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Show 334 PERSONAL ADVENTURES a sulphurous exhalation will be produced, if it be sulphuret of iron; but, if gold, this will not be the case. Gold again is much heavier than any other similar substance. The specific gravity of Californian gold is 15·96, nearly sixteen times heavier than water. A drop of nitric acid placed upon gold will have no effect upon it; while, if the same agent be applied to baser metals, it will have the effect of changing their colour, and blackening their surface. It appears that the gold was first detected on the American Fork ' about forty miles above Sutter's Fort, (now called New I-lelvetia) and 1,500 or 2,000 feet above the level of the sea. The distance of the lower washing is twenty-five miles. The hills in which the diggings are made are composed of a clayey and sJaty formation, overgrown with very large trees, mostly the Pinus Lambe~rtiani. From the convenience of sawing the trees, the mill was erected that led to the discovery of the precious metal. These hills form the first rise of the California IN CALIFORNIA. 335 Range, and extend about twelve miles east. Other positions where gold has been found lead to the belief that the same formation continues about the same height, to the Feather river on the north, a distance of 150 miles, and covering an area of about 1,800 square miles, throughout which gold has been already discovered ; and thence, if geological facts are to be taken as a basis, extends further north. The gold i~ found in its virgin state, disseIninated in small particles, of different sizes and different forn1s. Sometimes the small pieces are without any particular shape, sometimes they resemble small leaves, sometimes twigs; and sometimes the metal is found in masses. It is found in three distinct deposits: 1, in sand and gravel-beds ; 2, among decomposed granite; 3, intermixed with talcose slate. These rocks, in their original state, are hard, massive, and solid, but have now become soft and friable. This change has occurred from the long continued action of the weather and the atmosphere upon |