cenery which struck the travellers as being most
peculiar was the precipitous character of the sides of many of the vast
mountains and the flatness of their summits. Tom Collins, who was a
good judge of heights, having travelled in several mountainous regions
of the world, estimated the nearest precipices to be upwards of three
thousand feet, without a break from top to bottom, but the ranges in the
background towered far above these, and must have been at least double.

"I never saw anything like this before, Tom," said Ned, in a suppressed
voice.

"I did not believe such sublime scenery existed," replied his companion.
"I have travelled in Switzerland and Norway, but this surpasses both.
Truly it was worth while to give up our gold-digging in order to see
this."

"Yet there are many," rejoined Ned, "who travel just far enough into
California to reach the diggings, where they remain till their fortunes
are made, or till their hopes are disappointed, and then return to
England and write a book, perchance, in which they speak as
authoritatively as if they had swept the whole region, north and south,
east and west. Little wonder that we find such travellers contradicting
each other flatly. One speaks of `California' as being the most
splendid agricultural country in the world, and advises every one to
emigrate at once; while another condemns it as an arid, unproductive
region, fit only for the support of Indians and grizzly-bears;--the fact
being, that both speak, (correctly enough, it may be), of the very small
portion of California they have respectively visited. Why, the more I
travel in this wonderful land the more I feel how very little I know
about it; and had I returned to England without having seen this valley,
I should have missed one of the most remarkable sights, not only in the
country, but, I verily believe, in the world. If you ever return home,
Tom, and are persuaded, `at the earnest request of numerous friends,' to
write a book, _don't_ dogmatise as to _facts_; remember how limited your
experience has been, and don't forget that _facts_ in one valley are not
facts at all in another valley eight or ten miles off."

"Perhaps," suggested Tom Collins, patting the arched neck of his
steed--"perhaps the advice with which you have just favoured me might,
with greater propriety, have proceeded from me to you; for, considering
the copious variety of your sentiments on this and other subjects, and
the flue