e than
twelve or fifteen passengers, and nearly every one of these had come
down to obtain supplies for himself or his party left behind in the
diggings. They all say they are going back in a few weeks."

The following personal testimony may also be cited:--"On Sunday," says
the _San Francisco Globe_, "we received a visit from Messrs. Edward
Campbell and Joseph Blanch, both boatmen, well known in this city, who
have just returned from the mines on Fraser River. They mined for ten
days on the bar, until compelled to desist from the rise in the river,
in which time they took out 1340 dollars. They used but one rocker, and
have no doubt that they could have done much better with proper
appliances. There were from sixty to seventy white men at work on
Hill's Bar, and from four to five hundred Indians, men, women, and
children. The Indians are divided in opinion with regard to Americans;
the more numerous party, headed by Pollock, a chief, are disposed to
receive them favourably, because they obtain more money, for their
labour from the `Bostons' than from `King George's men', as they style
the English. They have learned the full value of their labour, and,
instead of one dollar a-day, or an old shirt, for guiding and helping to
work a boat up the river, they now charge from five to eight dollars per
day. Another portion of the Indians are in favour of driving off the
`Bostons,' being fearful of having their country overrun by them."

The proprietor of the San Francisco _News Letter_ had determined to be
at the centre of the present excitement in the El Dorado, and to judge
for himself, or, rather to solve the problem of how much gold, how many
Indians, and how much humbug, went on board the Pacific mail steam-ship
_Cortes_, Captain Horner, and made the passage to Victoria, 840 miles,
in five days. Although nine hundred persons were on board, yet no
actual inconvenience was felt by the high-pressure packing; the greatest
good humour and accommodating spirit prevailing, controlled by the
gentlemanly conduct of Captain J.B. Horner and his officers. On the day
of arrival, the operations of the Government Land Office at the fort in
Victoria was 26,000 dollars. The importance of the amount can best be
realised by comparing it with the prices, viz. 100 dollars per lot, 60
by 100 feet, unsurveyed. Some of these lots have been sold at 200 to
1000 dollars. Lots at first sale, surveyed price, 50 dollars; lots,
second and