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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 61 of 468
Words from 16738 to 17009
of 127189
