d was broken to pieces. Six
other canoes capsized and smashed the same day near the same place.
Poor whites and two Indians belonging to these six canoes drowned."

Provisions high up the river are exorbitant of course, as they can only
be brought up in canoes requiring long "portages." Here's the tariff at
Sailor's Bar and other Bars:--"Flour, 100 dollars a-barrel, worth in San
Francisco 11 to 12 dollars; molasses, 6 dollars a-gallon; pork, 1 dollar
per pound; ham, 1 dollar 25 cents per pound; tea at one place, 1 dollar
per pound, but at another, 4 dollars; sugar, 2 dollars per pound; beans,
1 dollar per pound; picks, 6 dollars; and shovels, 2 dollars each.
There were no fresh provisions." I should have been greatly surprised
to hear that there had been.

"At Fort Hope there was nothing to be had but dried salmon."

"At Fort Langley plenty of black flour at 9 dollars a-hundred, and salt
salmon, four for 1 dollar." What lively visions of scurvy these
provisions conjure up! The acme of extravagance was not arrived at,
however, until the poor miner came to purchase auxiliaries to his
rocker. At Sailor's Bar "rocker irons were at an ounce of gold each (16
dollars), and at Hill's Bar, 30 dollars each." This "iron" is simply a
plate of thin sheet-iron, measuring 18 inches by 20 inches, perforated
with round holes to let the loose dirt pass through. I priced one of
them, out of curiosity, at a carpenter's shop in San Francisco this
morning--2 and a half dollars. In England this thing would be worth 2
shillings. At Sailor's Bar it would be worth 3 pounds, 4 shillings, and
at Hill's Bar it would fetch 6 pounds. Quicksilver was also
outrageously high, but not being of such prime necessity as "rocker
irons," didn't come up to their standard of value. At one place it was
sold at 10 dollars per pound; but at Fort Langley a man bought one
pound, paying 15 dollars for it, and had to carry it a great distance.
The price in San Francisco is 60 cents the pound (half-a-crown), and on
Fraser's River, 3 pounds. "Nails brought, from 1 dollar to 1 dollar 50
cents per pound. One lot of a dozen pounds brought 3 dollars, or two
bits a-nail," which, being interpreted into Queen's English, means 1
shilling a-nail! These are some of the outgoings which tax the miner's
earnings in a new unpeopled country; but these are not his only
drawbacks. "There being no boards to be had, we had perforce to go in
the woods and fell and hew out