Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/44



minds of  ignorant  persons  wlio  receive  tliem  at  second

or twentietli  hand,  lead  to  remarks  like  the  following

by Mr  Simpson,   author  of  Three  Weeks  in  the  Gold

Regions, 'published in  1848. *' It is  also  known  that

an expedition  was  fitted  out  by  the  governor  of  Sonora

during the  last  century,  which  owing  to  various  dis-

courao-ements failed.

~ . .  .  /t

In his  Travels  in  Mexico,  when  near  the  mouth  of

the Colorado  in  1826,  Lieutenant  Hardy  says:  "The sand  is  full  of  a  o'litteringr  sort  of  tinsel,  which  shines beautifully  when  the  sun  is  upon  it.  It  is  common all  over  Sonora,  and  is,  I  imagine,  nothing  more  than broken  laminae  of  talc,  the,  surface  of  which  being probably  in  a  state  of  decomposition,  the  original color  is  changed  to  that  of  copper  and  gold.  It crumbles  easily  between  the  fingers,  and  cannot  there- fore be  metallic ;  but  its  delusive  appearance  may  pos- sibly have  given  rise  to  the  reports,  which  were spread,  as  it  is  supposed,  by  the  Jesuits,  who  formerly endeavored  to  make  an  establishment  upon  the  river, of  gold  dust  being  intermixed  with  the  sand." Fay- ette Robinson thinks  the  Jesuit  priests  were  aware  of the  existence  of  gold  in  California,  meaning  Lower California, but  carefully  diverted  the  attention  of  the natives from  it  in  favor  of  mission  labor. Osio in  his manuscript Historia  de  California  expresses  the  opinion that the  Franciscans  were  too  busy  with  conversions to ascertain  whether  the  river  sands  held  gold. The recent conjectures,  he  says,  that  they  knew  of  gold are not  probable,  because  the  secret  could  not  have been kept  among  so  many.

Since 1775  the  Mexicans  have  met  with  silver  in  the vicinity of  the  Colorado,  and  some  say  with  small  de- posits of placer  gold,  but  with  none  that  would  yield profitable returns. Very soon  after  the  organization  of the  missions  in  Lower  California,  converted  Indians  sent into the  upper  country  to  persuade  the  natives  there to listen  to  the  teachings  of  the  padres,  talked,  on their  return,  of  the  shining  sand  that  they  saw  in