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Sun Tzu
AND THE

Art of
Modern
Warfare

War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life

or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it
be thoroughly studied.
—Sun Tzu
 Also by Mark McNeilly
Sun Tzu and the Art of Business: Six Strategic Principles for Managers
George Washington and the Art of Business: The Leadership Principles of
America’s First Commander-in-Chief
Sun Tzu and
The Art of
Modern Warfare
U P D AT E D E D I T I O N

Mark McNeilly

1
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide.

Oxford New York

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With offices in
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South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam

Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press

in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by

Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

© Oxford University Press, 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior
permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law,
by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization.
Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the
Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McNeilly, Mark.
Sun Tzu and the art of modern warfare / Mark R. McNeilly. — Updated edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–995785–9 (paperback)
1. Sunzi, active 6th century B.C. Sunzi bing fa. 2. Military art and science. 3. Military art and
science—Case studies. I. Sunzi, active 6th century B.C. Sunzi bing fa. English. 2014. II. Title.
U102.M54 2014
355.02—dc23
2014024470

987654321
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
PERSONAL DEDICATION
To my parents James and Esperanza, for their love.
To my wife Sandy, for her help and support in all things.
To my children Alex, Logan, and Kenzie, for being themselves.
And to God, who makes all things possible.

DEDICATION TO POSTERITY
To the defenders of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness throughout
history.
To the defenders of the rule of law against the rule of man, past, present,
and future.
May your leaders always be worthy of you,
May the people understand your sacrifice.
And may you use the ideas contained herein to protect freedom.
CONTENTS

Preface to the Updated Edition   ix

Acknowledgments  xi

Introduction: The Relevance of Sun Tzu to Modern Warfare   1

1. Win All Without Fighting: Achieving the Objective
without Destroying It   8
2. Avoid Strength, Attack Weakness: Striking Where the Enemy Is Most
Vulnerable  29
3. Deception and Foreknowledge: Winning the Information War   62
4. Speed and Preparation: Moving Swiftly to Overcome Resistance   90
5. Shaping the Enemy: Preparing the Battlefield   119
6. Character-based Leadership: Leading by Example   148
7. Terrorism and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: Applying Sun Tzu’s
Principles  172
8. Ancient Principles for Future Battlefields: Applying Sun Tzu’s
Principles  196

Notes  215
Original Translation of The Art of War by Samuel B. Griffith   223
Bibliography to Sun Tzu Translation   303
Index  307
P R E FA C E T O T H E U P D AT E D E D I T I O N

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War has proved to be a classic work on strategy, appli-
cable to not only warfare but beyond that, statecraft. Its lessons have been
applied in times both ancient and modern to win victory.
Given the actual conflicts embroiling the world today, it is clear that the
need to study and understand warfare is as important now as ever. The world
faces the continued threats of terrorism as well as “rogue” nation-states
that have or seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. The future brings
the uncertainty of instability in Middle East governments and potential for
Pacific conflict as China rises, becoming more powerful. In the meantime,
Russia continues to restore its prior status in the world through a mixture
of force and diplomacy. The challenges we must face today, and those that
we can predict in the near future and (perhaps most importantly) those we
cannot foresee, make it imperative to learn the principles of warfare laid
out in Sun Tzu’s classic on strategy.
Unfortunately, while The Art of War contains much wisdom, it is not a
simple read. I have found that the people who have actually read The Art
of War number far fewer than those who have purchased it. Perhaps this is
due to the book’s division into thirteen chapters consisting of a sequence
of quotations and the use of ancient military examples. These factors can
make the reading and comprehension of The Art of War’s secrets a challenge.
The purpose of this book is therefore to make The Art of War more easily
understood by, and applicable for, today’s soldiers, statesmen, historians,
and those interested in strategy and warfare.
Most approaches to applying The Art of War take the book’s thirteen
chapters and then attempt to relate each of them one by one to the more
modern subject at hand. However, this method often fails as the ancient
examples are stretched too far and the need to align to the thirteen chap-
ters breaks up Sun Tzu’s trademark holistic approach to strategy into too
many unrelated pieces. To avoid these problems, I combed through The Art
of War and selected the most powerful and pertinent quotations, allowing
them to “group themselves” into topics that were both self-contained but
also hung together holistically. This method allowed me to crystallize the
concepts and ideas put forth in The Art of War into six strategic principles
that I believe reflect the essence of Sun Tzu’s ideas. To bring those prin-
ciples to life, I illustrated them with examples from history and worked
hard to write this book in a simple yet interesting manner. Each of these six
principles is captured in a separate chapter, with a seventh that discusses
their use in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an eighth that illustrates
how the principles can be applied in the future.
My interest in writing this book resulted from a deep interest in mili-
tary history, my attraction to the ideas and concepts put forth by Sun Tzu,
my experience as an officer in the U.S. Army National Guard, and my time
as a strategist for a major global corporation. These forces, plus the desire
to ensure that students of strategy have greater exposure to and under-
standing of Sun Tzu’s holistic strategic philosophy, compelled me to pen
this work.
I hope you find it useful and enjoyable.
M.R.M
Cary, North Carolina
December 2013

[x] Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am very grateful to the book’s original editor Herb Addison for his excel-
lent insights on how to make it more useful, interesting, and applicable
for the reader. The publication of the updated edition was the result of
the efforts of Terry Vaughn and Catherine Rae at Oxford University Press.
I would like to thank them for their initiative and support for the updated
work. I would also like to thank Zbigniew Mazurak for his comments and
suggestions for improving this updated version of the book. In addition,
I would like to thank the heirs of Samuel B. Griffith, who graciously allowed
Griffith’s translation to be a major part of it. Lastly, I want to thank my
wife Sandy and my children for their patience in dealing with my desire to
complete this work.
If you browse the footnotes, you will see that I have referenced many
excellent books. I have mined the richness of these histories to glean mil-
itary examples that illustrate Sun Tzu’s principles. I am grateful for the
works of these authors, who have contributed to not only my learning but
also the knowledge and history of the world. As I thank them for their
scholarship, I also must notify the reader that any and all comments, inter-
pretations, and errors of fact contained within this book are entirely my
own.
Sun Tzu
AND THE

