The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-02 00:00:00

JUNE 2, 1855. Yittraturt. Land, Labour, and Gold ; or, Two Years in Victoria. By William Howitt. London : Longmans. WE have yet had no work descriptive of Victoria since the gold discoveries at all com parable to this journal by Mr. Howitt. It is a faithful record of personal observation and experience during his two years' residence in the colony, written with point, vigour, and that talent for natural description which Mr. Howitt is well known to possess, but with great simplicity and so much minuteness that the scenes through which the author passed are, as it were, vividly conjured up before our eyes, while his wanderings and adventures, from their continual novelty and forcible reality, strongly seize on our attention and enlist our sympathies in his fortunes. This is especially the case up to the close of his first expedition to the gold-fields, " the Ovens." Subsequently, his narrative is less precise, and he misses many details—such as the actual amount of his gold at the diggings, and the general effect of the expedition, and indeed of the whole voyage, on his personal fortunes—which the reader would have been glad to find. We were puzzled by the opening para graph : Melbourne, September 23, 1852. At sea, on the 9th of this month, I wrote, " To morrow, if the wind is favorable, I trust we shall cast anchor off Melbourne, after a voyage of 111• L days ! " This morning, at ninety miles from land, on opening the scuttle in my cabin, I perceived an aromatic odour, as of spicy flowers, blown from the land; and going out to announce the fact, I met a gentleman coming into the cuddy, who said, " Come on deck, and smell the land ! " But if he wrote on the 9th of September, "To-morrow I trust we shall cast anchor," how was it that not until under date of Sep 'ember 23 he could say—" This morning, at ' ninety miles from land " ? We expected for a time to read of some storm or disaster which kept the ship at sea, but afterwards the entry— " Melbourne, September 23—Here we are, and " have been, these ten days "—leads to the in ference that the first date is erroneous, or that the journal was commenced several days after landing, and that " this morning" was a slip of the pen. The gold fever was at its height on the author's arrival ; prices had risen to their most extravagant height, and he had the greatest difficulty in getting his effects landed. Servants were not to be had. Mr. Howitt had a relative, Dr. Howitt, in the colony, and he had been fortunate in his groom : I must do the last groom justice. He we, a real gentleman, a gentleman by birth and education. His father is a clergyman of high standing. He himself was educated at Oxford, and used to ride with the Melton hounds. One of the many real gentlemen who came out at the first successful account of the diggings, he had been up and found no luck at the El-Dorado ; so, being very knowing in horseflesh, and liking horses, he engaged with my brother ; and never was there such a groom. Steady, orderly, attentive at all hours and all points, invulnerable in his good humour, he was the perfect groom, and yet the perfect gentleman, and in nothing more so than in that he never presumed upon it. He sunk all pretensions to an equality of rank ; he set himself to be the groom and nothing more, while he occupied that situation ; but he was never more agentleman in spirit and in manners than when grooming his horses or driving out his master. When importuned by his old mates, as the term is—his old comrades—to make another trial of the diggings, he told the doctor that be should be obliged to go, but that he would not go till he was suited. This was the only instance of such true politeness which our rela tives have met with since diggerdom commenced, for the general announcement is " I am going to-morrow ! "—and they go. Richard, however, kept his word, and did not go . . his • THE PRESS. dig out 5 lbs. weight of gold ! He sees other two men wash out of two tin dishes of earth, I think, 8 lbs. weight of gold ! He pokes the moss away from the foot. of a tree, and picks up a piece of gold! He sees gold every where; and winds all his wonders up by declaring in his despatch that "the whole country is of the same cha racter." After this, is it not rather cool to profess astonishment at the avidity of the millions at a distance to witness some of these miracles of affluence for them selves ? After much consideration, the author, with his party, resolved on proceeding to the Ovens diggings, 150 miles distant from Mel bourne, and accordingly furnished himself with the necessary outfit. He commenced his journey in company with two other parties, but, finding much more annoyance than benefit from their company, he soon decided on pro