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outsiders who only reduced the eaming capacity of the family. It was far better,
claimed Alessandro, to have debts of 400 pounds than to share the profits with a
partner.^^ The Pozzis did, however, borrow money from their compatriots and employ
a young boy, Celeste Lesina, to help serve.^ While Leonardo took charge of the Deep
Creek store, Alessandro and Stefano remained at Hepbum. It was a hard life for the
Pozzis as the bread had to be carried on their backs each day to Deep Creek; the
strenuous life of the peasant had, in a sense, equipped them for the equally hard life of
the goldfields. Profits were always low due to the fierce competition among traders
and the pressure to sell goods 'on tick'. Few Italian speakers could refuse to help their
compatriots in need and debts soon accumulated.
The Hepbum store was the more profitable of the two for the Pozzis and
allowed them to send money home to the family. On occasions the amounts were
large ~ up to 1,000 francs ~ other times less so. In 1856, Leonardo sent two pure
gold brooches to this brothers while Alessandro sent some equally valuable gold rings.
He also sent a knife to his sister, Annamaria, which he suggested would be good for
killing the goats; it would seem that in the years of economic hardship, some roles
traditionally assumed by the men in most Lombard communities^'* had been
increasingly performed by the women. Money worries were the focal point of their
letters as well as a continued interest in the political events of their homeland. In 1856,
Alessandro commented on the stmggles of the northem Italian regions after receiving
information from a Ticinese newspaper to which he subscribed.^* Mrs Pozzi, in her
replies to her sons' letters, was equally concemed about money but also remarked on
the boys' spiritual welfare. To her complaint that they were not seen often enough at
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