ART OF
MODERN
WARFARE
Introduction
The Relevance of Sun Tzu to Modern Warfare

I n the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military achieved quick suc-
cess in defeating the forces that opposed them. One of the keys to the
early victories was the U.S. generals’ use of a centuries-old text titled The
Art of War, written by an ancient Chinese general, Sun Tzu. Later on, in
both Iraq and Afghanistan, other maxims from Sun Tzu, such as the nega-
tive impact of protracted warfare, proved true. Also, the Taliban, al-Qaeda,
and others fighting against the United States have shown that the prin-
ciples advanced by Sun Tzu (e.g. avoid strength, attack weakness) still hold.
Finally, the military of the home country of The Art of War’s author, China,
is known to utilize its principles in their strategic thinking.1
While some historians debate if and when a man named Sun Tzu actually
existed, the great early Chinese historiographer Ssu-ma Ch’ien states that
Sun Tzu was born in the state of Ch’i. Ssu-ma Ch’ien goes on to say that
Sun Tzu became a general for the king of Wu during the spring and autumn
period in China (722–481 bce) and won great victories for him. At this time,
he wrote The Art of War.
Other historians, based on the descriptions of warfare in his book, situ-
ate Sun Tzu’s masterpiece in a period of China’s history known as the Age
of the Warring States (403–221 bce). This was a time of great strife and
conflict between seven states (Ch’in, Han, Chao, Wei, Ch’u, Yen, and Ch’i),
each trying to gain hegemony over all of China (see Figure I.1). Warfare and
diplomacy, espionage and assassination—any and all means of winning
 0 250 500 Miles
0 250 500 Kilometers

YEN
CHAO
CH’I
WEI

HAN
CH’IN

CH’U
PACIFIC
OCEAN

S OU TH
CHIN A
S EA
After Bloodworth

Figure I.1 Age of the Warring States.

were acceptable. It was an era of political and personal uncertainty in which

only the wise and sagacious survived.
My view is that the discussion of if and when Sun Tzu lived is not a very
interesting debate; what we can be sure of is that a book titled The Art of
War most certainly exists and that the lessons it has to teach strategists
are as deep and meaningful today as they were 2,000 years ago. As proof of
this, the thirteen chapters of this ancient work are still in use by soldiers
who fight not with swords and arrows but with cruise missiles and drones,
who communicate not by banners but by satellite, and who maneuver not
by landmarks but by GPS.

THE HISTORY OF THE ART OF WAR

To hand down the wisdom he gained from his years in battle and his obser-
vation of statecraft during the Age of the Warring States, Sun Tzu wrote
The Art of War. His book, which details a complete philosophy of how to win
decisive victories, became one of the classic works on strategy in China.
Containing not only Sun Tzu’s insights but also the elucidation by military

[2] Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare

commentators who came after him (such as Li Ch’üan, Tu Mu, and oth-
ers), The Art of War has given guidance to military theorists and generals
throughout time. In this classic treatise, military readers found a holistic
approach to strategy that was at once powerful yet succinctly communi-
cated—it is truly a masterpiece on strategy.
The Art of War became popular among not only military leaders but
also leaders of state. Contrary to its title, Sun Tzu’s ideas cover not only
warfare but also statecraft; not only military strategy but also grand strat-
egy. Whereas warfare deals only with the time during which a country is
at war and is concerned essentially with the proper use of armed forces,
statecraft deals with successfully navigating relationships between nations
to improve a nation’s position. This broader scope encompasses warfare,
peace, and diplomacy. Both statecraft and The Art of War are concerned
with the very survival, welfare, and prosperity of the state.
Thus, it is of little surprise that the first emperor of unified China, Qin
Shihuang, studied The Art of War and used it to help end the Age of the
Warring States. Several centuries later, Mao Zedong used Sun Tzu’s writ-
ings to defeat Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists in 1949, again reunit-
ing China. Sun Tzu also influenced Mao’s writings on guerrilla warfare,
which in turn provided the strategy for Communist insurgencies from
Southeast Asia to the Americas.
Japan was introduced to Sun Tzu’s writings around 760 bce and her gen-
erals quickly absorbed its lessons. The three most well-known samurai—
Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu—all mastered
The Art of War. This mastery enabled them to transform Japan from a col-
lection of feudal states into a single nation.2
In the West, The Art of War first made its appearance in 1772 after being
translated into French by a Jesuit missionary. B. H. Liddell Hart, the
twentieth-century British military historian whose theories on armored
warfare helped lead to the development of the Blitzkrieg concept, was
amazed at the depth of Sun Tzu’s military philosophy and instruction.
Impressed by how closely Sun Tzu’s ideas mirrored his own, he believed
that had The Art of War been more widely read and accepted by World War
I generals, much of the terrible slaughter of trench warfare could have
been avoided. In fact, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm is said to have stated,
“I wish I had read The Art of War twenty years ago” before his defeat in
World War I.3
There is no exact equivalent to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War in the West.
In the scientific tradition of categorizing information, we separate politics
and statecraft from the military arts and warfare. Therefore, the West lays
claim to two separate books dealing with each. The West’s foremost military

Introduction [3]
theorist, Carl von Clausewitz, discusses military theory in his book On War;
the West’s most prominent political book, Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince,
deals with statecraft (Machiavelli did discuss warfare in his book The Art of
War, but it never enjoyed anywhere near the success of its sister book). Sun
Tzu’s The Art of War deals with both in a holistic fashion because statecraft
and warfare are intertwined. Like the Chinese yin-yang symbol, both make
up half of the same whole and each contains part of the other.
The principles that lie buried in the text of The Art of War have been used
successfully in countless battles throughout time. Speed was an essential
facet in the victories of Genghis Khan and his Mongolian horde. Controlling
their enemies by the skillful use of alliances allowed the Romans to expand
and maintain their empire. Secrecy and deception were used in major
World War II battles, both by the Japanese in their attack on Pearl Harbor
and by the Allies to mislead the Germans about the exact location of their
invasion of France. The use of intelligence was critical to American success
in the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Viet Cong lived by the rule of avoiding
strength and attacking weakness, while the Red Army used this principle to
deal Germany’s Sixth Army a devastating defeat at Stalingrad.
Sun Tzu’s principles were put to the test in Desert Storm during the
Persian Gulf War. By controlling the air to both follow Iraqi movements and
mask his own, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf fooled Saddam Hussein
as to the location of his attack. Threatening an amphibious assault in the
east, Schwarzkopf did an armored end-run on the Iraqi army in the west,
thus winning a stunning victory with extremely low casualties. Deception,
speed, and attacking the enemy’s weakness—all part of Sun Tzu’s phi-
losophy—added up to amazing success. Sun Tzu’s philosophy was again
demonstrated by American general Tommy Franks. Franks, who is fond of
quoting from The Art of War, used Sun Tzu’s philosophy to both drive the
Taliban from power in Afghanistan in a few short months and overthrow
Saddam Hussein later in Iraq.4
A modern understanding of The Art of War and its importance in Chinese
history becomes more critical as China overcomes its troubles of the twen-
tieth century and moves to attain potential superpower status in the
twenty-first century. The combination of China’s huge population, increas-
ing economic power, military modernization, potential for nationalism,
and sense of history and destiny as the leading power in Asia makes it cru-
cial that we learn as much as possible about China’s strategic philosophy.
It is clear from the writings of hundreds of contemporary Chinese military
experts that China’s leaders will rely on strategic lessons from China’s his-
tory to build their nation’s strategy for the coming decades. These experts
see a direct relationship between today’s strategic environment and that of

