Victoria, in 1862, had at least 12,000 or 15,000 people, mostly drawn thither by the fame of the Cariboo mines, on the mainland of British Columbia. Not twenty per cent. ever reached those mines. When ships arrived in the autumn, it was utterly useless to attempt the long journey of about 600 miles, partly by steamer, but two-thirds of which must be accomplished on foot or horseback, or often mule-back, over rugged mountain-paths, through swamps and forests. Consequently, a large number had to spend the winter in idleness; and in the spring, in many cases, their resources were exhausted. Many became tired of the colony; “roughing it” was not always the pleasant kind of thing they had imagined, and so they went down to California, or left for home. Others were stuck fast in the colony, and many suffered severe privations; although, so long as they could manage to live on salmon alone, they could obtain plenty from the Indians, who hawked it about the streets for a shilling or two shillings apiece—the latter for a very large fish. The son of a baronet at one time might be seen breaking stones for a living in Victoria; and unless men had a very distinct calling, profession, or trade, they had to live on their means or have a very rough time of it. These remarks are not made to deter adventurous spirits from going abroad; but we would advise them to “look well before they leap.” But how utterly unfitted for mining-work were the larger part of the young men who had travelled so far, only to be disappointed. There was no doubt of the gold being there: two hundred ounces of the precious metal have been “washed out” in an eight hours’ “shift” (a “shift” is the same as a “watch” on board ship); and this was kept up for many days in succession, the miners working day and night. But that mine had been three years in process of development, and only one of the original proprietors was among the lucky number of shareholders. A day or so before the first gold had been found—“struck” is the technical expression—his credit was exhausted, and he had begged vainly for flour, &c., to enable him to live and work. The ordinary price of a very ordinary meal was _two dollars_; and it will be seen that, unless employed, or simply travelling for pleasure, it was a ruinous place to stop in. Fancy, then, the condition of perhaps as many as 4,000 unemployed men, out of a total of 7,000 men, on the various creeks, a good half of whom were of the middle and upper classes at home. But for one happy fact, that beef—which, as the miners said, _packed itself_ into the mines (in other words, the cattle were driven in from a distance of hundreds of miles)—was reasonably cheap, hundreds of them must have starved. Everything—from flour, tea, sugar, bacon, and beans, to metal implements and machinery—had to be packed there on the backs of mules, and cost from fifty cents and upwards per pound for the mere cost of transportation.