THE GOLD WASHINGS OF CALIFORNIA. (From the New Monthly Magazine.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 385, 22 December 1849, Page 3

THE GOLD WASHINGS OF CALIFORNIA. (From the New Monthly Magazine.)

ciiiiuu emigrant ruuiu uuu suutii pms 01 me luicicy Mountains, across the continent of North America, the great desert busin, and through California, would at any time have peculiar claims to interest. The solitude of the prairies— the difficulties of the way, and the sufferings of man and beast — buffaloes, wolves, hears, and hostile luditms— the mountains mid storms to be encountered— -the privations to be undergone— arc features of such travel, to contemplate which excites a curiosity that is not easily satiated. But at the present moment, all these points of interest must give way before one all-absorbing topicgold ! just at the difficulties to be met with and the piivations to be undergone will have to give way before the mania excited by Ihe all-corqueiing hope of gain. Ever since California was discovered by Sir Fiancis Drake, it has been more or less suspected, as part of Mexico to be a metalliferous region. A mine of copper, wrought on the western side of the Rio del Norte, in lat. 34 deg. N , and which produced 20/01) mule loads of copper annually, has been long known to contain gold, but it was not considered to be in sufficient quantity to pay for its extraction. The g-Ul washings more recently discovered on the western and eastern aspects of the Sierra Noveda or del Sacramento, may be very productive, or very little so ; they may extend over an immense tract of country, or may be confined to a comparatively limited area. They may embrace every valley nnd ravine of the rocky ranges that rise out of the Pacific, from Cape St. Lucas to the Oregon, or they may be confined to some few alluvia and rocky detritus brought down by one or two lonely tributaries of the Rio d-I Sacramento, ami of the Rio Colorado and the great lakes north of the latter liver. Nothing is moie uncertain than the mineral wealth of detritus. A mine must be more or less productive — a washing is a matter of chance. Perhaps this lends to it Us charm ; it has almost Ihe unceitdinty and the excitement of gambling. When a lode or vein of precious metal is met with in granite with a veinstone of quartz, or in any other rock, its possible productiveness is determined in a brief space of time,— when a few ounces or as many grains of gold are dugout of the debris of rocks worn away by the lapse of ageg, moie may also be found in the sains vicinity, but again it may not. It is not a necessary consequence, that because a gold washing is discovered that it mint be continuously productive ; it may be so for a greater or le s time, sufficiently so to enrich many, but it is not necessarily so ; the chances, from the example of all past time^ are that it will not be so. At all events, the great distinction between a gold mine and a gold washing is, that one tells its own tale, the other docs not ; in the one case you can calculate your profits, in the other you can never even measure your loss. Gold, mineralo^ically [spi aking, is by no means so rare as is generally imagined. We have seldom exploreJ a granitic district with care without meeting with it ; the Malvern Wills excepted. Between the mines ofStrontian and Fort William, North Britain, we rcmemb ir (o have met with granite iv which gold abounded almost as much as horn blende does in Sienitic gri* nite. In Taurus it is quite common. It does no! 1 , however, in such instances pay to extricate it ; whether, except in some few rare and accidental localities, it will pay to extricate it, when diffused en paillettes, over almost a continent of alluvium, it icmaiasloi' time to tel — the chances are all against it. Take for example the sand washing 3 , so much more easy than gravel or mud washings, which gave their name to a por.ion of the African coast, and which enriched the loyal Sir Nicholas Crispe and a few others. Where arc th'ry now ? In a little book, printed in 1710, called, " Miscellanea Scotica,".itis stited that in old times much gold was collected in different parts of Scotland. In the reign of James IVi, 300 Germans were employed in gold washing, and about 100,000/. sterling were produced. The laird of Marchcston got gold in the PentInnd Hills, some w.is found in Lringham Waters. Pennant, in his " Second Tour in Scotland," notices thai gold has been frequently found at Lcadhills, in the gravel beneath the peat, from which it was washed by rains, and collected in the gullies by persons who have employed themselves in search of the precious metal ; but of late years, he adds, these adventurers have icarce been able to procure a livelihood. The sensation created among the excitable Irish by the discovery of a few pieces of native gold in the Wicklow mountami, is within the memory of many, The peasantry enjoyed all the excesses of the gold fever, and suffered also from the inevitable collapse. Most of the rivers of South America descending from the Andes, 'when increased cither by rains or by the melting of the snow, force along masses of rock, which are ground down, leaving grains of gold to he found after the flood has subsided. Ulloa mentions a case of a lump found in the Rio tie la Paz in 1730, so large that the Marquis de Castel-Fuertc gave 12/0') pieces of eight for it 1 Yet the gold washings of La Paz have never been permanently wrought. The tradition of the Puclolu3 and other gold livers of the ancients, lived to become a byword and a satire. The history of discoveiy in America furnishes the most notable instances of grievous sacrifices made to the dsinon of cupidity. Nothing but a mania for gold, as is at the present moment instanced in the cass of California, can render many of the gold romances of the past credibls. Towns with i oofs and walls of golden plate, and lakes with sands of gold, were among the phanlomß created by this mania. The search for the. fabled Golden Lake Parinn, and tlic imaginary city of Manoa del Dorado, wai even carried on by Sir Walter Raleigh, and occasioned the death of matiy a gallant adventurer. Nicholas Hirtsman, a German, was probably the list who attempted the discovery of these visionary regions, in 1710. Altun Su's, or Golden rivers abound throughout the East. Even China ha? its Altan Kol, or Golden river, and its Kin-cha Kynng, or river with golden sands. We find in the '• Lcttres Edifiantes et Curieuses," indited by the reverend misiionaries in that country, that the gold of the Altan Kol makes a principal revenue of the Princess of Koho Nor ! The fact ii, that examples innumerable prove that the search for gold is one of the most rain and illusive pursuits in which man can be engaged.