[4] Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare

Sun Tzu’s time. Furthermore, they see tremendous value in the teachings
of Sun Tzu and China’s other ancient strategists and will deploy them to
guide the Chinese ship of state.5
Unfortunately, for many professional soldiers and others interested in
military history and strategy, it is not easy to master The Art of War and
apply it directly to battles past, present, and future. The original thirteen
chapters consist of many quotations laced together; only ancient mili-
tary examples are used, and no basic principles are elucidated. Therefore,
I wrote this book with the goal of making Sun Tzu’s ideas more widely
available. The purpose of this book is to bring forth the basic concepts and
underpinnings of Sun Tzu’s masterpiece by setting down what I believe are
the six principles of his holistic strategic philosophy. Each principle is then
illuminated further with numerous examples from statecraft and warfare
throughout history. This use of historical examples follows the traditional
Asian maxim, “use history as a mirror,” meaning that ancient lessons can
be applied to present and future challenges.

THE SIX PRINCIPLES AND THE PLAN OF THIS BOOK

To make The Art of War more understandable, applicable to modern war-

fare, and ultimately more useful to the reader of today and the future,
I have extracted what I believe are the most important and pertinent stra-
tegic principles from Sun Tzu’s work and devoted a chapter to each. These
principles are:

1. Win All without Fighting: Achieving the Objective without Destroying

It
2. Avoid Strength, Attack Weakness: Striking Where the Enemy Is Most
Vulnerable
3. Deception and Foreknowledge: Winning the Information War
4. Speed and Preparation: Moving Swiftly to Overcome Resistance
5. Shaping the Enemy: Preparing the Battlefield
6. Character-Based Leadership: Leading by Example

Each of the first six chapters discusses how these principles have been
applied throughout history, using examples from ancient and modern bat-
tles, campaigns, and wars. These serve to illustrate how the understanding
or ignorance of these principles has led to success or failure.
I developed these principles by combining careful reading and rereading
of The Art of War with a lifetime study of military history and strategy. With

Introduction [5]
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
when we waded up to it, we found the portion of the town nearest the river
completely flooded, the water being nearly up to the first floor of the
houses, while the people were going about in boats. In the streets farther
back, however, it was not so bad; one could get along without having to go
much over the ankles. The appearance of the place, as seen through the
heavy rain, was far from cheering. The first idea which occurred to me on
beholding it was that of rheumatism, and the second fever and ague; but I
was glad to find myself here, nevertheless, if only to experience once more
the sensation of having on dry clothes.
I learned that several men had been drowned on different parts of the
plains in attempting to cross some of the immense pools or sloughs such as
we had passed on our way; while cattle and horses were drowned in
numbers, and were dying of starvation on insulated spots, from which there
was no escape.
I saw plenty of this, however, the next day in going down by the
steamboat to Sacramento. The distance is fifty or sixty miles through the
plains all the way, but they had now more the appearance of a vast inland
sea.
It would have been difficult to keep to the channel of the river, had it not
been for the trees appearing on each side, and the numbers of squatters’
shanties generally built on a spot where the bank was high and showed
itself above water, though in many cases nothing but the roof of the cabin
could be seen.
On the tops of the cabins and sheds, on piles of firewood, or up in the
trees, were fowls calmly waiting their doom; while pigs, cows, and horses
were all huddled up together, knee-deep in water, on any little rising ground
which offered standing-room, dying by inches from inanition. The squatters
themselves were busy removing in boats whatever property they could, and
at those cabins whose occupants were not yet completely drowned out, a
boat was made fast alongside as a means of escape for the poor devils, who,
as the steamer went past, looked out of the door the very pictures of woe
and dismay. We saw two men sitting resolutely on the top of their cabin, the
water almost up to their feet; a boat was made fast to the chimney, to be
used when the worst came to the worst, but they were apparently
determined to see it out if possible. They looked intensely miserable,
though they would not own it, for they gave us a very feigned and uncheery
hurrah as we steamed past.
The loss sustained by these settlers was very great. The inconvenience of
being for a time floated off the face of the earth in a small boat was bad
enough of itself; but to have the greater part of their worldly possessions
floating around them, in the shape of the corpses of what had been their live
stock, must have rather tended to damp their spirits. However, Californians
are proof against all such reverses,—they are like India-rubber, the more
severely they are cast down, the higher they rise afterwards.
It was hardly possible to conceive what an amount of rain and snow
must have fallen to lay such a vast extent of country under water; and
though the weather was now improving, the rain being not so constant, or
so heavy, it would still be some time before the waters could subside, as the
snow which had fallen in the mountains had yet to find its way down, and
would serve to keep up the flood.
Sacramento City was in as wretched a plight as a city can well be in.
The only dry land to be seen was the top of the levee built along the
bank of the river in front of the town; all the rest was water, out of which
rose the houses, or at least the upper parts of them. The streets were all so
many canals crowded with boats and barges carrying on the customary
traffic; watermen plied for hire in the streets instead of cabs, and
independent gentlemen poled themselves about on rafts, or on extemporized
boats made of empty boxes. In one part of the town, where the water was
not deep enough for general navigation, a very curious style of conveyance
was in use. Pairs of horses were harnessed to large flat-bottomed boats, and
numbers of these vehicles, carrying passengers or goods, were to be seen
cruising about, now dashing through a foot or two of mud which the horses
made to fly in all directions as they floundered through it, now grounding
and bumping over some very dry spot, and again sailing gracefully along
the top of the water, so deep as nearly to cover the horses’ backs.
The water in the river was some feet higher than that in the town, and it
was fortunate that the levee did not give way, or the loss of life would have
been very great. As it was, some few men had been drowned in the streets.
The destruction of property, and the pecuniary loss to the inhabitants, were
of course enormous, but they had been flooded once or twice before,
besides having several times had their city burned down, and were
consequently quite used to such disasters; in fact, Sacramento suffered more
from fire and flood together than any city in the State, without, however,
apparently retarding the growing prosperity of the people.
I arrived in Sacramento too late for the steamer for San Francisco, and so
had the pleasure of passing a night there, but I cannot say I experienced any
personal inconvenience from the watery condition of the town.
It seemed to cause very little interruption to the usual order of things in
hotels, theaters, and other public places; there was a good deal of anxiety as
to the security of the levee, in which was the only safety of the city; but in
the meantime the ordinary course of pleasure and business was unchanged,
except in the substitution of boats for wheeled vehicles; and the great
source of consolation and congratulation to the sufferers from the flood, and
to the population generally, was in endeavoring to compute how many
millions of rats would be drowned.
On arriving in San Francisco the change was very great—it was like
entering a totally different country. In place of cold and rain and snow,
flooded towns, and no dry land, or snowed-up towns in the mountains with
no food, here was a clear bright sky, and a warm sun shining down upon a
city where everything looked bright and gay. It was nearly a year since I
had left San Francisco, and in the meantime the greater part of it had been
burned down and rebuilt. The appearance of most of the principal streets
was completely altered; large brick stores had taken the place of wooden
buildings; and so rapidly had the city extended itself into the bay that the
principal business was now conducted on wide streets of solid brick and
stone warehouses, where a year before had been fifteen or twenty feet of
water. All, excepting the more unfrequented streets, were planked, and had
good stone or plank side-walks, so that there was but little mud
notwithstanding the heavy rains which had fallen. In the upper part of the
town, however, where the streets were still in their original condition, the
amount of mud was quite inconceivable. Some places were almost
impassable, and carts might be seen almost submerged, which half-a-dozen
horses were vainly trying to extricate.
The climate of San Francisco has the peculiarity of being milder in
winter than in summer. Winter is by far the most pleasant season of the
year. It is certainly the rainy season, but it only rains occasionally, and when
it does it is not cold. The ordinary winter weather is soft, mild, subdued
sunshine, not unlike the Indian summer of North America. The San
Francisco summer, however, is the most disagreeable and trying season one
can be subjected to. In the morning and forenoon it is generally beautifully
bright and warm: one feels inclined to dress as one would in the tropics; but
this cannot be done with safety, for one has to be prepared for the sudden
change in temperature which occurs nearly every day towards the
afternoon, when there blows in off the sea a cold biting wind, chilling the
very marrow in one’s bones. The cold is doubly felt after the heat of the
fore part of the day, and to some constitutions such extreme variations of
temperature within the twenty-four hours are no doubt very injurious,
especially as the wind not unfrequently brings a damp fog along with it.
The climate is nevertheless generally considered salubrious, and is
thought by some people to be one of the finest in the world. For my own
part, I much prefer the summer weather of the mines, where the sky is
always bright, and the warm temperature of the day becomes only
comparatively cool at night, while the atmosphere is so dry, that the heat,
however intense, is never oppressive, and so clear that everything within the
range of vision is as clearly and distinctly seen as if one were looking upon
a flat surface, and could equally examine each separate part of it, so
satisfactory and so minute in detail is the view of the most distant objects.
Considering the very frequent use of pistols in San Francisco, it is a most
providential circumstance that the climate is in a high degree favorable for
the cure of gunshot wounds. These in general heal very rapidly, and many
miraculous recoveries have taken place, effected by nature and the climate,
after the surgeons, experienced as they are in that branch of practice, had
exhausted their skill upon the patient.
 CHAPTER XIX

