It is not to be understood that we are going to decry the prunes; no, far from it; we mean to divest them of the mantle which heated fancy cast about them; and represent the simple truth without any poetic ornaments. On the outset we wish it to be understood that we speak advisedly; we have surveyed, so to speak, the length and breadth of the mines by personal inspection and observation, at a great expense of our time, money and labor, and besides we claim the right to presume somewhat upon the authority of science. The region which here is known as the gold mines, is closed on the east by the _Sierra Nevada_, or Snowy Mountains, running nearly north and south. Two large streams descend from the Sierra Nevada, one at the north called the Sacramento river, the other on the south known as San Joaquin. These two streams run, as if purposely to the apex of the triangle they enclose, there to meet and make a common and united irruption upon the waters of San Francisco Bay. In this triangle thus formed by these two rivers with the Snowy Mountains are numerous streams; but they all are tributaries either of one or the other of these two rivers; the largest of them are at the north and empty themselves into the Sacramento. The surface of the country, looking westward from the ridge of the Snowy Mountains, which are more than seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, is broken up into ridges, giving direction to the streams that separate, some west by north, others west by south, and gradually growing smaller, they get confused into hills, till finally soften into the plains enclosed by the two above mentioned rivers. The plains, generally speaking, are covered with luxuriant grass skirted along the rivers with the oak.