THE MAORI MESSENGER Auckland, December 6, 1849.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 25, 6 December 1849, Page 1

THE MAORI MESSENGER Auckland, December 6, 1849.

The departure of so many vessels, during the last six months, from Auckland, full of goods and passengers, must, naturally, have made you anxious to learn something authentic respecting this California, of which there is, and lias been, so much talk, and which appears still to he drawing men of all characters and countries to its seductive shores. Authentic information, however, from a land where a 1 is clamorous confusion, is a matter vcryilillicult, if not impossible, to be obtained ; for, even the accounts furnished by the self same individuals residing there, are contradictory in the extreme. On one point alone do all parties seem to be ngroed ; —namely, in re'presenting t'-nt gold abounds, and that it lis to be had for tlie digging. This is, [certainly, a very flattering representation, as far as it goes;—but, notwithstanding that it is confidently asserted that the average gains of the many thousand digI grs amount to one ounce of gold, or sixleen dodars per man, a day, still we must he pnrdono.l if we look upon this assertion rather as a flaitcriiig figure of speech than the undeniable establishaient of an ascertained fact. That gold is very abundant in San Francisco, we entertain not the remotest doubt; and that it is sufficiently plentiful at tli c mines to excite an extraordinary degree of astonishment cannot be questioned:— hut, when wo consider the proneness of mankind to exaggerate, even in trivial 'uftur.s, we are of opinion that a large, a very large, allowance should be made whilst listening to the golden trumpeting of California. We are told of the brilliant success of those who draw pri/C3 in that new and bewildering adventure, but not a sentence is uttered with respect to the disappointment and doom of countless victims lured to abandon competence and comfort to draw but a miserable blank in the same hazardous lottery. Even those who acquire this gold, must in the outset incur n vast deal of expense ond endure no ordinary degree of privation. The passage to San Franciso is long and expensive, and, when the ship anivea there, the charges for food and lodging are of a most extravagant character. A piece of ground, whereon to pitch a tent, or erect a hut, is let at a charge of inoiiv hundred dollars by the month, and although labour is paid for at the most exorbitant rate, yet the cost for house and food swallows up the largest share of the wa»es. Then, the climate is to be n most uncongenial one, wet and wind being all prevalent, and subjecting the new comer to many dangerous diseases—such as dysentery, fever and ague, rheumatism, and the like. '* During the day," writes an emigrant, *' I was broiled alive, whilst throughout the night tlic.'coid was so intense that I was a'most frozen to death." The mines are betwesn two or three hundred miles from San Francisco. It is both troublesome and expensive to reach them ;—and when arrived there, the ta'k of acquiring the gold is no light or easy one. It requires great strength and perseverance:!; for the diggings, ns they have been represented to us, are as laborious as the process of well-sinking, with the additional exertion, (to discover the gold) of turning over carefully every spade-fid of soil torn from its native bed. Order is said to prevail amongst the diggers, in consequence of the summary punishment attended upon an infraction of any of their laws, When a trial becomes necessary, twelve men and a president ore impannelled to adjudicate the case. If sentence of death be passed, the condemned is hurried off to instant execution, a rope

Lcing plu.<ed aroiinil his nock, :\iul his body run up to llio nearest tree in ti twinklinc. We shall le.re to nion resident on the spot the clesnipfion of a country with which we can only ilea! by hearsay and at second band. It may be well worthy the consideration of those who are weighing the advantages fo be gained by transfci ringtheir labour from New Zealand to California to reflect '..lictiier tbc same ainoiint af care bestowed in pulverizing t!*e soil in search of go'd would not return as much in cash, if devoted to the culture of onions, potatoes, wheat, barley, turnips, carrots, and other of the line and productive grains and vegetables of New Zealand. Potatoes and onions we know have been in large demand and at most extravagant juices. So also, eggs, butler, and poultry —all these are easily reared—and if cattle and pin feeding upon an extensive stale wero once set afoot, and the provision trad?, which, sooner or later New Zealand is sure to possess, commenced, we sltou'd find that tlie gold dust of the Sierra Nevada would find its way not merely to impart energy and enterprise to our agriciillulists, but to the enrichment a'so of the dwellers and natives both of the Middle island and of the North.