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Show .. 300 PERSONAL ADVENTURES Fork, about seven n1iles above the " Spanish Bar," a party of Oregon rnen happened to be encalnped. r,vo of thern, not thinking the spot they had selected sufficiently rich, went "prospecting," as it is tern1ed, up the river for a better place. When they came back, they found seven of their companions weltering in their blood, and all their provisions gone, ·with the exception of a little flour and biscuit that lay strewn upon the ground. These two men went to the mill to report the circumstance ; and a party of forty men, headed by Captain M'l(ay, himself an Indian by birth, took their rifles and went in pursuit of the murderers to a ranclterie, about ten miles farther north. The place to which they proceeded contains ahout t'venty rude dwell· ings, n1ade of brushwood ahd sticks, each of them large enough to contain three or four men and their squaws. On coming in sight, the Americans found the rancherie crowded with about three hundred Indians. ' The for· mer immediately discharged their rifle5, killing about thirty of them ; and the rest scampered IN CALIFORNIA. 301 off towards the mountains, with the exception of seven men and about forty squaws, whorn they took prisoners, and brought to the Mill for trial. One of the women declaring that these seven men had been engaged in the late m urders, the latter were about to be executed, when the ringleader, suddenly making signs to his companions, and uttering a shout, they all burst through the guard surrounding them, and fled. Three of them were shot while endeavouring to cross the river; another was stabbed hy an American, while running up a hill on the other side ; and the rest, amongst whorn was the chief of the party, made their escape. I have said nothing as yet with respect to the population of California, the continual influx of strangers rendering the subject mere matter of speculation. Judging from my own personal observation, I should say that there were not more than 25,000 inhabitants in both the upper and lower countries, previous to the discovery of the gold mines. |