ment" he signified to his jailers that, if the Government would accept him as a cicerone, he would indicate a distant spot on the coast where gold was to be had for the picking up. When asked how he came to know of such a place, he said that he had been a sailor on board a Dutch vessel which had touched on the shore, and that he had seen the gold lying on the beach. Prevented only, it is to be supposed, by a conscientious regard to the duties which he owed to his Dutch skipper, he did not abscond from his work to pocket the treasure at once; on the contrary with great self-denial he returned quietly to Europe, and having made his way to Liverpool meditated anxiously as to the best means of getting back to his El Dorado. After much thought no scheme presented itself which promised to afford pleasanter society, or to involve so little personal expense, as a berth in a convict ship; he therefore committed a forgery, and in this way luckily booked his passage at once.
I do not know whether anybody thought of asking him what course he had intended to pursue in case a stupid jury had found him innocent, but, anyhow, the inventor of this farrago of falsehood was taken on board a vessel, and carried to that part of the coast which he had named as the promised land. He was then landed under guard, and requested to point out the exact spot where he had seen the gold, which he did with great precision. His intentions to escape now became so apparent, that he was tied to a tree whilst the rest of the party dug and searched. On their finding no gold he bethought him, of a sudden, that he must have made a mistake, and "prospected" copper instead; had he said brass, it would have been
