Thamanampalli Surekha

occurs. What an exhaustless field is here for the gold-seeker! We are not speculating widely, when we state that time will show, that the few, holes scraped out since the first diggings on the Bathurst mountains are but the commencement of the gigantic operations which are yet to follow. The pursuit is but in its infancy, and generations to come have before them untold treasures in the auriferous deposits of Australia. A knowledge of this should curb the hasty enthusiasm of those who are going unprepared for the hardships they will have to encounter, when a little delay might place them in more favourable circumstances. It is as absurd to suppose that the richest localities have already been found, as it is to imagine that fresh veins will be generated in the matrix of the rocks, both of which erroneous conjectures have been promulgated by people in the colonies who pretend to a scientific knowledge of the subject. A further consideration of this question ought to suggest likewise to future gold-seekers the adoption of more judicious and systematic methods of washing and raising the auriferous earth, also a better regulation of the hours of working and repose; more comfortable descriptions of dwellings; and especially an improved arrangement in cooking their food and partaking of meals, which would be more conducive to their health and comfort. A little time spared from their labours for such purposes could never be considered ill-spent, neither would a few, extra pounds be thrown away. No sooner does a party come upon the ground to commence operations with their licenses in their pockets, than they rush like madmen to their task, without any concern for their future comfort, which they feel all the more if they are unsuccessful. When we passed tents and "gunyas" in such a state of confusion and filth inside, that a pig would have turned up its snout in disgust at them, we considered that cleanliness and order could be maintained even here, if the greedy occupants would but spare a little time from their exciting work. Many, however, gloried in the dirt that surrounded them, and prided themselves on their dirty attire. As we descended the range, following the bed of the creek, in which there was now no water, the abandoned diggings were very numerous, those who had been at work had been driven away for the present. As soon, however, as there was water, they would recommence their labours, and from what we have since heard, the most extroordinary success attended them. Proceeding in the same direction for a mile or so, we came to where the valley widens, and where the labours of the people had been prodigious. Enormous holes had been sunk in the bottom of the valley, and on the sides of the hills not a stone was left unturned. Though there were still many men about, yet the greater part of them had been driven away from the want of water. At these dry diggings the discomforts of the diggers were enhanced by the great distance they had to go for water. A good wash was a luxury they rarely enjoyed, and few of them undressed on retiring to rest. In fact, these ordinary attentions to the toilet were of little avail to protect them from the dust blown about in all directions by the wind. So for, allowances are to be made for the dry-diggers. Inside and outside their tents and gunyas, every thing was of the same dingy, dusty hue. Even the victuals could not be protected from the palpable powder, which we felt by the sand crunching amongst the chops between our teeth: and yet we must qualify our judgment of these discomforts by stating, that they did not appear much greater than those endured by the Irish labourer, who is sifting lime or sand in England for a shilling or eighteen pence a - day. Our estimate of the discomforts of a gold - digger's occupation are those which would be endured by a person unaccustomed to manual labour. Fatigue, hardship, and discomfort, under these circumstances, are entirely comparative. What the brawny armed navigator would consider merely ordinary work at the diggings, the slender-limbed office - man would account frightful labour. And so the had - man who lives amongst dust and lime, swallowing the dry particles, and allowing his clothes to drop off his back hardened by their amalgamation, would find no fault with the discomforts of a gold-digger's life. He would be as much at home lying down in his dirty clothes for weeks together, in a tent or bark gunya, as he was at home on his straw pallet in his mud cabin. Place a man, however, in the same situation, who has been accustomed to all the artificial manipulations of the toilet, with whom such habits have become a second nature, and then the loss of the ordinary comforts of civilised life cannot even compensate for the golden rewards of his dirty labour. Hence, in judging of the amount of privation which the gold-seekers undergo in Australia, and of the hardships they describe, we should be guided by the stamina of the men and the former habits of the writers. In our perambulations down the valley of the creek we saw a fine young man - the son of a neighbouring settler we were told, who had been accustomed to take charge of stock upon a cattle-station-at the bottom of a hole digging and pitching up the earth, he was in a dreadful state of perspiration, when, resting for a moment, he looked up to his brother, and exclaimed, in a most dismal tone, "Oh, Frederick, this is dreadful! - what a change it is from our pleasant life at home! "Although accustomed to what is called a rough life in the bush, even this young man felt the tails of a gold - digger's occupation more than he could bear. What must not those feel who have proceeded thither fresh from the towns and cities in the mother country, arriving on