lannel shirt, and coarse canvas
ducks in place of corduroys. Bill affects the sailor in other respects,
for he scorns heavy boots, and wears shoes and a straw hat; but he is
compelled to wear the spurs, for reasons best known to his intensely
obstinate mule. There is also among them a native Californian,--a
_vaquero_, or herd,--who has been hired to accompany the party to the
diggings, to look after the pack-mules, of which there are two, and to
assist them generally with advice and otherwise. He is a fine athletic
fellow--Spanish-like, both in appearance and costume; and, in addition
to bad Spanish, gives utterance to a few sounds, which _he_ calls
"Encleesh." The upper part of his person is covered by the _serape_, or
Mexican cloak, which is simply a blanket, with a hole in its centre,
through which the head of the wearer is thrust, the rest being left to
fall over the shoulders.

Our travellers had reached the spot on which we now find them by means
of a boat voyage of more than a hundred miles, partly over the great bay
of San Francisco, and partly up the Sacramento River, until they reached
the city of Sacramento. Here they purchased mules and provisions for
the overland journey to the mines--a further distance of about a hundred
and fifty miles,--and also the picks, shovels, axes, pewter plates,
spoons, pans, and pannikins, and other implements and utensils that were
necessary for a campaign among the golden mountains of the Sierra
Nevada. For these the prices demanded were so enormous, that when all
was ready for a start they had only a few dollars left amongst them.
But being on their way to dig for gold, they felt little concern on this
head.

As the Indians of the interior had committed several murders a short
time before, and had come at various times into collision with the
gold-diggers, it was deemed prudent to expend a considerable sum on arms
and ammunition. Each man, therefore, was armed with a rifle or carbine,
a pistol of some sort, and a large knife or short sword. Captain
Bunting selected a huge old bell-mouthed blunderbuss, having, as he
said, a strong partiality for the weapons of his forefathers. Among
other things, Ned, by advice of Tom Collins, purchased a few simple
medicines; he also laid in a stock of drawing-paper, pencils, and
water-colours, for his own special use, for which he paid so large a sum
that he was ashamed to tell it to his comrades; but he was resolved not
to lose th