186 KLATSASSAN.

Titles of honour are freely bestowed. Every body is
called Cap, and any one who appears in a coat may hear
himself addressed as Doc. Maj, for major, is given to
any one who ever has had any thing to do with the army,
and Gen, for general, is applied to any person, military or
otherwise, who has chanced to conduct an expedition
against Indians, or who has even headed a band of cattle
from Oregon or the Dalles.

Yet, for all this roughness, let no man despise the gold-
digger. Indeed, he is far from an object of contempt.
On the contrary, there is a force of character about him

which many feeble natures at home might well covet. |
There is a clearness of vision and an ironness of nerve |

which many dull-eyed white-livered dwellers in cities
might well admire. There is a philosophic endurance
about him which might excite a wondering envy in
gentlemen and artisans at home who could not patiently
endure for one day the absence of their accustomed luxu-
ries. The man who can resolutely turn from the abodes
of civilized life and his earthly all on his back, face the
homeless desert, break into the silent forest, ascend the
unknown mountain, pursue the river of which no map
bears record, stand in absolute solitude by the lonesome
lake, himself

The first that ever burst

Upon that silent shore ;—

the man who, with his life in his hand, can encounter
daily risks, and stand in jeopardy every hour, (he
may be disabled, lose himself, be drowned, or fall a
prey to wild beasts or Indians,) must surely have some
good stuff in his composition, and possess qualities which
many a more refined and in other respects superior man,
is at this hour of the day, perhaps, after all, only half a
man for the want of. Although lacking in many spiritual
qualities, the gold-digger often possesses others which
entitle him to our respect. Besides the indomitable re-
solve referred to, and the patience he so often shows
amid privations of all kinds, there is a kindness of heart
which is sometimes truly touching. He is always
ready to give to a case of distress. “We do not
know how soon we may come to need help ourselves,”
they would say, as they would give a fifth of their last
five-dollar piece, and if it be thought that this sentiment
is something like selfishness, under the cloak of gene-
rosity, then might numerous instances be brought for-
ward of miners sharing their last dime or their last crust
with their companions. Once when the present writer
was at Cariboo, there came into William’s Creek a party
of four miners, bearing on a litter a partner who had got
lamed. The accident had occurred at an unknown creek
where the party was seeking for a prospect, some twenty
miles away. All this distance the four had borne their
friend over densely wooded, pathless hills, and through
many a wild ravine and treacherous swamp, till at last
they had brought him safely to the hospital which,
through the generous efforts of other miners, had just
been built at Camerontown. Ungrateful were it in the
present writer to forget countless deeds of kindness re-
ceived at the hands of miners.
had become a butcher (and probably was making a good
thing of it), who one day called me into his shop, and
made me a present of some twenty-dollar pieces in a piece
of paper, as a token, said he, of his sense of some pro-
| fessional service to a friend of his, adding, that if ever
I needed money for any object, I had only to apply to him.

One was of a miner who |

SL

Full many another act of kindness I recall with an over-
flowing heart, and a cordial wish that I may prove to
have been of use to my rough friends in another life,
as I shall probably never be able to repay them here,
where, alas! they do not appreciate as they ought
such service as it is in a clergyman’s power to render.
Often have I, weary and heavy laden with my blankets,
“struck” a friendly miner’s camp on my way, and
there been refreshed with a cup of strong coffee, which
in a moment made me, out of a feeble, done-up piece of
dust and ashes, a man once more.
thy kindness, Str (for such was thy name), for receiving
me into thy tent, that Sunday night when having
started from William’s Lake at about two in the afternoon,
to go after a party of men engaged on the new road to
the mines, whom I intended to preach to, but never found,
nor have found from that day to this, after wandering
through many a rainy hour, lost, utterly lost in the per-
plexing pathless forest, and night having at last fallen
on me, I deseried with joy thy cheering camp-fire
gleaming through the wood, and making for it, found
thee so kind and hospitable, turning out of thy blankets,
which afterwards thou wouldst have me share, and pre-
paring me tea and other means of consolation and re-
freshment. Or again thy philanthropy, Dave Potts, bold
pioneer and stout packer, but somewhat rough, espe-
cially in thy cups, shall it not live long as memory
lasts, when belated I chanced to light upon thy camp in
the far-off lonesome place, and thou sharedst with me
thy last loaf, thy last cup of tea. Instances of kindness,
even from the roughest of men, from notorious criminals,
suspected murderers and thieves, might be mentioned
were there need. Suffice it to say, that if any one doubts
that there is good at the bottom of every nature, a feeling
of brotherly kindness and charity in the most lawless and
most selfish, he has only got to fall in with such an one
in his distress, and he will soon discover that there is a
soft place even in the hardest heart, and that “one touch
of nature” which
Makes the whole world kin,

even amongst roughs.

Such, then, were some of the general characteristics ot
the sort of men who joined Mr. Cox’s party. Plainly
to such men discipline was no welcome thought,
if indeed it was an intelligible one; and yet unless
their captain could contrive to teach it them, his labour
must perforce be in vain. He accordingly determined
to show them that, with all his genial kindness, he
yet knew how to hold a stiff rein in a tight hand,
and so made known to them his first order of the day,
which was, that the first man who promoted a quarrel
should be discharged, no matter where they were. This
decree was likely to ensure peace and quietness, first

| condition of success and progress in that, as indeed most

enterprises. The prospect of being turned out of the
camp, perhaps hundreds of miles from a white habitation,
into the wilderness to starve, was sure to have a salutary
and deterrent influence. Before they had got well clear
of Alexandria, this law had to be put in force. One
evening one of the men (who had formerly been a
constable in Cariboo) came into camp intoxicated, and
drew a revolver and a knife on his comrades. The

| captain, hearing the noise, came out, and as he saw the
| Swaggering and blatant ruffian brandishing his weapons

and threatening to shoot all present, he determined to

Shall I ever forget |