Page:History of California (Bancroft) volume 6.djvu/59



his other  affairs  so  arranored  as  to  enable  him  to  with- stand the  result. The men,  indeed,  were  not  yet prepared to  relinquish  good  wages  for  the  uncertain- ties of gold-gathering.

If only  the  land  could  be  secured  on  which  this gold was  scattered — for  probably  it  did  not  extend  far in any  direction — then  interloping  might  be  prevented, mining controlled,  and  the  discovery  made  profitable. It was  worth  trying,  at  all  events. Mexican grants being no  longer  possible,  Sutter  began  by  opening negotiations with  the  natives,  after  the  manner  of  the English colonists  on  the  other  side  of  the  continent. Calling a  council  of  the  Culumas  and  some  of  their neighbors, the  lords  aboriginal  of  those  lands,  Sutter and Marshall  obtained  from  them  a  three  years'  lease of a  tract  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  square,  on  payment of some  shirts,  hats,  handkerchiefs,  flour,  and  other articles of  no  great  value,  the  natives  meanwhile  to be  left  unmolested  in  their  homes.^  Sutter  then  re- turned to New  Helvetia,  and  the  great  discovery  was consummated.

of *an  agreement  we  had  made  with  this  tribe  of  Indians  in  the  month  of September  previous,  to  wit,  that  we  should  live  with  them  in  peace  on  the same land.'  Discovery  ofOoUl,  in  Hutchings*  Mag.,  ii. 200.
 * RUjlerH* Diary ^  MS.,  66.  Marshall  speaks  of  this  as  the  consummation