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Show 60 PERSONAL ADVENTURES the richest by the diggers. The sides of the ravine are ao steep and irregular, it's as much as a man can do to pick out a level spot to · lie down on at night. Trees abound there, Jnore particularly the pine, of w!1ieh I saw some of a farnons size. There are also red wood and white oak. The spruce, too, is plentiful, and is of irnmense service to the miners, who chop up and bruise the boughs, and boil them . . The liquor they drink as a cure for the scurvy, which is very virulent amongst them ; I suppose on account of their living so tnnch on salted food, and having no vegetables." " Were the diggers n u1nerous ?" ''When I was there, I suppose there were about three hundred, some living in tents, some encamped under trees, and some in log huts. A good many volunteers got there just as I was con1ing away, and more were on their way, I heard." '' Did you see or hear any thing of a volun· teer named O'ReilJy ?" '' Did I ? Who could be within ten miles IN CALIFORNIA. 61 of that noisy, funny, reckless, mi~understandable Irishman, and miss hirrt, any how 1 He had the most extraordinary run of 1 uck ; and has made, by this time, a pretty handsome purse, I should say." I felt much rejoiced to learn this good news of my quondan1 comrade, and continued my inquiries, after hearing sundry characteristic anecdotes concerning O'Reilly, the recital of which I will spare the reader. In reply to a question respecting the relative sizes of the ore, he informed me that the gold taken out of this mine runs large. "The average size of the lurnps," he said, " is about that of a pea ; some are as large as a bean; and I have seen pieces that weighed above two pounds. Were you lucky at the Stanislaus?" " Not very.'' "Ah, the fact is, it had been worked out before you got there. It's an awful dull place; no amusen1ent at all, unless one is fond of drinking. I can't say the Macalamo's much better; although it is comparatively |