, two
sailors, one clerk, two carpenters, and three daily workmen. These men
were in company; had two machines, each made from one hundred feet of
boards (worth there 150 dollars, in Monterey 15 dollars--being one
day's work), made similar to a child's cradle, ten feet long, without
the ends.
"The two evenings I saw these eight men bring to their tents the labour
of the day. I suppose they made each 50 dollars per day; their own
calculation was two pounds of gold a-day--four ounces to a man--64
dollars. I saw two brothers that worked together, and only worked by
washing the dirt in a tin pan, weigh the gold they obtained in one day;
the result was 7 dollars to one, 82 dollars to the other. There were
two reasons for this difference; one man worked less hours than the
other, and by chance had ground less impregnated with gold. I give this
statement as an extreme case. During my visit I was an interpreter for
a native of Monterey, who was purchasing a machine or canoe. I first
tried to purchase boards and hire a carpenter for him. There were but a
few hundred feet of boards to be had; for these the owner asked me 50
dollars per hundred (500 dollars per thousand), and a carpenter washing
gold dust demanded 50 dollars per day for working.
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