A BULL AND BEAR FIGHT

T HE long tract of mountainous country lying north and south, which

comprises the mining districts, is divided into the northern and southern
mines—the former having communication with San Francisco through
Sacramento and Marysville, while the latter are more accessible by way of
Stockton, a city situated at the head of navigation of the San Joaquin, which
joins the Sacramento about fifty miles above San Francisco.
My wanderings had hitherto been confined to the northern mines, and
when, after a short stay in San Francisco, business again led me to
Placerville, I determined from that point to travel down through the
southern mines, and visit the various places of interest en route.
It was about the end of March when I started. The winter was quite over;
all that remained of it was an occasional heavy shower of rain; the air was
mild and soft, and the mountains, covered with fresh verdure, were
blooming brightly in the warm sunshine with many-colored flowers. In
every ravine, and through each little hollow in the high lands, flowed a
stream of water; and wherever water was to be found, there also were
miners at work. From the towns and camps, where the supply of water was
constant, and where the diggings could consequently be worked at any time
of the year, they had expanded themselves over the whole face of the
country; and in traveling through the depths of the forests, just as the
solitude seemed to be perfect, one got a glimpse in the distance, through the
dark columns of the pine trees, of the red shirts of two or three straggling
miners, taking advantage of the short period of running water to reap a
golden harvest in some spot of fancied richness. This was the season of all
others to see to the best advantage the grandeur and beauty of the scenery,
and at the same time to realize how widely diffused and inexhaustible is the
wealth of the country. Inexhaustible is, of course, only a comparative term;
for the amount of gold still remaining in California is a definite quantity
becoming less and less every day, and already vastly reduced from what it
was when the mines lay intact seven years ago; but still the date at which
the yield of the California mines is to cease, or even to begin to fall off,
seems to be as far distant as ever. In fact, the continued labor of constantly
increasing numbers of miners, instead of exhausting the resources of the
mines, as some persons at first supposed would be the case, has, on the
contrary, only served to establish confidence in the permanence of their
wealth.
It is true that such diggings are now rarely to be met with as were found
in the early days, when the pioneers, pitching, as if by instinct, on those
spots where the superabundant richness of the country had broken out, dug
up gold as they would potatoes; nor is the average yield to the individual
miner so great as it was in those times. Subsequent research, however, has
shown that the gold is not confined to a few localities, but that the whole
country is saturated with it. The mineral produce of the mines increases
with the population, though not in the same ratio; for only a certain
proportion of the immigrants betake themselves to mining, the rest finding
equally profitable occupation in the various branches of mechanical and
agricultural industry which have of late years sprung up; while the miner,
though perhaps not actually taking out as much gold as in 1849, is
nevertheless equally prosperous, for he lives amid the comforts of civilized
life, which he obtains at a reasonable rate, instead of being reduced to a
half-savage state, and having to pay fabulous prices for every article of
consumption.
The first large camp on my way south from Hangtown was Moquelumne
Hill, about sixty miles distant, and as there were no very interesting
localities in the intermediate country, I traveled direct to that place. After
passing through a number of small camps, I arrived about noon of the
second day at Jacksonville, a small village called after General Jackson, of
immortal memory. I had noticed a great many French miners at work at I
came along, and so I was prepared to find it rather a French-looking place.
Half the signs over the stores and hotels were French, and numbers of
Frenchmen were sitting at small tables in front of the houses playing at
cards.
As I walked up the town I nearly stumbled over a young grizzly bear,
about the size of two Newfoundland dogs rolled into one, which was
chained to a stump in the middle of the street. I very quickly got out of his
way; but I found afterwards that he was more playful than vicious. He was
the pet of the village, and was delighted when he could get any one to play
with, though he was rather beyond the age at which such a playmate is at all
desirable. I don’t think he was likely to enjoy long even the small amount of
freedom he possessed; he would probably be caged up and shipped to New
York; for a live grizzly is there a valuable piece of property, worth a good
deal more than the same weight of bear’s meat in California, even at two
dollars a pound.
From this place there was a steep descent of two or three miles to the
Moquelumne River, which I crossed by means of a good bridge, and, after
ascending again to the upper world by a long winding road, I reached the
town of Moquelumne Hill, which is situated on the very brink of the high
land overhanging the river.
It lies in a sort of semicircular amphitheater of about a mile in diameter,
surrounded by a chain of small eminences, in which gold was found in great
quantities. The diggings were chiefly deep diggings, worked by means of
“coyote holes,” a hundred feet deep, and all the ground round the town was
accordingly covered with windlasses and heaps of dirt. The heights at each
end of the amphitheater had proved the richest spots, and were supposed to
have been volcanoes. But many hills in the mines got the credit of having
been volcanoes, for no other reason than that they were full of gold; and this
was probably the only claim to such a distinction which could be made in
this case.
The population was a mixture of equal proportions of French, Mexicans,
and Americans, with a few stray Chinamen, Chilians, and suchlike.
The town itself, with the exception of two or three wooden stores and
gambling-saloons, was all of canvas. Many of the houses were merely
skeletons clothed in dirty rags of canvas, and it was not difficult to tell what
part of the population they belonged to, even had there not been crowds of
lazy Mexicans vegetating about the doors.
The Indians, who were pretty numerous about here, seemed to be a
slightly superior race to those farther north. I judged so from the fact that
they apparently had more money, and consequently must have had more
energy to dig for it. They were also great gamblers, and particularly fond of
monte, at which the Mexicans fleeced them of all their cash, excepting what
they spent in making themselves ridiculous with stray articles of clothing.
But perhaps their appreciation of monte, and their desire to copy the
costume of white men, are signs of a greater capability of civilization than
they generally get credit for. Still their presence is not compatible with that
of a civilized community, and, as the country becomes more thickly settled,
there will be no longer room for them. Their country can be made
subservient to man, but as they themselves cannot be turned to account,
they must move off, and make way for their betters.
This may not be very good morality, but it is the way of the world, and
the aborigines of California are not likely to share a better fate than those of
many another country. And though the people who drive them out may
make the process as gradual as possible by the system of Indian grants and
reservations, yet, as with wild cattle, so it is with Indians, so many head,
and no more, can live on a given quantity of land, and, if crowded into too
small a compass, the result is certain though gradual extirpation, for by their
numbers they prevent the reproduction of their means of subsistence.
At the time of my arrival in Moquelumne Hill, the town was posted all
over with placards, which I had also observed stuck upon trees and rocks by
the roadside as I traveled over the mountains. They were to this effect:—
“War! War!! War!!!
—————
The celebrated Bull-killing Bear,
GENERAL SCOTT,
will fight a Bull on Sunday the 15th inst., at 2 P.M.,
at Moquelumne Hill.
“The Bear will be chained with a twenty-foot chain in the middle of the arena. The Bull
will be perfectly wild, young, of the Spanish breed, and the best that can be found in the
country. The Bull’s horns will be of their natural length, and ‘not sawed off to prevent
accidents.’ The Bull will be quite free in the arena, and not hampered in any way
whatever.”

