The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-02-24


his cabin. 1t was a rude den among the rocks.
scarcely containing aught save little maize.
a quantity OF smoked and fresh meat, and "A
few warllke implements, but never was man
more kindly entreated than was by John and
his wrinkled, blear-eyed squaw. They nursed
me some days, before | was able to get about
During this time, made many INQUIRIES as to
the mysterious valley and its auriferous wealth.
but learned little that tended to satisfy INV Gu.
riOsity. John told me that the Indians of the
valley were the last of great tribe, formerly
inhabiting the cahons and the whole placer
country, and that they entertained an inveterate
hatred to the whites, because IF understood
him rightly they had been treated with horri.
BILE cruelty by the Spaniards and the Jesuits
of the California missions, having refused to
give up their old superstitions, and adopt the
new faith, as most of the other tribes had been
persuaded or forced to do. Ii is my opinion
that they constitute a branch of the great Ma
vajO family, who once ruled from the head
waters of the Colorado, west to the coast noun
tains, and south to Chihuahua They had
long inhabited this valley, he said, and had
committed many outrages upon the whites
Many Indians of other tribes were well ac-
quainted with the means of access to their fast
! nesses, but, being allowed to use them as places
| of refuge in case of pursuit by white men, al
ways kept the secret. Several Americans had
| penetrated into their region by the lower route.
J but l was the only one who had ever escaped
| alive.
This the sum of what could learn
Whether he knew more, and did not wish to
tell, am unable to say. The gold was a mat
ter respecting which he would not converse
further than that it was the property of devils
He said enough, however, to make me sure
that the Indians do not dig it, being prevented
by some superstitious belief or other.
GAS soon as was well enough, J ohm put me
on my mule, and, taking hold of the bride, led
me, by much shorter path than that which
had followed, to the diggngs and to my friends.
Thus returned the adventurer, who had gone
| forth like Jason seeking the golden fleece or
Viking, starting out in search of the mythic
Asgard, where Odin slumbers, and the horse
Sleepnir chafes impatiently in his marble stalls
or knight of the round table of the bon
roy Arthus.' caparisoned for the determined
quest of miraculous San Greal ; or foolish
old Ponce da Leon, putting himself en- route for
| Florldian fountains of eternal youth. oh,
what falling off was here, my countrymen
DC. SO, so, so. 1t is not pleasant to think
| about
"Well here | am, friends all around me,
and devoted servitors, and | still do-nothing
SO far as | am concerned, the Golden Mountains
are eternally vanished, and though / still dream
OF the happy valley, with its inexhaustble
wealth and its lovely landscape, that haunts me
like an ldyl of Already, full of all pleasures and
all delights, shall not try to go back thither,
for with the lovely vision are blended horrible
recollectons of the curst mountain side, and its
! CHASTITY bleached skeleton of one probably as
venturesome as of that terrible midnight
madness and delirium when | tore my insane
course towards the glaciers, my lips now bah
bling idiotic words, now opening for the utter
ance of impious oath, reckless revelry, and OBJ
scene jest; of the dread chill glacier, which /
had embraced as if it had possessed the sug-
gestive warmth, the dainty, soft inspiriting
charm Of a Cleopatra's dusk breast of that
Niagara-ke down-plunge, when the stunned
consciousness of millions of mortals dumbly
strove for eternal aeous in my brain of the mo-
ment's fearful agony in ihat dark. damn. drearv
Several, to whom | have related The adventure,
have gone out in the hope of penetrating to the
valley and reaping its rewards but, for my
self, the make-haste fever is completely scared
off, and / shall remain where | am, content, in
week or two, when these stiff and bruised
limbs shall have little recovered, to go to work
again, with pick, spade, and CRADLE as better
men than | am have done and are doing
around me. There is a pretty good store of
gold here already in our tent, and B. B. tells
me, that the deeper they dig, the greater be-
comes the yield. 1t is already thousand dol
lars per week, over and above expenses; and
when join them, B. B. says, and do the think
ing for them, he expects to double that amount
easily. Well, this is promising, and decidedly
better than being shot in the shoulder and roll
ing down the sides of precipices, though happy
and auriferous valleys do lie beneath to break
the fall. l will not leave here, /, until have
made my share of the proceeds amount to
$4,000. Then, indeed, away, and to work, to
work, to work
Abdullah is very jealous of John, saying
that nobody had any business to save my life
excepting himself, and he drew his knife on the
Indian yesterday, when the latter came in with
fine buck, shot with the rifle gave him. ]
expect / shall have to get myself into some
other peril, just to give the Malay chance to
help me out Still, it is most pleasant to have
the faithful attendance of people who are bound
to you by the sacred ties of gratitude, who serve
you with intelligence, guickened by love, with
pleasure inspired by willingness, and with faith
| born of their confidence in your abilities and
power!"
Later, we find the following entry in Jasper S
journal:
! "Most of those who went in search of my
valley have returned, unsuccessful. Some up
braid me, some laugh at me, and all unite in
considering the whole matter either dream,
or fiction of my fancy. Ny wound had made
me delrious they say. AS for John, he main
tains the same view, claiming to have found me
insensible among the rocks. lie 6ien Per-
haps it is best So One thing seems certain,
viz that all the landmarks | noticed on the
way have been obliterated, or in some way
| changed so as to be rendered undistinguish-
able. Now, question comes up here: If the
IL e. e L.
as TO prevent one from revisiting them, may
they not likewise be able to destroy every en-
trance to the valley? viii men ever penetrate
into it, or is it to remain myth forever? The
accounts that reached Europe of that great
| city of Manoa, or FL Dorado, in Guiana, were far
more authentic and credtable than any we
have had, up to the last century, of Pekin and
! the Flowery Kingdom" 1t had been seen,
its site among the mountains in the midst of a
fair lake, the glittering Wilderness of its walls
and spires, its highways; as much beaten, it
is reported, as those between Madrid and Val
ladolid, in Spain all these things were noticed
and enlarged upon. But where is Manoa !?
! Raleigh, the noble, chivalric, high-souled Raleigh,
| lost his life because he was unable to answer
| that question; and the question still remains
unanswered, though Spaniard, and Portuguese,
and Engishman, Hidalgo, and Buccaneer, have
often essayed its solution. Science may find
Jasper's valley, (as they style it) some day,
however, and reap the fruits of the discovery.
Whoever shall penetrate to it, will find the
bones of those luckless unreturned Adventures
bleaching in the valley, or on the hill side, as
/ found those of the unfortunate Spanish de-
| serter, who was perhaps the first discoverer of
our FL Dorado, and, like all presumptuous ones
received his reward-the reward of the inno-
vator, since the days when Prometheus shivered
in dumb agony on Caucasus"