Dear mama,

 

This land is very strange. All the people are different and it seems that they don’t like us, they shout at us in a strange language with angry and suspicious looks on their faces. So far I have only found little specks of gold which disappoints the whole team, and they aren’t doing any better either. But I guess opportunity knocks at the door only once and a man can do no more than he can. The only person who has found a nugget is Nia Wei, he found a small one in the ground, everyone cheered except for Shan Xia, I guess you can’t please everybody!

 

I hope you are doing better than me, paying off the money I borrowed from Liu Win. He has a temper you know and if I don’t pay him back he will get very angry. I promised him I would and I will. A word spoken can never be taken back and if I return the money quickly it will be easier to borrow from him next time.

 

Anyway things at the worst will mend. Last night Qiu Li had a fight with a white person. I don’t know what the white man was saying but Qiu Li was saying something about how he had assayed the same amount of gold, but had gotten less money. Chu Wen also complained that some of the strange men trampled on the vegetables he was growing so there was no supper to feed the hungry stomachs of our group. Everyone groaned.

 

I will write back soon, the next time I get a chance.

 

From your son,

Long Qi Wan