gold-miner in Mexico for many
years, came to the mill, and he agreed with Humphrey that California was
very rich in gold. He, too, went to work, and, being an excellent
prospector, he was of great service in teaching the newcomers the
principles of prospecting and mining for gold--principles not abstruse,
yet not likely to suggest themselves at first thought to men entirely
ignorant of the business. Baptiste had been employed by Captain Sutter
to saw lumber with a whipsaw, and had been at work for two years at a
place, since called Weber, about ten miles eastward from Coloma. When he
saw the diggings at the latter place, he at once said there were rich
mines where he had been sawing, and he expressed surprise that it had
never occurred to him before, so experienced in gold-mining as he was;
but he afterward said it had bee