The proprietors then went on to state that they had nothing to do with the
humbugging which characterized the last fight, and begged confidently to
assure the public that this would be the most splendid exhibition ever seen
in the country.
I had often heard of these bull-and-bear fights as popular amusements in
some parts of the State, but had never yet had an opportunity of witnessing
them; so, on Sunday the 15th, I found myself walking up towards the arena,
among a crowd of miners and others of all nations, to witness the
performances of the redoubted General Scott.
The amphitheater was a roughly but strongly built wooden structure,
uncovered of course; and the outer enclosure, which was of boards about
ten feet high, was a hundred feet in diameter. The arena in the center was
forty feet in diameter, and enclosed by a very strong five-barred fence.
From the top of this rose tiers of seats, occupying the space between the
arena and the outside enclosure.
As the appointed hour drew near, the company continued to arrive till the
whole place was crowded; while, to beguile the time till the business of the
day should commence, two fiddlers—a white man and a gentleman of color
—performed a variety of appropriate airs.
The scene was gay and brilliant, and was one which would have made a
crowded opera-house appear gloomy and dull in comparison. The shelving
bank of human beings which encircled the place was like a mass of bright
flowers. The most conspicuous objects were the shirts of the miners, red,
white, and blue being the fashionable colors, among which appeared
bronzed and bearded faces under hats of every hue; revolvers and silver-
handled bowie-knives glanced in the bright sunshine, and among the crowd
were numbers of gay Mexican blankets, and red and blue French bonnets,
while here and there the fair sex was represented by a few Mexican women
in snowy-white dresses, puffing their cigaritas in delightful anticipation of
the exciting scene which was to be enacted. Over the heads of the highest
circle of spectators was seen mountain beyond mountain fading away in the
distance, and on the green turf of the arena lay the great center of attraction,
the hero of the day, General Scott.
He was, however, not yet exposed to public gaze, but was confined in his
cage, a heavy wooden box lined with iron, with open iron bars on one side,
which for the present was boarded over. From the center of the arena a
chain led into the cage, and at the end of it no doubt the bear was to be
found. Beneath the scaffolding on which sat the spectators were two pens,
each containing a very handsome bull, showing evident signs of indignation
at his confinement. Here also was the bar, without which no place of public
amusement would be complete.
There was much excitement among the crowd as to the result of the
battle, as the bear had already killed several bulls; but an idea prevailed that
in former fights the bulls had not had fair play, being tied by a rope to the
bear, and having the tips of their horns sawed off. But on this occasion the
bull was to have every advantage which could be given him; and he
certainly had the good wishes of the spectators, though the bear was
considered such a successful and experienced bull-fighter that the betting
was all in his favor. Some of my neighbors gave it as their opinion, that
there was “nary bull in Calaforny as could whip that bar.”
At last, after a final tattoo had been beaten on a gong to make the
stragglers hurry up the hill, preparations were made for beginning the fight.
The bear made his appearance before the public in a very bearish
manner. His cage ran upon very small wheels, and some bolts having been
slipped connected with the face of it, it was dragged out of the ring, when,
as his chain only allowed him to come within a foot or two of the fence, the
General was rolled out upon the ground all of a heap, and very much
against his inclination apparently, for he made violent efforts to regain his
cage as it disappeared. When he saw that was hopeless, he floundered half-
way round the ring at the length of his chain, and commenced to tear up the
earth with his fore-paws. He was a grizzly bear of pretty large size,
weighing about twelve hundred pounds.
The next thing to be done was to introduce the bull. The bars between
his pen and the arena were removed, while two or three men stood ready to
put them up again as soon as he should come out. But he did not seem to
like the prospect, and was not disposed to move till pretty sharply poked up
from behind, when, making a furious dash at the red flag which was being
waved in front of the gate, he found himself in the ring face to face with
General Scott.
The General, in the meantime, had scraped a hole for himself two or
three inches deep, in which he was lying down. This, I was told by those
who had seen his performances before, was his usual fighting attitude.
The bull was a very beautiful animal, of a dark purple color marked with
white. His horns were regular and sharp, and his coat was as smooth and
glossy as a racer’s. He stood for a moment taking a survey of the bear, the
ring, and the crowds of people; but not liking the appearance of things in
general, he wheeled round, and made a splendid dash at the bars, which had
already been put up between him and his pen, smashing through them with
as much ease as the man in the circus leaps through a hoop of brown paper.
This was only losing time, however, for he had to go in and fight, and might
as well have done so at once. He was accordingly again persuaded to enter
the arena, and a perfect barricade of bars and boards was erected to prevent
his making another retreat. But this time he had made up his mind to fight;
and after looking steadily at the bear for a few minutes as if taking aim at
him, he put down his head and charged furiously at him across the arena.
The bear received him crouching down as low as he could, and though one
could hear the bump of the bull’s head and horns upon his ribs, he was
quick enough to seize the bull by the nose before he could retreat. This
spirited commencement of the battle on the part of the bull was hailed with
uproarious applause; and by having shown such pluck, he had gained more
than ever the sympathy of the people.
In the meantime, the bear, lying on his back, held the bull’s nose firmly
between his teeth, and embraced him round the neck with his fore-paws,
while the bull made the most of his opportunities in stamping on the bear
with his hind-feet. At last the General became exasperated at such
treatment, and shook the bull savagely by the nose, when a promiscuous
scuffle ensued, which resulted in the bear throwing his antagonist to the
ground with his fore-paws.
For this feat the bear was cheered immensely, and it was thought that,
having the bull down, he would make short work of him; but apparently
wild beasts do not tear each other to pieces quite so easily as is generally
supposed, for neither the bear’s teeth nor his long claws seemed to have
much effect on the hide of the bull, who soon regained his feet, and,
disengaging himself, retired to the other side of the ring, while the bear
again crouched down in his hole.
Neither of them seemed to be very much the worse of the encounter,