California.— We regret to state that the River Cheif, laid on for the land of gold, lias brcn already neaily tilled up with pissongcis, and such is the mania now existing in Melbourne in favour of tlie gold speculation, that if another vessel were advertised it would be as speedily and certainly chartered. Put ing the past foi'iiu^ht— in fact, since the publication of the latest intelligence from the gold region, which in ilsjlf contained an equal portion of good and bad news — mnny who befoie laughed at the idea of tempting the perils of the deep on such an expedition, i le now seriously resolving within themselves the propiiefy o m iking such a venture. We would bavc no objection to Californian emigration, so long as it merely weeded society, by alluring the bad and the worthless— the murderer, the pickpocket, and the swindler ; but, that sober, iteady, good-ch<iracter,ed men, especially the

class to which (he industrious mechanic belongs, should swallow the destructive bair, is ji matter to be deplored by every friend of Port Phillip. We are sincerely sorry to find the yellow foyer infecting this branch of the community— such is, nevertheless, the case; and, should the letters daily expected from partic3 who havo proceeded to Califoihia, diiect from this port, hold out even the most shadowy inducement, the number of departures will be fearfully inuvnscd. This step, we repeat, is to bo much deprecated, w there can be only one opinion of California. The chance of tho " digging*" has been well compared with a lottery, where a few will have prizes, but many vciy many incur ruin. The wild, careless adventurer, who has neither house nor home, kilh or kin in Port Phillip, who has neither character, means, ncr affections of any sort to lose, may perhaps do worse thin j in the thousands now congregated fiom the four quartets of the globe on the Sacramento. The departure of such .1 person can not be considered a loas ; but tor iho man of active, steady and enterprising habits, to unsettle himself in the woild by th's speuies of ie-eminwtion, wou'd he an act of imst egrc»i)U3 folly,— and in many cases redound to his own dcatiuctioi). To all such, then, wo would say, remain in Poil Phillip, whcie you will sometime meet the reward of your labours — your career may be slow bnt sure, iiut , ponder on the tiu'hful wordb of jE-,op : " A slow, but biue yel s'eady pace In tho long run will win the race." — Port Phillip [lerahl

Mauriiius. — Governor Amletson appears to giving the coloni U grcit satisfaction, lie lias shewn his desire to givcrn the colony to the advantage, and so far p.s advisable, in accordance wiih the wishes of the people, by au immense reduition in the expenditure, Ininging it within the means of the revenue. Tinea new members have been edded to Ilia Legislative Council— viz., Messrs. Ilaughton, Cayron, and Iludelle. The introduction of these gentlemen to the Counci was ennsidered a great impiovcinent upon its composition. " llitheito the composi ion of the Council has been one entirely ot gentlemen representing the producers, and with the exception of Mr. Lemierc, there was not among the members a single merchant or importer, and Mr. Jjcmiac's interest as an importer is trifling a3 compared with (he stake ho holds in the agiicultunil interests. The piesent nomination tends therefore to a fairer balance ol power, Mr. Iloughton representing the largest commercial and shipping (inn in the island, and Mr. Cayron highly important commercial interest. "—The Council have passed a law empowering the Commissioners of Currency to issues Government Notes, vcprespnting Rie nipees, or nine shillings and two pence steilinfl. The business of tlic Treasury is to be minaged through tho Cornmereiul Bink, making ft great saving in the public expenditure —and under these circumsmnccs the emission of the notes WUB consideml "a great public benefit-," md " a fiistßlep to establish a unity in the currency."

Tun NcwsrAPnrt Pncss. — The history of the iucieaso of periodical literatuie in tho United States ii surprising, and allOEjetlur without parallel in anyotliec country. The whole number printed in 1773 w\n J3, which numbei' was >h/iJcd among the old thirteen states as follows : — Massachusetts, seven ; Navy Hampshire, one; Rhode Island, two; Conn'cticut, four; New York, four ; Now Jersey, one ; Pensylvania, nine ; Maryland, two ; N jrlh Carolun, two ; Virgiuiu, two ; South Carolina, three ; Georgia, one. The number of newspapers and other periodicals in the United States, aa appears from the roturns made to tie General Post OiThc, in 1330, was 1J55 ; of which. 274 were published in tho state of New Yoik, the cily alone publishing 71. Massachusatts had i 23, and Pennsylvania 2j3, of which 71 were published in Philadelphia. We hive not at hand any later official returns, but we should judge that the whole number at present, is considerably over 3900. The total number of uewgpapers annually issued m the Union has been estimu* ted at about 75,000,000, more than double the probable number issued in Great Biitain. The increase in numb?™, great as it is, bears hardly any proportion to the improved quality and value of the matter, and particularly in the principal cities. Few persons, not connected with the press, have any idea of the expanse and labor incurred, at the present day, in Keeping up to the spirit of the times. The coat for maintaining for a paper a reputable standing at this time, would have published at least half a dozen papers fifteen or twenty j eara ago. If any reader doubts this, he has only to look at the bills of a newspiper office in New York or Philadelphia, for telegra* phic despatches, shipping and commercial news, correspondents, leporters' bills, &c., and ho will soon admit oui corrcclusss. We have recently seen it stated that the Ne.v York Sun has cxp-uicJ 'o 12 J,Q00 in establishing <i private telegraph for ils own me, between the cities of .Boston and Washington, in connection wiih the intermediate cities. — Polynesian.