cans were alarmed, and the town was cleared in five minutes. Our peace now seemed threatened by about five thousand men outside, and no inconsiderable alarm was created in town. The citizens armed themselves, and expresses were sent to Mormon Creek and Sullivan's Diggings, from which places about five hundred well armed Americans arrived, and marched through the streets with guns and rifles on their shoulders. The demonstration was sufficient; the crowds in the vicinity soon dispersed, and quiet was restored. The only thing to be feared, is the misguided zeal of our own citizens, who although generally sympathizing with the discontent occasioned by the unjust tax, are incensed that the foreigners should presume to take the law into their own hands, and may not be willing to allow the affair to rest where it is.

A serious affray took place this afternoon, in which a Mexican was seriously wounded. A man was noticed parading the streets with two or three pistols and a knife in his belt; the man was intoxicated, and the sheriff arrested him, or rather took his arms from him. While in the act, a Mexican came up behind and made a stab at the officer with a large knife. The murderous intent was frustrated by a bystander, who, with a bowie knife, struck the man, wounding him. severely. Mr. Work, the sheriff, was happily untouched.

This state of affairs, if allowed to last, will ruin the prosperity of the whole southern mines, and your own town of Stockton will be the first to suffer thereby.

Monday, May 20.-A guard was kept up all last

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night, but every thing was quiet, and as I said yesterday, I believe the danger, if any was to be apprehended, had passed away. But the excitable feelings of the hundreds of Americans now under arms had to be indulged, and hearing that a camp, mostly composed of foreigners, situated about seven miles from Sonora, had mounted Mexican, Chilian, and French flags, (what truth there is in the report, I know not,) they have started out this morning to avenge the insult, and chastise the temerity of the "greasers" and "outsiders." I sincerely trust there will be good sense enough in the party to refrain from wanton aggression.

Gov. Burnett has sent Hon. John Bidwell and Judge H. A. Schoolcraft in charge of the block of stone contributed by California to the Washington Monument. It is thus described:

"This block of gold-bearing quartz, is from the Mariposa diggings, near Fremont's mines, and weighs about one hundred and twenty-five pounds. In shape it is irregular, approaching a square, its sides varying from eighteen to twenty inches in length. It averages in thickness nine inches-across its face diagonally it is twenty-one inches by measurement. Very little gold is perceptible to the naked eye, but it is estimated to contain about eighty dollars worth."

Since the above events were recorded, another most disastrous fire has occurred in the city of San Francisco. It broke out in the Sacramento House, situated in the wealthiest portion of the city, on the 17th of June, 1850, at eight o'clock, A. M., and in the short space of three hours, about two-thirds of the wealthiest district was consumed. The shipping in the harbor

was only saved by the greatest exertion. The entire loss is estimated at from three to four millions of dollars. This event occurring so soon after the previous fire, has had a depressing and gloomy effect upon the business operations, not only of San Francisco, but of Sacramento City also. Many of the heaviest trading houses have been entirely ruined; and others brought to the verge of it. Several individuals, including the Mayor of the city, distinguished themselves by their noble and generous exertions to arrest the progress of the fire and save property.

The emigration to California by way of the overland route is six times as great during the present year as it was in 1849. The last company left Council Bluffs, on the 15th of June. They brought up the rear of near four thousand wagons, ten or twelve thousand persons, and about twenty thousand head of horses and cattle. The continued success of the golddiggers and the extraordinary prospect in regard to the quantity that will be obtained during the mining season of 1850, serves to keep up the excitement and to allure the emigrant to the golden land.

There is a prospect that the seat of government of California will be removed from San José to the proposed new city of Vallejo, about twenty miles above San Francisco, near the Straits of Carquinez, and at the junction of the Napa and San Pablo Bays. The new city has already been surveyed, and a company of influential capitalists organized, with the determination to "go ahead," whether the capital is or is not established at this point. The site no doubt presents many advantages for a large commercial city, not possessed by San Francisco. The distance from

the "Golden Gates," (as the entrance from the Pacific to the succession of bays connected with the harbor of San Francisco is termed) is about the same as San Francisco. The harbor is one of the safest and most commodious in the world, and the commissioners appointed by the general government to make surveys and decide upon the best location, have to recommend Mare's Island, half a mile from Vallejo, as the naval depot of the United States in California. The climate of Vallejo is delightful, and the place is never subjected to those strong and cold northerly winds which render San Francisco so disagreeable as a residence and so dangerous as a commercial city. There is plenty of marble for building purposes in the immediate vicinity of Vallejo, and plenty of limestone at a convenient distance, and easily obtainable. The new city will command a most beautiful view of San Pablo Bay and of the country adjacent, and the Napa valley (through which the Napa River flows, and near the mouth of which the city is located,) and the Sonoma valley in the vicinity are among the most fertile in California. Near Vallejo are also mineral springs, possessing similar properties, and said to equal the celebrated Congress Springs at Saratoga.

CHAPTER XIIL

THE MINERALOGICAL AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF GOLD, AND THE MODE OF DISTINGUISHING IT WHEN FOUND; TOGETHER WITH THE ASSAY, REDUCTION, AND REFINEMENT OF GOLD.

For the purpose of presenting all that is connected with that precious metal, that has built up a state within a few years, and of making the reader fully acquainted with all that is necessary for the goldseeker to know, we will now describe, in some detail, the natural history, character of gold, and the mode of determining its presence and value.

Gold invariably exhibits something of the peculiar yellow color which it is known to possess in a pure state; but this color is modified by various metals with which it may be mixed. Thus it may be described as having various shades of gold-yellow; occasionally approaching silver-white, occasionally resembling brass-yellow of every degree of intensity, and even verging on steel-gray in some specimens from South America.

The lustre of gold is highly metallic and shining, and owing to the small amount of oxidation at its surface, it preserves its shining lustre even after long exposure in contact with other substances. Thus the shining particles are often seen in sand when the quantity is barely sufficient to repay the cost of working, notwithstanding the value of the metal. Even