Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/101



CHAPTER V.

THE  JOURNEY   OVERLAND.

I have  seen  servants  upon  horses,  and  princes  walking  as  servants  upon the earth.

— Ecclesiastes.

California, in  1848,  stood  on  none  of  the  world's highways. It was  an  isolated  amphitheatre,  a  ^;  alley on which  the  sun  was  ever  setting,  far  away  from  civ- ilization and the  homes  of  the  gold-worshippers. On one side  were  seas  of  land,  on  the  other  seas  of  water. And the  water  and  the  land  both  were  vast  and  bil- lowy, trackless, and  often  showing  their  hostility  to man  each  after  its  fashion. One or  the  other  of  thdse seas of  desolation,  or  their  equivalent  in  obstacles, must be  crossed  before  the  dragon-guarded  treasure could be  touched.

Now the  journey  to  the  mines,  occupying  as  it  did weeks or  months,  and  being  made  by  companies  or aggregations  of  men,  women,  and  children,  called  forth new phases  of  human  conduct,  no  less  than  did  life  at  the diggings. Two days  out,  whether  on  plain  or  ocean, and the  pilgrim  began  to  feel  himself  a  new  being, the chrysalis  from  which  he  had  emerged  being  his late environs. The metal  of  which  he  was  made  was as yet  scarcely  recognizable,  but  the  fire  was  a-kindling which should  quickly  determine  it. Therefore it  is proper  to  delineate  and  preserve  characteristic  sketches of overland  and  ocean  travel  to  California  durino-  the flush times.

And first  as  to  travel  overland. The prairie  seas were not  wholly  unknown  ;  even  the  prairie  schooner