team of bullocks, to plough some land in which they are about to sow a crop of maize and potatoes. One of the brothers, mounted on a serviceable roadster, accompanied the party into town, and appeared not a little proud of his share in the transaction.' Dr Kerr, having no licence to raise gold, was obliged to compound with the government by paying a royalty of 10 per cent. upon the amount of treasure he had secured.

On the first reports of the discovery of gold near Bathurst reaching Victoria, many people started, and more were preparing to start from Port Phillip and the neighbourhood to Bathurst and the Turon. This would be a journey of between 400 and 500 miles, through a difficult and thinly-peopled country, and would require ten days, even under the most favourable circumstances. The mass of the people attempting it would probably require a month. It began soon to be whispered, however, that this arduous journey might be spared, and that gold existed within two-days' walk or ride of Melbourne in even greater abundance than in Ophir itself. After many flying rumours and reports during the winter months of 1851-namely, June to Septembercertain information came to Mr Latrobe, the governor of Victoria, which induced him to make a journey to examine for himself. He says in his report to Earl Grey, dated October 10, 1851 :

66

"The locality now known by the name of the Ballarat Diggings, lies about six miles in a direct line from the remarkable volcanic hill still known by the native name of "Buninyong," and to the west of "Warrenneep," another eminence of similar origin, rising on the same ridge or water-shed. The geological formation of the country would appear to be the ordinary quartzose iron-sandstone and clay-slate which is so general throughout this colony. "Golden Point," where the principal workings at Ballarat have been opened, presents, superficially, no feature to distinguish it from any other of the numerous forested spurs which descend from the broken ranges at the foot of the higher ridges, and which bound the Valley of the Leigh on either side. Yet, although it is now seen that the gold is to be found in one position or another in greater or less quantities, in the whole of the surrounding country, both on the ranges or in the flats, or in the water-courses, various causes would seem to have given this particular point a superficial structure at least very distinct from others in its neighbourhood as far as they have been examined, and made it the depository of a far greater quantity of the precious metal, within a limited area, than has hitherto been discovered.

Roughly stated, a section of a working shews under the superficial soil-1. Red ferruginous earth and gravel: 2. Streaked yellowish and red clay: 3. Quartz-gravels of moderate size: 4. Large quartz-pebbles and boulders; masses of ironstone set in very compact clay, hard to work: 5. Blue and white clay: 6. Pipe-clay, below which none of the workings have yet been carried. Yet, although such may be the general order of the

strata, nothing is more striking than the irregularity of the proportions in which they are found to be distributed, the variety of inclination observable within a limited space, or the unequal depth at which any given stratum may be found to lie below the surface. In some workings, the pipe-clay may be reached at the depth of 10 or 12 feet; in others, not at 30 and upwards. In fact, there are hardly two workings, however approximate, which furnish similar sections.* Gold has been detected, I believe, in all the superior formations, even in the superficial soil. But by far the richest deposit is found in the small veins of blue clay which lie almost immediately above the pipe-clay, in which no trace of the ore has been discovered. The ore is to all appearance quite pure. It is found occasionally in rolled or water-worn irregular lumps of various sizes, from a quarter or half an ounce to two ounces in weight, sometimes incorporated with round pebbles of quartz, which appears to have formed its original matrix; at other times, without any admixture whatever, in irregular rounded or smooth pieces, and again in fused † irregular masses of pure metal of great beauty, weighing in some instances seven to nine ounces. I have met with no instances in this locality of the form called scale-gold. The seams of the auriferous blue clay, the general position of which I have described, are found to be most irregular in their deposit, and seldom more than four or five inches in thickness. They appear, disappear, and break off and thin out continually. I may give your lordship some idea of the value of this partial deposit, however, when hit upon, by stating that I witnessed during my visit the washing of two tin dishes of this clay, of about twenty inches in diameter, the yield of which was no less than 8 pound weights of pure gold; and I have seen two, or at most three cubic inches of the same yield four ounces.'