excepting that the bull’s nose had rather a ragged and bloody appearance;
but after standing a few minutes, steadily eyeing the General, he made
another rush at him. Again poor bruin’s ribs resounded, but again he took
the bull’s nose into chancery, having seized him just as before. The bull,
however, quickly disengaged himself, and was making off, when the
General, not wishing to part with him so soon, seized his hind-foot between
his teeth, and, holding on by his paws as well, was thus dragged round the
ring before he quitted his hold.
This round terminated with shouts of delight from the excited spectators,
and it was thought that the bull might have a chance after all. He had been
severely punished, however; his nose and lips were a mass of bloody
shreds, and he lay down to recover himself. But he was not allowed to rest
very long, being poked up with sticks by men outside, which made him
very savage. He made several feints to charge them through the bars, which,
fortunately, he did not attempt, for he could certainly have gone through
them as easily as he had before broken into his pen. He showed no
inclination to renew the combat; but by goading him, and waving a red flag
over the bear, he was eventually worked up to such a state of fury as to
make another charge. The result was exactly the same as before, only that
when the bull managed to get up after being thrown, the bear still had hold
of the skin of his back.
In the next round both parties fought more savagely than ever, and the
advantage was rather in favor of the bear: the bull seemed to be quite used
up, and to have lost all chance of victory.
The conductor of the performances then mounted the barrier, and,
addressing the crowd, asked them if the bull had not had fair play, which
was unanimously allowed. He then stated that he knew there was not a bull
in California which the General could not whip, and that for two hundred
dollars he would let in the other bull, and the three should fight it out till
one or all were killed.
This proposal was received with loud cheers, and two or three men going
round with hats soon collected, in voluntary contributions, the required
amount. The people were intensely excited and delighted with the sport, and
double the sum would have been just as quickly raised to insure a
continuance of the scene. A man sitting next to me, who was a connoisseur
in bear-fights, and passionately fond of the amusement, informed me that
this was “the finest fight ever fit in the country.”
The second bull was equally handsome as the first, and in as good
condition. On entering the arena, and looking around him, he seemed to
understand the state of affairs at once. Glancing from the bear lying on the
ground to the other bull standing at the opposite side of the ring, with
drooping head and bloody nose, he seemed to divine at once that the bear
was their common enemy, and rushed at him full tilt. The bear, as usual,
pinned him by the nose; but this bull did not take such treatment so quietly
as the other: struggling violently, he soon freed himself, and, wheeling
round as he did so, he caught the bear on the hind-quarters and knocked him
over; while the other bull, who had been quietly watching the proceedings,
thought this a good opportunity to pitch in also, and rushing up, he gave the
bear a dig in the ribs on the other side before he had time to recover
himself. The poor General between the two did not know what to do, but
struck out blindly with his fore-paws with such a suppliant pitiable look that
I thought this the most disgusting part of the whole exhibition.
After another round or two with the fresh bull, it was evident that he was
no match for the bear, and it was agreed to conclude the performances. The
bulls were then shot to put them out of pain, and the company dispersed, all
apparently satisfied that it had been a very splendid fight.
The reader can form his own opinion as to the character of an exhibition
such as I have endeavored to describe. For my own part, I did not at first
find the actual spectacle so disgusting as I had expected I should; for as
long as the animals fought with spirit, they might have been supposed to be
following their natural instincts; but when the bull had to be urged and
goaded on to return to the charge, the cruelty of the whole proceeding was
too apparent; and when the two bulls at once were let in upon the bear, all
idea of sport or fair play was at an end, and it became a scene which one
would rather have prevented than witnessed.
In these bull-and-bear fights the bull sometimes kills the bear at the first
charge, by plunging his horns between the ribs, and striking a vital part.
Such was the fate of General Scott in the next battle he fought, a few weeks
afterwards; but it is seldom that the bear kills the bull outright, his misery
being in most cases ended by a rifle-ball when he can no longer maintain
the combat.
I took a sketch of the General the day after the battle. He was in the
middle of the now deserted arena, and was in a particularly savage humor.
He seemed to consider my intrusion on his solitude as a personal insult, for
he growled most savagely, and stormed about in his cage, even pulling at
the iron bars in his efforts to get out. I could not help thinking what a pretty
mess he would have made of me if he had succeeded in doing so; but I
regarded with peculiar satisfaction the massive architecture of his abode;
and, taking a seat a few feet from him, I lighted my pipe, and waited till he
should quiet down into an attitude, which he soon did, though very sulkily,
when he saw that he could not help himself.
He did not seem to be much the worse for the battle, having but one
wound, and that appeared to be only skin deep.
Such a bear as this, alive, was worth about fifteen hundred dollars. The
method of capturing them is a service of considerable danger, and requires a
great deal of labor and constant watching.
A spot is chosen in some remote part of the mountains, where it has been
ascertained that bears are pretty numerous. Here a species of cage is built,
about twelve feet square and six feet high, constructed of pine logs, and
fastened after the manner of a log cabin. This is suspended between two
trees, six or seven feet from the ground, and inside is hung a huge piece of
beef, communicating by a string with a trigger, so contrived that the
slightest tug at the beef draws the trigger, and down comes the trap, which
has more the appearance of a log cabin suspended in the air than anything
else. A regular locomotive cage, lined with iron, has also to be taken to the
spot, to be kept in readiness for bruin’s accommodation, for the pine log
trap would not hold him long; he would soon eat and tear his way out of it.
The enterprising bear-catchers have therefore to remain in the
neighborhood, and keep a sharp lookout.
Removing the bear from the trap to the cage is the most dangerous part
of the business. One side of the trap is so contrived as to admit of being
opened or removed, and the cage is drawn up alongside, with the door also
open, when the bear has to be persuaded to step into his new abode, in
which he travels down to the more populous parts of the country, to fight
bulls for the amusement of the public.
 CHAPTER XX

