now an' again, ye'd git lots o' grizzly
bars."

"Are grizzly-bears eaten here?" inquired Ned Sinton, pausing in the act
of mastication, to ask the question.

"Eaten!" exclaimed the hunter, in surprise, "in coorse they is. They're
uncommon good eatin' too, I guess. Many a one I've killed an' eaten
myself; an' I like 'em better than beef--I do. I shot one up in the
hills there two days agone, an' supped off him; but bein' in a hurry, I
left the carcase to the coyotes." (Coyotes are small wolves.)

The men assembled round the rude _table d'hote_ were fifteen in number,
including our adventurers, and represented at least six different
nations--English, Scotch, Irish, German, Yankee, and Chinese. Most of
them, however, were Yankees, and all were gold-diggers; even the hunter
just referred to, although he had not altogether forsaken his former
calling, devoted much of his time to searching for gold. Some, like our
friends, were on their way to the diggings for the first time; others
were returning with provisions, which they had travelled to Sacramento
city to purchase; and one or two were successful diggers who had made
their "piles,"--in other words, their fortunes--and were returning home
with heavy purses of gold-dust and nuggets.

Good humour was the prevailing characteristic of the party, for each man
was either successful or sanguinely hopeful, and all seemed to be
affected by a sort of undercurrent of excitement, as they listened to,
or related, their adventures at the mines. There was only one serious
drawback to the scene, and that was, the perpetual and terrible swearing
that mingled with the conversation. The Americans excelled in this
wicked practice. They seemed to labour to invent oaths, not for the
purpose of venting angry feelings, but apparently with the view of
giving emphasis to their statements and assertions. The others swore
from _habit_. They had evidently ceased to be aware that they were
using oaths--so terribly had familiarity with sinful practices blunted
the consciences of men who, in early life, would probably have trembled
in this way to break the law of God.

Yes, by the way, there was one other drawback to the otherwise
picturesque and interesting group, and this was the spitting propensity
of the Yankees. All over the floor--that floor, too, on which other men
besides themselves were to repose--they discharged tobacco-juice and
spittle. The _nation_ cannot be too severely b