Letter from the late John Phoenix, found among the posthumous papers of the late John P. Squibob, and promptly published in the "San Diego Herald":
OFF THE COAST OF FLORIDA, Jan. 3, 1849.
MY DEAR SQUIB:—I imagine your pathetic inquiry
as to my whereabouts—pathetic, not to say
hypothetic—for I am now where I cannot hear the
dulcet strains of your voice. I am on board ship.
I am half seas over. I am bound for California
by way of the Isthmus. I am going for the gold,
my boy, the gold. In the mean time I am lying
around loose on the deck of this magnificent