A MOUNTAIN OF GOLD

T HE want of water was the great obstacle in the way of mining at

Moquelumne Hill. As it stood so much higher than the surrounding
country, there were no streams which could be introduced, and the only
means of getting a constant supply was to bring the water from the
Moquelumne River, which flowed past, three or four thousand feet below
the diggings. In order to get the requisite elevation to raise the waters so far
above their natural channel, it was found necessary to commence the canal
some fifty or sixty miles up the river. The idea had been projected, but the
execution of such a piece of work required more capital than could be
raised at the moment; but the diggings at Moquelumne Hill were known to
be so rich, as was also the tract of country through which the canal would
pass, that the speculation was considered sure to be successful; and a
company was not long after formed for the purpose of carrying out the
undertaking, which amply repaid those embarked in it, and opened up a vast
extent of new field for mining operations, by supplying water in places
which otherwise could only have been worked for two or three months of
the year.
This was only one of many such undertakings in California, some of
which were even on a larger scale. The engineering difficulties were very
great, from the rocky and mountainous nature of the country through which
the canals were brought. Hollows and valleys were spanned at a great
height by aqueducts, supported on graceful scaffoldings of pine logs, and
precipitous mountains were girded by wooden flumes projecting from their
rocky sides. Throughout the course of a canal, wherever water was wanted
by miners, it was supplied to them at so much an inch, a sufficient quantity
for a party of five or six men costing about seven dollars a day.
I remained a few days at Moquelumne Hill in a holey old canvas hotel,
which freely admitted both wind and water; but in this respect it was not
much worse than its neighbors. A French physician resided on the opposite
side of the street in a tent not much larger than a sentry-box, on the front of
which appeared the following promiscuous announcement, in letters as
large as the space admitted—
“Pharmacien de Paris.
Drugs and Medicines.
Botica.
Doctor—Dentiste.
Cold Cream.
Destruction to Rats.
Mort aux Souris.”
From Moquelumne I went to Volcano Diggings, a distance of eighteen
miles, but which I lengthened to nearly thirty by losing my way in crossing
an unfrequented part of the country where the trails were very indistinct.
The principal diggings at Volcano are in the banks of a gulch, called
Soldiers’ Gulch, from its having been first worked by United States’
soldiers, and were of a peculiar nature, differing from any other diggings I
had seen, inasmuch as, though they had been worked to a depth of forty or
fifty feet from the surface, they had been equally rich from top to bottom,
and as yet no bed-rock had been reached. It was seldom such a depth of
pay-dirt was found. The gold was usually only found within a few feet of
the bottom, but in this case the stiff clay soil may have retained the gold,
and prevented its settling down so readily as through sand or gravel. The
clay was so stiff that it was with difficulty it could be washed, and lately the
miners had taken to boiling it in large boilers, which was found to dissolve
it very quickly.
To mineralogists I should think that this is the most interesting spot in
the mines, from the great variety of curious stones found in large quantities
in the diggings. One kind is found, about the size of a man’s head, which
when broken appears veined with successive brightly-colored layers round
a beautifully-crystallized cavity in the center, the whole being enveloped in
a rough outside crust an inch in thickness. The colors are more various and
the veins closer together than those of a Scotch pebble, and the stone itself
is more flinty and opaque. Quantities of lava were also found here, and
masses of limestone rock appeared above the surface of the ground.
This place lay north of Moquelumne Hill, and might be called the most
southern point of the northern mines.
 Between the scenery of the northern mines and that of the south there is
a very marked difference, both in the exterior formation of the country, and
in the kind of trees with which it is wooded. In both the surface of the
country is smooth—that is to say, there is an absence of ruggedness of
detail—the mountains appear to have been smoothed down by the action of
water; but, both north and south, the country as a whole is rough in the
extreme, the mountain sides, as well as the table-lands, being covered with
swellings, and deeply indented by ravines. An acre of level land is hardly to
be found. The difference, however, exists in this, that in the north the
mountains themselves, and every little swelling upon them, are of a conical
form, while in the south they are all more circular. The mountains spread
themselves out in hemispherical projections one beyond another; and in
many parts of the country are found groups of eminences of the same form,
and as symmetrical as if they had been shaped by artificial means.
There is just as much symmetry in the conical forms of the northern
mines, but they appear more natural, and the pyramidal tops of the pine
trees are quite in keeping with the outlines of the country which they cover;
and it is remarkable that where the conical formation ceases, there also the
pine ceases to be the principal tree of the country. There are pines, and
plenty of them, in the southern mines, but the country is chiefly wooded
with various kinds of oaks, and other trees of still more rounded shape, with
only here and there a solitary pine towering above them to break the
monotony of the curvilinear outline.
As might be expected from this circular formation, the rivers in the south
do not follow such a sharp zigzag course as in the north; they take wider
sweeps: the mountains are not so steep, and the country generally is not so
rough. In fact, there is scarcely any camp in the southern mines which is not
accessible by wheeled vehicles.
Besides this great change in the appearance of the country, one could not
fail to observe also, in traveling south, the equally marked difference in the
inhabitants. In the north, one saw occasionally some straggling Frenchmen
and other European foreigners, here and there a party of Chinamen, and a
few Mexicans engaged in driving mules, but the total number of foreigners
was very small: the population was almost entirely composed of Americans,
and of these the Missourians and other western men formed a large
proportion.
 The southern mines, however, were full of all sorts of people. There
were many villages peopled nearly altogether by Mexicans, others by
Frenchmen; in some places there were parties of two or three hundred
Chilians forming a community of their own. The Chinese camps were very
numerous; and besides all such distinct colonies of foreigners, every town
of the southern mines contained a very large foreign population. The
