Identifier: mountainsmolehil00marr (find matches)
Title: Mountains and molehills; or, Recollections of a burnt journal
Year: 1855 (1850s)
Authors: Marryat, Frank, 1826-1855
Subjects: Marryat, Frank, 1826-1855
Publisher: London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
plains. Being nightfall, we encamped without crossing, andat daylight we were dismayed at discovering that ourbeasts had been stolen ; we had no reason to suspectthe vaccaro, who at all events acted surprise toperfection, if guilty of connivance; but mules andhorses were gone, and the riattas with them. Someexpert thieves had tracked us, and as we were inignorance as to who they were, we laid the wholematter at Quilps door. I have since discovered byexperience, that if a band of Mexicans are determinedto have your horses, they generally manage it bysome means, in spite of the utmost vigilance; withour inexperience and the possible connivance ofthe vaccaro (of which, however, there was not ashadow of proof) the task was easy. I dischargedthe vaccaro, and we crossed the river on foot,taking off our clothes and carrying them in a bundleon our heads. The water was so refreshing, that thetask of taking over our baggage piecemeal, was one ofpleasm-e, and helped wonderfully to counterbalance
Text Appearing After Image:
> cn o< .. ^ RUSSIAN RIVER. 93 the annoyance I felt at the loss of my mules—a losswhich entirely precluded my further advance into thecountry. Leaving Barnes with the baggage anddogs, Thomas and I proceeded in search of a back-woodsmans hut, which we had been informed existedin this direction; after following the river for sometime, we ascended a steep hill, from the summit ofwhich was presented the most lovely panorama—beneath us the thickly wooded plain extended formiles—on one side bounded by mountains, on theother, melting away in a blue hazy distance;—thewindings of the Russian River were marked dis-tinctly in contrast with the dark rocks and foliagethat lined its banks, whilst immediately beneath uswas a forest of firs and red-wood trees, over whichthe vultures wheeled incessantly, and not even thesound of an insect disturbed the silence of the scene.From this hill we discovered the hut of which wewere in search, situated near a running stream andsurrounded by towe

Note About Images