Other accounts speak of the ground at Ballarat being perfectly mined in search of this vein of blue clay, so that a person could go for several yards under ground from one hole to the other. Governor Latrobe, in the same dispatch, afterwards says: 'One party is known to have raised 16 poundweights at an early hour of the day, and to have secured 31 poundweightsvalue about L.1300-in one day's work. Many parties of four men have shared, day after day, 10 ounces per man-value at least L.30. I can testify to the fact of 10 poundweights-value about L.400 or L.440-and upwards being the produce of a single working during one of the days of my visit, and I have no reason to believe that this case was at that time an isolated one.'

In attempting to describe the state of excitement into which the population was thrown by the news of these occurrences, he says: Within the last three weeks, the towns of Melbourne and

*This irregular character is common to all drift accumulations.

+ This idea of fusion is, as we have before noticed, in all probability a complete mistake.

The value of this would be from L.320 to L.350.

Geelong, and their large suburbs, have been in appearance almost emptied of many classes of their male inhabitants. Not only have the idlers, to be found in every community, and day-labourers in town and the adjacent country, shopmen, artisans and mechanics of every description, thrown up their employments, and in most cases leaving their employers and their wives and families to take care of themselves, run off to the workings, but respectable tradesmen, farmers, clerks of every grade, and not a few of the superior classes followed-some unable to withstand the mania and force of the stream, or because they were really disposed to venture time and money on the chance, but others because they were, as employers of labour, left in the lurch, and had no other alternative. Cottages are deserted, houses to let, business is at a standstill, and even schools are closed. In some of the suburbs, not a man is left, and the women are known, for self-protection, to forget neighbours' jars, and to club together to keep house. Even masters of vessels, foreseeing the impossibility of maintaining any control over their men otherwise, have found the only way was to join them, make up a party, and go shares with them at the diggings."

When the excitement consequent on the discovery of the Ballarat Diggings was beginning to abate, and many men returning to their employments, it received a fresh accession of strength, and was turned into a new direction, by the report of those found at Mount Alexander. This is a hill about seventy miles north-west of Melbourne, part of the granitic district of Mount Macedon and Mount Byng. In a subsequent dispatch of October 30, 1851, Governor Latrobe describes it as follows:"It appears that the first gold in this quarter-the search for which originated in a small piece, combined with quartz, being picked up by a shepherd on his folding-ground-was discovered in a seam of compact quartz of about a foot in thickness, lying between the strata of clay-slate and mica-slate. It was chiefly worked by one party, who followed the seam, with great labour, into the face of the hill, for ten or twenty yards, obtaining, either from the quartz-rock itself, or from small deposits in the narrow layers of clay which lay between it and the adjacent rock, in the course of a fortnight, gold to the value of L.300, or more. The report of the fact becoming known, others joined in the search, but with little success. Within the last fortnight, however, the discovery of gold in the bed of an adjoining creek, descending from the Mount Alexander ranges, and forming a junction with a branch of the East Loddon River, drew off the attention of all from the quartz-veins. The result of the work commenced here was found to be so considerable, that there was an immediate rush to the spot; and although the certain intelligence could only have been spread a few days previous, I found on my arrival 250 men on the spot. The produce of a few hours' labour in various instances was seen to be very considerable—as much as four or

five poundweights of gold, in large-sized grains, falling to the share of a party of two or three hands.'

'There is nothing,' he says, 'to distinguish the Forest Creek, or the adjacent ranges, with their iron sandstone, quartz-rock, broken ridges, and ravines, from thousands of similar localities presenting similar internal and external structure, in this colony. But the bed of the valley, which appears to be formed of the inclined beds of slate-rock, is covered with an irregular deposit of gravelly clays, of much the same character as those at Ballarat. The deposed matter, however, is neither as deep nor as compact as at the former place, and little labour is requisite, comparatively, to reach the veins of clay immediately above the slate, in which the gold is generally found.'