Americans, however, were of course greatly the majority, but even among
them one remarked the comparatively small number of Missourians and
such men, who are so conspicuous in the north.
There was still another difference in a very important feature—in fact,
the most important of all—the gold. The gold of the northern mines is
generally flaky, in exceedingly small thin scales; that of the south is coarse
gold, round and “chunky.” The rivers of the north afford very rich diggings,
while in the south they are comparatively poor, and the richest deposits are
found in the flats and other surface-diggings on the highlands.
In the north there were no such canvas towns as Moquelumne Hill. Log
cabins and frame houses were the rule, and canvas the exception; while in
the southern mines the reverse was the case, excepting in some of the larger
towns.
It is singular that the State should be thus divided by nature into two
sections of country so unlike in many important points; and that the people
inhabiting them should help to heighten the contrast is equally curious,
though it may possibly be accounted for by supposing that Frenchmen,
Mexicans, and other foreigners, preferred the less wild-looking country and
more temperate winters of the southern mines, while the absence of the
Western backwoodsmen in the south was owing to the fact that they came
to the country across the plains by a route which entered the State near
Placerville. Their natural instinct would have led them to continue on a
westward course, but this would have brought them down on the plains of
the Sacramento Valley, where there is no gold; so, thinking that sunset was
more north than south, and knowing also there was more western land in
that direction, they spread all over the northern part of the State, till they
connected themselves with the settlements in Oregon.
In the neighborhood of Volcano there is a curious cave, which I went to
visit with two or three miners. The entrance to it is among some large rocks
on the bank of the creek, and is a hole in the ground just large enough to
admit of a man’s dropping himself into it lengthways. The descent is
perpendicular between masses of rock for about twenty feet, and is
accomplished by means of a rope; the passage then takes a slanting
direction for the same distance, and lands one in a chamber thirty or forty
feet wide, the roof and sides of which are composed of groups of immense
stalactites. The height varies very much, some of the stalactites reaching
within four or five feet of the ground; and there are several small openings
in the walls, just large enough to creep through, which lead into similar
chambers. We brought a number of pieces of candle with us, with which we
lighted up the whole place. The effect was very fine; the stalactites, being
tinged with pale blue, pink, and green, were grouped in all manner of
grotesque forms, in one corner giving an exact representation of a small
petrified waterfall.
Coming down into the cave was easy enough, the force of gravity being
the only motive power, but to get out again we found rather a difficult
operation. The sides of the passage were smooth, offering no resting-place
for the foot; and the only means of progression was to haul oneself up by
the rope hand over hand—rather hard work in the inclined part of the
passage, which was so confined that one could hardly use one’s arms.
At the hotel I stayed at here I found very agreeable company; most of the
party were Texans, and were doctors and lawyers by profession, though
miners by practice. For the first time since I had been in the mines I here
saw whist played, the more favorite games being poker, euchre, and all-
fours, or “seven up,” as it is there called. There were also some enthusiastic
chess-players among the party, who had manufactured a set of men with
their bowie-knives; so what with whist and chess every night, I fancied I
had got into a civilized country.
The day before I had intended leaving this village, some Mexicans came
into the camp with a lot of mules, which they sold so cheap as to excite
suspicions that they had not come by them honestly. In the evening it was
discovered that they were stolen animals, and several men started in pursuit
of the Mexicans; but they had already been gone some hours, and there was
little chance of their being overtaken. I waited a day, in hopes of seeing
them brought back and hung by process of Lynch law, which would
certainly have been their fate had they been caught; but, fortunately for
them, they succeeded in making good their escape. The men who had gone
in chase returned empty-handed, so I set out again for Moquelumne Hill on
my way south.
I was put upon a shorter trail than the one by which I had come from
there; and though it was very dim and little traveled, I managed to keep it:
and passing on my way through a small camp called Clinton, inhabited
principally by Chilians and Frenchmen, I struck the Moquelumne River at a
point several miles above the bridge where I had crossed it before.
The river was still much swollen with the rains and snow of winter, and
the mode of crossing was not by any means inviting. Two very small canoes
lashed together served as a ferry-boat, in which the passenger hauled
himself across the river by means of a rope made fast to a tree on either
bank, the force of the current keeping the canoes bow on. When I arrived
here, this contrivance happened to be on the opposite side, where I saw a
solitary tent which seemed to be inhabited, but I hallooed in vain for some
one to make his appearance and act as ferryman. There seemed to be a trail
from the tent leading up the river; so, following that direction for about half
a mile, I found a party of miners at work on the other side—one of whom,
in the obliging spirit universally met with in the mines, immediately left his
work and came down to ferry me across.
On the side I was on was an old race about eighteen feet wide, through
which the waters rushed rapidly past. A pile of rocks prevented the boat
from crossing this, so there was nothing for it but to wade. Some stones had
been thrown in, forming a sort of submarine stepping-stones, and lessening
the depth to about three feet; but they were smooth and slippery, and the
water was so intensely cold, and the current so strong, that I found the long
pole which the man told me to take a very necessary assistance in making
the passage. On reaching the canoes, and being duly enjoined to be careful
in getting in and to keep perfectly still, we crossed the main body of the
river; and very ticklish work it was, for the waves ran high, and the utmost
care was required to avoid being swamped. We got across safe enough,
when my friend put me under additional obligations by producing a bottle
of brandy from his tent and asking me to “liquor,” which I did with a great
deal of pleasure, as the water was still gurgling and squeaking in my boots,
and was so cold that I felt as if I were half immersed in ice-cream.
After climbing the steep mountain side and walking a few miles farther, I
arrived at Moquelumne Hill, having, in the course of my day’s journey,