rich gold mines were found in Mexico and Peru, and not in Virginia or Massachusetts, the New Netherlands, or Pennsylvania. Well for the nation that the Indians spoke the truth when they pointed farther and farther to the westward for the yellow metal. Well for the people that they had to work their way across the continent before touching that dangerous ground. Had the placers of California lain in the Highlands, in the White or the Blue Mountains, we should now, in all probability, have belonged to enfeebled, demoralized colonies, instead of occupying the high and hopeful ground where we now stand, and which we may, by the grace of Providence, continue to hold, if true to our God, true and united among ourselves.
Thursday, 11th.—Clear, and severely cold. Thermometer 16 below zero at daylight this morning. Too cold for sleighing; but we walked as usual. So cold that the children have given up sliding down hill—the winter pastime in which they most delight. The lake is a brilliant field of unsullied white; for a light fall of snow covered it as it froze, greatly to the disappointment of the skaters. The fishermen have already taken possession of the ice, with their hooks baited for pickerel, and salmon-trout.
Men are driving about in fur over-coats, looking like very good representations of the four-legged furred creatures that formerly prowled about here. Over-coats of buffalo robes are the most common; those of fox and gray rabbit, or wolf, are also frequently seen.
Friday, 12th.—Severely cold. Thermometer 17 below zero at sunrise. Clear, bright weather. White frost on the trees this morning; the sign of a thaw. Few sleighs in motion; only a wood-sled here and there, bringing fuel to the village.
