I said, "It was hard on me to be robbed of all my freight money, but it
was also hard for them to be cheated out of their hard earnings, and I
would see what I could do for them." He presented the statement of what
each man had received and what was due them. I was surprised at his
correctness. I said: It seems all right and I would pay them, which I
did, and took their receipt. I was afraid if they went ashore and found
the vessel was liable for their wages they might make any kind of
demands, so I got possession of my vessel again, very much damaged.
Before leaving the port he had let the steamer _Senator_ run into the
bows of the vessel, and it cost me $700 to have it repaired, ship
carpenters' wages being $20 per day, payable in gold. The events which I
had anticipated of the decline of that kind of property had come, and,
after it was repaired, I put it up at auction and sold it, so that
rascal cost me several thousand dollars. Such was life in California in
the days of the Forty-niners.

Having some leisure I thought I would take a trip up the mining regions,
and make a visit to my old friends there. More than a year had passed,
and greater changes had taken place than would have occurred in any
other country in many years. The population of California increased one
hundred thousand the first year after the discovery of the gold, which
had accounted for the great changes which had taken place since my
previous trip. I went up on the steamer _Senator_ to Sacramento, which
had become quite a city, and the next morning started for Coloma in a
stage full of passengers, drawn by mules. I took a seat aside of the
driver. I got in conversation with the driver. I asked him what pay he
received? He said, only $450 per month and his board. I asked him if he
had driven stages before? He said, yes, out of Boston. I said, at what
wages? He said, $14 a month. I said that there was a big difference
between that and $450. He said, yes, but that this was his last trip. He