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quality of herring is very abundant, and is caught in great quantities in spring in the Bay of San Francisco and along the coast. The real cod is not found on the coast of California, but is abundant, although of a small class, on the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. Rock-cod, a very bony fish, is plentiful; also tomcods, smelts, and soles or flatfish. The eel is not found on the Pacific coast, although several species resembling it, called eels, are to be found, but all inferior.

Besides those mentioned, there are a great many other kinds of fish in California, the market being supplied every day in the year with great abundance and variety; the prices are very low.

CHAPTER XX.

The precious metals-First mention of gold-Gold in Eden-Gods of the heathens-Aaron's golden calf-Ornaments of Jerusalem— Gold of the Romans-First gold in America-Gold in South America and Mexico-Gold in Asia and Europe-Gold-mining in the United States-Discovery of gold in California-Sir Francis Drake's voyage-Expedition of Commodore Wilkes to California-Product of gold-Mining operations-Quartz and quartz-mining-Rich mines-Quartz mills-Discovery of gold in Australia: yield of the precious metals in-On the Pacific coast -Mineral wealth of Great Britain - Progress of mining in Australia-Chinese in the gold-fields-Precious metal in the

world.

IN the chapters of this volume treating upon the early gold discovery, geology, counties, &c., will be found much information respecting mining in California. (See these chapters.)

The discovery of gold brought California prominently before the world. Had it not been for that event, more than likely San Francisco would be to-day an obscure outpost upon our western coast; Oregon would still be a Territory, Alaska still under the imperial flag of the Czar, and the great valleys of California untilled.

From the earliest period of which we have any knowledge, the precious metals have been sought for by all nations and classes, and the effects of their influence understood and appreciated. The earliest records of the human family make mention of gold, and the kings, priests, and prophets of ancient times seem to have fully understood its value. Abraham's riches, as mentioned in Genesis xiii, 2, are said to have consisted of cattle, silver, and gold. Even the Garden of Eden is supposed to have contained the precious metals. In Genesis ii, 11, 12, gold is spoken of simul

taneously with the creation, and as existing in the land of Havilah, which was encompassed by the first river running from the Garden of Eden.

Gold formed the gods and idols of the ancients; and Aaron formed a calf of gold for the children of Israel, but Moses reduced it to powder by burning it in a fire. Solomon employed gold in great abundance in ornamenting the temple of Jerusalem.

South America early produced her share of gold. Atahuallpa, the Inca of Peru, offered gold to the value of $15,480,710 for his ransom when a captive of war. The land of Ophir (the location of which is still a mystery) supplied the Phoenicians and Israelites with gold; once in three years the ships of King Solomon completed a voyage there and back. The Pyrenees and Alps supplied the Romans with much of their gold. Spain obtained her supply of the precious metals along the Tagus; and the Athenians obtained gold in Thessaly and the island of Thasos.

At the time of the discovery of America, in 1492, the total value of the precious metals in the whole of Europe was estimated at one hundred and seventy million dollars. In the year 1600, it had increased to six hundred and fifty million dollars-an increase of four-fold in a century. So, in a corresponding degree, the value of gold decreased, in the fact that every commodity of merchandise had advanced four-fold in this period, and a corresponding increase in every article of consumption keeps pace with the increase of the precious metals.

The total amount of the precious metals in circulation throughout the world, in 1872, is estimated at four

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billion dollars. Of this amount California has, since 1848, contributed one billion dollars, and Australia, since 1851, an additional billion dollars. Thus it will be seen that California and Australia, in the brief period of twenty years, have contributed to the world one-half of its gold.

In estimating the wealth of nations and the value of products, it must always be borne in mind that, while mines of gold and silver become exhausted, the metals produced do not, but, unlike the product of shop and field, which becomes extinct on use, the precious metals retain their value for ages.

From 1492 to 1500, about fifty-two thousand pounds sterling in gold went annually from the American continent to Europe. Up to 1519, of the precious metals gold only was found in America.

With the conquest of Mexico, in 1521, and the discovery of the rich silver mines of Potosi, in 1545, a large supply of silver found its way from America to England. In the reign of James VI, gold was mined in the slate rocks of Leadhills, Scotland; and near the close of the last century fifty thousand dollars in gold was collected in two months, in the county of Wicklow, Ireland. At Cornwall, Devonshire, in Wales, and other parts of Great Britain, gold has been mined for, but never profitably.

In almost all the mountains and streams of Europe and Asia gold has been discovered in less or greater quantities, on the Rhine, Rhone, Reuss, Danube, and Aar, in the Alps, and Siberia. Up to the date of the discovery of gold in California, Russia was the greatest gold-producing country in the world. Croesus is sup

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posed to have obtained his gold in the sands of the River Pactolus, in Asia Minor.

The gold product of Borneo is supposed to be about five million dollars per annum.

Gold has been obtained in Japan from time immemorial. During the sixty years that the Dutch traded with that country, they are supposed to have carried away in trade over forty million dollars in gold.

The whole region of South and Central America and Mexico is rich in gold and silver. The heathens of the Isthmus of Panama of past centuries made their gods of gold, and interred them in the graves of their dead. A few years since, mining for gods was a profitable employment in New Grenada.

Gold-mining in the United States is comparatively of a recent date; the first discovery being made in North Carolina, in 1799, in Meadow creek, a small stream in Cabarrus county. It was discovered by a boy named Conrad Reed, who, on a Sunday, was sporting and catching fish in the stream. He saw a yellow lump of metal in the water and carried it home; his father took it to the village silversmith at Concord, but he was unable to tell what it was. For three years the lump, which was about the size of a small smoothing-iron, was used as a weight against the door; when, in 1802, the old man Reed carried it to Fayetteville: there a jeweller pronounced it gold, melted it into a bar, and paid Mr. Reed three hundred and fifty dollars for it, much to his surprise and delight. Meadow creek was soon thoroughly explored, when considerable gold was discovered. In 1803, one piece found in that stream weighed twenty-eight pounds, another sixteen pounds. In 1831, a rich quartz vein was discovered in the vicinity

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