The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-02-17

icOTH! AND the answer is, J. Jasper, will try
1t. 30, Tomorrow, with rifle, mule, pick, O
pound or two of meat and biscuit, and some few
etceteras, start up stream, . prospecting.
l leave my papers, &c, with B. B., and he
and Abduilah are to stay here and work our
claim, for II is said to promise well. They
take 1t hard, and the yellow rascal almost re-
fuses to be left; but tell them [ win be back
in a couple of weeks; and, if am not, author
ize them to come in search of me. | will be
alone. l need little solitary communion with
Nature. The hum of these sordid men around
me has given me a touch of the jaundice, and
| want to regts my head for while in silent
contemplation upon the bosom Of the Univer.
sal Mother, and make my peace with her again
So, no for the great quartz rocks, and fortune
in a week II e.
| - "Epuise!
The two weeks have gone by, and am here
again, mule and rife gone, no gold, and unable
to work! Oh, vanity of vanities, saith the
preacher, all is vanity! Potz bonner aretfer
una sgppefnsem! | went out in search of a
kingdom, and foundry looking into the first
clear spring came tony fathers ass Bien
| have had the lesson, and now as soon as
am well enough, go to digging again. All
this digging, this digging, what fascinating
occupation 1t is f! am enamored Of it. When
! leave here, think of migrating to Europe.
and converting myself into truffle digger or
a ditcher, at SO much the rod, perch, or pole,
or searcher after stannic ore in the deep,
sulphurous pits of Cornish Cassterides!
b. b. tells me that they are coming to the
gold now, and plenty of it. He expects to take
out pile this week, and / will have to share
it with him. But my expedition, OH my expe-
dition, upon which / had so set my foolish heart
l will put it all down here, in black and white.
so that can read it once week, and thereby
take physic for my vanity, and purge it of all
symptoms of the imminent hypertrophy which
has so often menaced it. Thus It was
The morn was fair and bright, when I, the
fool Jasper, 'esuriens tamae pecuniaeq,te, start
ed forth in search Of those Golden Mountains,
whence, l am fully persuaded has been OBJ
tanned that pot of money which awaits the for
tnnate adyenturer who shall discover the rain
bows base, wide Mother Goose's Melodies, =
chapter, = verse; The sun had just tinged the
western sky with golden orange, the birds were
beginning their sweet morning carols, the
miners were washing their eyes open, those
few of them, at least, who do not look upon d.
urnal ablutions as an Office altogether super
erogatve,) and putting their slices of fat bacon
on the spiders for the morning meal, when l.,
bouyant and gay, equipt capd,pie, hied me
! forth on my chivalric errand. Faugh Astride
mare mule, whose points were cropt ear
and horrible SPAWN on the near hind leg,
with innumerable wind gals clad in red
flannel shirt, kersey trowsers, and boots mid
leg high with an oyercoat and q blanket strap
ped TO my back two hacoB. hams, tin-cup, a
bag Of meal, a bologna sausage, a pick-ax, "a
Ratchet, &c., en- croape; good rifle on my
shoulder compass IN my pocket, and, in my
belt p saiis supply Of Bowies reviewers, can,
gallant chetaiief hight Doai Qulxote De Ia
Mancha? L faith, my fancies wero g. mag
nihcent in vcsu1.,s, anu hay hosinahie as self
denying IN appearance, as the worthy Hidalgos.
| followed the river, striking directly towards
the hill-country, and the first days tramp was
a very good one | camped at night by the
| river, and in the morning, RosiDante pick-aX,
and one of my bacon hams, Ye9e understandable.
| The Indians had carried them OFF, | suppose.
Well, there vas no help for it, and the loss of
the mule was not so great, after all, for the
country had got into was too rough to be
traversed except on foot. SO off | started, fol-
lowing the river. On the next day it was but
a mountain stream | could see however, that
it came from the glaciers far ob?-a NO, and
directed n,v steps towards ttlns6 glaciers in as
near a straight line as | could. The quartz
rock increased as | advanced, but there were
no golden mountains as yet, and, besides, had
no pick-ax. 1t was an exceeding rough conn
try, such one as ! AGa erier Teen IN before.
| First ] came into the pine forests, all choked
up with dead branches and fallen trees, so as
to be almost impossible, and seeming as if
some whrlwind was wont to take its annual
course through them, tangling things up, just
as naughty children tangle their mothers s1eins
| Vi silk / wandered about here, trying TO steer
in the right rehabilitation mean, for path
there was none-but sadly losing my way. This
continued until night, Wksa . alilt ny fire, and
feasted upon ham and roast squirrel. In the
morning, an hours walk took me above the
pine regions, into bleak, barren wilderness,
very precipitous, strewn over with huge bould-
ers, broad masses of naked rock, cca;ce wear
,as syeR u growth of moss, and many smaller
stones, piled, apparently by the wind, in loose
cairns About noon, | came upon human
skeleton, bleached white. There was fracture
in the white, waterwashea 'ekh, aad as pick
~ j, up 70 Iause over IT, and wonder whose it
might have been, in the alas, poor Yorick
fashion, flint arrowhead dropped out of it,
and fell rafting down upon the other bones
Near the skull found tarnishQ.. .ietai hat
front. eviden'!y ro,..ea OF soldiers uniform
o. Ii was stamped A. r. NJ 1904 Some
poor devil of a King Of SPANS soldier, who had
deserted from his regiment, and, fleeing hther,
had met his fate by an Indians arrow. Per-
haps his dying thoughts were of his home by
tho Guadalauivir, or Of Andalusia's sunny
vegas, or Seville's orange groves, or mule-pathS
\ in ks,.a ssaie nf the sierras. Poor fellow Thou
art gone, and they who loved thee also. Pa1
ro5isciim IT 7
~ went or IS veil as / could, beholding
right above me the snow region, and the glaciers
for which was directing my course. 1t was
a very dreary place; nothing around bore the
semblance Of life Nature was dead, and un-
comcly in death, so pinched and starved were
ner ieaIurcs to the eye. fhe mists gathered
heavily, and shut out from view the green forests
Below me, and the widespread landscape that
my eyes would hare Gtker@iss taken in at a
giaaoe above, high and glttering, doomed the
snowy peaks, like huge icicles in the sun, while
between and around them spread the wide
glaciers, their painful briancy scarcely relieved
by the dark depths of the chasns TIA; t.avessed
them. SingH!sFty enough, lhad not climbed or
far before struck what was evidently path
and one used a good deal, though ! had not suffi
Gent wood-craft to distinguish whether by mar
I wished to go, seeming rather to Viina ropnt
cena +, SuI still Isresoiyed Is follow it, as
fancied it might lead me to some discovery ol
other. At any rate, It was better Than wander
. ing over these slippery rocks, as It meant some
ihsag, aud went sOme,chere, beyond question.
had walked along it for the space of an hour
perhaps, when 1 heard yell and, simultane
ously, the sharp crack of a riae, bfarr,sa e,e;
turned as ouictiy r. could, and saw an fhdiar
,.ua,ag OF followed By another Indian, who, t.
fhi'y' Surprise, hurled tomahawk at Him ans
Bounded on in fierce pSss.,;s They we've on