Upon this they were resolved, that the first place they came at where timber was to be had for building, they would go to work again and make two or three more floats, not so big as the other, that so they might embark themselves, their baggage, and their provisions too, all together, and take the full benefit of the river, where it would afford them help; and not some sail on the water, and some go on foot upon the land, which would be very fatiguing.
Therefore, as soon as they found timber, as I have said, and a convenient place, they went all hands to work to build more floats or boats, and, while this was doing, all the spare men spent their time and pains in searching about for gold in the brooks and small streams, as well those they had been at before as others, and that after they had, as it were, plundered them at the first discovery; for, as they had found some gold after the hasty rain, they were loath to give it over, though they had been assured there was more to be found in the lake, where they were yet to come, than in the brooks.
All this while their making the floats went slowly on; for the men thought it a great hardship to keep chopping of blocks, as they called it, while their fellows were picking up gold, though they knew they were to have their share of what they found, as much as if they had been all the while with them; but it seems there is a kind of satisfaction in the work of picking up gold, besides the mere gain.
However, at length the gold failing, they began to think of their more immediate work, which was, going forward; and the carpenters having made three more floats, like flat-bottomed barges, which they brought to be able to carry their baggage and themselves too, if they thought fit, they began to embark and fall down the river; but they grew sick of their navigation in a very few days, for before they got to the lake, which was but three days' going, they ran several times on ground, and were obliged to lighten their floats to get them off again, then load again, and lighten again, and so off and on, till they were so tired of them that they would much rather have carried all their baggage, and have travelled by land; and, at last, they were forced to cast off two of them, and put all their baggage on board the other two, which, at best, though large, were but poor crazy things.
At length they came in sight of their beloved lake, and the next day they entered into the open part, or sea of it, which they found was very large, and in some places very deep.
Their floats, or by what other name they might be called, were by no means fit to carry them upon this inland sea; for if the water had been agitated by the least gust of wind, it would presently have washed over them, and have spoiled, if not sunk, their baggage; so they had no way to steer or guide them whenever they came into deep water, where they could not reach the ground with their poles.
This obliged them, as soon as they came into the open lake, to keep close under one shore, that is to say, to the right hand, where the land falling away to the south and the south-by-east, seemed to carry them still forward on their way; the other side widening to the north, made the lake seem there to be really a sea, for they could not look over it, unless they went on shore and got upon some rising ground.
Here, at first, they found the shore steep too, and a great depth of water close to land, which made them very uneasy; for, if the least gale of wind had disturbed the water, especially blowing from off the lake, they would have been shipwrecked close to the shore. However, after they had gone for two days along the side, by the help of towing and setting as well as they could, they came to a flatter shore and a fair strand, to their great joy and satisfaction.
But, if the shore proved to their satisfaction for its safety, it was much more so on another account; for they had not been long here before they found the sands or shore infinitely rich in gold, beyond all that they had seen, or thought of seeing before. They had no sooner made the discovery, than they resolved to possess themselves of a treasure that was to enrich them all for ever; accordingly, they went to work with such an avaricious spirit, that they seemed to be as if they were plundering an enemy's camp, and that there was an army at hand to drive them from the place; and, as it proved, they were in the right to do so; for, in this gust of their greedy appetite, they considered not where they were, and upon what tender and ticklish terms their navigation stood.
They had, indeed, drawn their two floats to the shore as well as they could, and with pieces of wood like piles, stuck in on every side, brought them to ride easy, but had not taken the least thought about change of weather, though they knew they had neither anchor or cable, nor so much as a rope large enough to fasten them with on the shore.