In a subsequent dispatch, bearing date December 19, 1851, Governor Latrobe says: 'I will here only briefly state, that the gold raised upon the Mount Alexander gold-fields is now calculated by hundredweights, and arrives in the cities by the government escort or private conveyance at the rate of probably two tons per week-so it has been at least for the last two weeks. Some 20,000 individuals are calculated to be congregated at the principal fields in that quarter, now four in number, and scattered over the adjacent country on a space of twenty miles square. A large proportion of the numbers actually working are making large profits, and on all hands undoubted proofs of the easy acquisition of great wealth by the labouring class abound. Ä poundweight of gold a day is small remuneration for a party, and many secure five or six, and there are instances of as much as fifty being the result of but a few hours' labour. Large quantities have likewise been scraped from the very surface. Even when the ore lies beneath it, having been deposited under the alluvion, immediately above, and in the fissures of the slate-rock, the labour of reaching it is trifling compared with that at Ballarat.'*

Notwithstanding the vast wealth accumulated in the aggregate, at such a comparatively small outlay of time and labour, there were numbers of people who failed to obtain any share in it. On this point we will again quote from Governor Latrobe's dispatch of October 10th

'Let the quantity of gold distributed under the surface of the country be what it may, hundreds who have followed the stream and first impulse, and adventured themselves in the gold-field, shortly find that they are physically unfitted for the labour and self-denial which it entails. Large numbers will find that they are equally morally unfitted for it, and will gladly return to the steady gains and comfort of a fixed sphere of labour and home. In the vicinity of the workings, labour, even at the time of my visit,

*We quote thus largely from Governor Latrobe's report, because he has not only the best opportunity of gaining certain information from his official position, but because he is himself one of the most competent observers, and most able to give a true and accurate account of what he observes of any man now in Australia.

could be readily secured on the very ground amongst those who, while they saw gold drawn by handfuls from an adjacent hole, had slaved for a week and had got none; or who at once, on arrival on the ground, saw that it was harder work than shearing, and held out a chance of less certain profit.'

Those of the labouring class who returned successful, naturally committed all sorts of extravagance: some ordered the best and most expensive silks and dresses for their wives and children, as well as gold watches and chains, the most costly that could be got; bank-notes were eaten between slices of bread and butter, and other stories are current, such as one reads as told of sailors paid off with prize-money during the war. One deep old file, an old soldier in every sense of the term, had a child born to him at one of the diggings, and instantly seeing his chance, went round with a hat to make a collection for the little stranger'—' the first child born at the diggings:' the value of his hatful was found to amount to about L.3000!

All ordinary employments, and all the ordinary relations of society, were meanwhile undergoing a strange revolution in Melbourne. One of the judges was so deserted of all servants, that, but for the assistance of his sons, he, being lame, could not have been drawn in his wheeled-chair from his house to his court. A gentleman offered a man half-a-crown to take a letter to the post-office, a distance of a few hundred yards. The 'gent.' looked disgusted. 'Why,' he replied, 'I would not take my pipe out of my mouth for that sum.' Another offered a digger a shilling to lift a bag of sugar off his dray. The digger looked at him a moment, and then, putting his foot on a stump, said: "There, tie my shoe, and I'll give you five shillings.' It was also related, that a sheepfarmer, who had been deserted by his men, went after them to the diggings, and tried to wile them back by an offer of what would, in ordinary circumstances, have been extravagantly high wages, when they coolly made the counter-proposal to him of a still higher salary, provided he would stay and act as their cook. All the successful gold-diggers did not act with extravagance. Captain Chisholm, within seven weeks after his arrival at Port Phillip, had received not less than L.2000 in gold-dust, from labouring-men, to pay the passage out of their relatives at home. There is not an emigration agent in the United Kingdom but what could tell numerous instances of remittances having reached home for this purpose. Many prudent investments also have been made in the colonies by working-men.

It may easily be imagined, that the colonial governments of New South Wales and Victoria had some difficulty in dealing with the novel circumstances under which they were placed. They had first of all to guard, as far as possible, the rights of the crown, since all gold and silver, wherever found, belong of right to the crown-in other words, to the public. It was therefore the bounden duty of the colonial governments to take care that the crown-that is, the