The gold exported from California in 1851 is estimated by the Custom House returns at [102]56,000,000 dollars. According to the calculations of the _St. Francisco Herald_, for the first three months of 1852, the total produce amounted to [103]14,656,142 dollars; at this rate the produce of the year 1852 would not be less than [104]62,000,000 dollars. The export of April is estimated at St. Francisco, at [105]3,422,000 dollars, rather more than [106]18,000,000 francs. The produce of the “placers,” according to the latest reports, although still abundant, is decreasing; nevertheless, if Australia does not attract the most experienced and the most greedy of the work-people, the mines of California appear likely to yield this year not less than about [107]300,000,000 of our money; that is six times the amount of the production of gold at the beginning of the century, throughout the civilized world. It is twice the amount of the production of gold in 1847. It is hardly needful to exaggerate these figures, as many writers on both sides of the Atlantic have already done, in order to prove that a change is occurring in our monetary values, and that the _status quo_ which has lasted for above half a century, is not necessarily to continue for ever. V. Of the three great gold-producing countries of modern times, New South Wales is the one now most attracting public attention. This country enjoys several advantages over the others. The climate is mild and healthy, the land is neither occupied by savage tribes nor infested with wild beasts. In a country where drought is the principal obstacle to successful cultivation, the gold regions, situated on the slopes of the highest mountains and near the sources of the principal streams, are naturally the best watered. They appear to extend from north-east to south-west, following the direction of the Murray, the largest river in Australia, and over an extent of 1,400 miles, [108](2,452 kilomêtres) by 400 miles (643 kilomêtres). This surface is larger, by four times, the extent of California, and five times larger than Great Britain. The effects of the Californian gold have been principally felt at a distance from the producing country. The valleys of San Joaquim and the Sacramento were, before the extraordinary discoveries of 1847, but a desert, with but an occasional “oasis” of cultivation; California had neither population, agriculture, commerce, or industry. The “rancheros,” half farmers, half hunters, raised cattle for no other purpose than for the value of their hides; the discovery of gold could hardly disturb any existing trade. The production itself was then the cause or the motive power, creating a new state of society, a new order of things.