Our provisions we sold at Tampico, which did not pay the custom-house duties upon them. Of those which were sent around the Horn, the provisions did not pay the freight and commissions on the sale; and most of our clothing, &c., were stored in San Francisco, and burned in the second great fire in that city. I do not know of a company which did not meet with losses in proportion to the extent of their outfits. The losses of those who crossed the plains in this respect were very great. Large quantities of valuable mining implements, hundreds of hams, bags of flour, and other provisions--even wagons, in large numbers--were left upon the road. It is often the case that persons suffer very seriously from their ignorance of the difficulties and expenses to which they will be liable after reaching California. Many find themselves in San Francisco with cramped means, and sometimes none at all, and with a long and expensive journey to the mines before them, besides many necessary articles which should be procured. Every miner should have $150 by him on his arrival in the country. More would not be amiss. I believe all who are at the mine would agree with me in recommending to the new miner to leave all machinery behind him. If he takes any thing in that line, let it be the best _mining pick_ and _spade_ he can find, with a stout sheath-knife, and a horn for crevassing. The “cradle” is found any where in the settlements or in the mines. If it is intended to engage in the quartz-crushing operations, the most simple machinery is the best. The very complicated and expensive machinery which has, in several instances, been taken to the mines, has been useless. The least breakage will delay the whole work for months, till it is replaced from the States. By all means avoid companies which are got up at home for mining. Whatever facilities they offer; whatever array of influential names they present; whatever they purpose or promise to accomplish--if they come to you with a charter, or a ship, of which you are to share the advantages--_avoid companies formed at home_! They work badly; they cramp your energies; they entangle all your operations. In the mines, it will always be necessary for you to associate yourself with one or two, and sometimes with twenty, or even fifty mining companions. These associations are formed and terminate with the necessity of the occasion.