Poor Lady!
She Need Not Have Disturbed Herself, For Such Things Never Existed, Nor
Had Her Boy Ever Seen A Black-Fellow, Except Round The Slaughter-Yards Of
Coolgardie!
No luck attended our search in the Mount Margaret district, and we shared
the opinion of everybody there that it was a "duffer," and after events
had proved what that opinion was worth.
Travelling and prospecting as we
went, we at last succeeded in finding a reef which we thought was worth
having.
May 30th. We made camp amongst some auriferous hills in what is now known
as the Niagara District, and within a few miles of a spot where,
subsequently, a rich find of gold was made. Since the natives were known
to be troublesome in this locality, we adopted the plan of one stopping
in camp whilst the other prospected. Formerly we had considered it safe
for the one at home to be within reasonable distance of camp, but now,
when semi-civilised natives were prowling about, it was unwise to leave
the camp at all. Luck found gold first, but in so small a vein of quartz
that we did not consider it worth working. The next day, however, we
"got colours" in a fine big reef, and, moving our belongings to its
vicinity, started prospecting the outcrop. Everywhere we tried we found
gold sprinkled through the stone like pepper, and by "dollying" obtained
good results. Satisfied with the prospect, the next thing to be done was
to cross-cut the reef to ascertain its thickness and character below the
surface.
Fortunately water was close to hand, that is to say three miles away, in a
creek since named "Dingo Creek." From there we packed water back to camp,
as often as we required it. Our luck in securing game had now deserted us,
and we had again to fall back on our nearly diminished stock of mince.
After a week's hard work we found that with our limited supply of tools,
without drills and dynamite, it was impossible to do any farther sinking;
besides which the low tide in our provisions necessitated a return to
civilisation before many days.
I pegged out, therefore, an area of four hundred yards by four hundred
yards, as a "protection area"; that is to say, that the fact of four
corner-pegs and a notice having been put up in some prominent place
protects the ground from being taken by any one else for a period of
thirty days. After that time has elapsed the area must be applied for at
the nearest Warden's office, where, unless disputed, it is registered
under the name of the applicant, who must at once commence work upon it.
When such work proves the existence of "payable gold" the area must be
again applied for as a lease, to hold which the sum of 1 pound per acre,
per annum, must be paid to the Government. There are other conditions with
which it is necessary to conform, and which need not be enumerated here.
Since we had ample time to go and return from Coolgardie within the
prescribed period, we decided that in place of travelling direct
homewards, we would make a detour and visit the locality of Mount Ida,
where we had heard gold had been found. By rapid travelling our "tucker"
could be made to last out the time. Winter was now coming on, and the
nights were bitterly cold. Our blankets in the morning were soaked with
dew and frost, and when the days were cloudy and sometimes drizzly we had
no chance of drying them until we built a fire at night. One is so used to
reading of the terrible heat in Australia that it may come as a surprise
to many to hear that in the short winter in the interior - which, by the
way, is 1,500 feet above sea level - the thermometer sometimes sinks for a
brief period of time to 17 degrees F.
This low temperature is reached about an hour before daylight, as you know
to your cost, if you are ill-provided with blankets. At that time in the
morning your head is drawn into the possum rug, and you lie stiff and
shivering until you hear the indescribable something - that heralds the
coming of the sun. It may be a camel moving, as he shakes the frost from
his woolly coat, it may be a bird, or a grasshopper, but always there is
some little noise that would tell even a blind man that the night is over.
Often you know by the stars how long it will be before daylight, and stir
up the fire, put on the billy, and get the saddles and packs in order.
Sometimes you fix on the wrong star, and are thanked accordingly by your
mate when, with his feet in his cold, clammy boots, he discovers that his
watch reads 2 a.m. Sometimes you have the satisfaction of growling at him,
and occasionally, if you feel in very nasty humour, you may lie "dog-oh"
and watch his early rising, knowing full well the right time; laughter,
however, gives you away, and you are justly rewarded by having the
blankets torn off you. Such simple pranks as these make bearable a life
that would otherwise suffocate you with its monotony.
And yet there is a charm about the bush - the perfect peace in the "free
air of God" - that so takes hold of some men that they can never be happy
anywhere else. Civilisation is a fine thing in its way, but the petty
worries and annoyances, the bustle and excitement, the crowds of people,
the "you can't do this," and "you must do that," the necessity for
dressing in most uncomfortable garments to be like other people, and a
thousand other such matters, so distress a bushman, who, like a caged
beast in a menagerie, wanders from corner to corner and cannot find where
to rest, that he longs for the day that he will again be on the track,
with all his worldly goods with him and the wide world before him.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 17 of 125
Words from 16320 to 17348
of 127189
