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Show 166 PERSONAL ADVENTURES difficult to obtain even at that price; the most eligible localities fetching sums which, considering their extent, appeared ruinous. The avidity with which they were bought up, however, proved that the purchasers possessed unlimited confidence in the produce of the mines and the extravagance of the miners. • • • · In short, Sacramento c1ty owes 1ts growmg importance entirely to the discovery of the gold mines, and to its admirable position as a starting-point to the upper ones. It certainly is not a desirable dwelling-place at present, whatever it may eventually become, though it admirably serves its purpose, namely, to offer to the vast multitude of birds of passage that flock to this region a spot where they may find a temporary rest for the soles oftheir feet ere they migrate further north. From hence, indeed, oxen and mule-teams are con· stantly travelling to all the "diggins," and every available mode of conveyance seems in request · so much so that only lately they were 'c harging carria' ge at the rate 0f one hundred dollars a hundred weight of a IN CALIFORNIA. 167 hundred pounds; but the immense overland emigration introduced so many tea1ns, that, at the time I am writing of, it had come down to twenty dollars for the san1e load. I may add, that the "red woods," which are situated to the north-west of Pueblo Bay, constitute a remarkable and an agreeable feature in the landscape. They are of great extent, and, previously to the discovery of the gold mines, supplied the natives \vith the chief part of the timber they use. But they were also notorious as the resort of robbers and deserters of every description, who here carried on their lawless practices, secure against pursuit, adding to their unlawful gains by the more honest recompence they received for sawing and felling timber. This "red wood" is a species of cedar, and seems more abundant in these parts than any other kind of native wood I saw. It possesses many singular properties, and amongst others, that of turning quite black when scoured, but, when polished and varnished, assuming the appearance of mahogany. It is extremely |