secuting it alone. The roads, or tracks rather, were discovered to be desperately bad soon after leaving Melbourne, and his journey was a continued struggle with difficulties through accidents to his waggon and the straying of his cattle. The first forest on his route bore traces of the great bush fire of 1851 : If you traverse these woods in the dusk or in the moon light, your imagination has abundant scope for exercise. All the old blackened stumps, or fallen trees bleached to whiteness, assume characters many of which never really existed in these lands. Others recal the past of these forests themselves. Some appear like dark images of the natives, who have been pushed from their hereditary seats by the white man. In one place appear dark women carrying their infanta, black as ebony, on their backs ; and often they are followed by a little troop of other children. Here are dark figures standing as if in deep consultation, or in an attitude of indignant resentment at the encroachments of the stranger. There are gro tesquely-shaped trees, which assume the forms of all kinds of animals—kangaroos, iguanos, huge crocodiles, and serpents of enormous size and tortuous length. But far oftener these dark masses appeal in the shapes of your own native regions, and your own history. Kings of lofty stature, and in flowing robes, sit on ebony thrones ; bishops and abbots stand arrayed in stole and mitre ; silent women, seated with their heads stooped on their knees, seem lost in profound grief; and hollow stems of trees, broken off at some six or eight feet from the ground, pre sent the appearance of strange orators in some historical scene, with elevated arms, from which fall their robes in picturesque volumes to the ground, their whole aspect eloquent with an earnest and mysterious enthusiasm. I do not know that these objects affect others in this manner ; but I cannot avoid seeing them thus continually in the twilight or the moonlight. _ _ On one occasion it seemed that they had really lost their horses. Hearing some tidings of them they set out for the hills, and travelled far without success : Mile after mile we went on, through the hills and the woods, getting ever deeper and deeper into their intricate glens; the drayman, as we reached an eminence, pointing to the lofty ranges which we had seen from our camp on the other side of the valley, and telling us, for our comfort, that the highest range there was Mount Dis appointment; that, if our horses got into that labyrinth of hills, they were lost for ever ; that in the valleys be tween those hills there are scores of horses that have escaped, and in time grown wild and irreclaimable; that one valley ran into another, and t*t into a third, and so on, in such a network, that it is exceedingly difficult fur any one going in to find his way out again ; and that a gentleman, some time ago, who attempted to explore them, never was heard of till his bones were found. He said, three months before a horse of his escaped thither, and he had tried to recover it in vain. The herd is called " Wills's wild Mob," and they range at will, knowing the defiles of the hills better than any human creature. In those valleys, he added, the wood is so dense that it is almost dark at noon. Fern trees grow there to a great size, and close so thickly above your head that you cannot see the sky. - - The animals luckily were recovered when all hope of finding them was nearly lost. A more serious disaster was the break down of their cart, which detained them soma days, and this was followed by the severe illness of the author. His life was saved by the hospitality of a " squatter," a class, by the way, against whom Mr. Howitt seems to have conceived an unaccountable prejudice : At this moment we discovered that we were on the station of Mr. Forlonge, a wealthy squatter ; and Alfred about miles dis• thongs of bullock hide, and still more secured from the force of the winds by poles, which are fastened along the outside of the roof. Remember, that in such huts the greater number of the squatters of Australia live ; people, many of them of old English and Scotch families, retired officers, medical men, and clergymen—wealthy, and even elegant people. Here lived the squatter of whom Mr. Forlunge bought the run or station; and here Mr. For lunge and his family lived some time, till he built his present handsome house in a much finer situation. While yet on tho road they encountered some of their old travelling companions re turning in disgust, bringing with them only stories of disappointment and disaster. But our author and his party resolutely resolved to see and try for themselves. They did not reach " the Ovens " until Christmas-day 1852, having spent nearly two months in their arduous journey. The account of the diggings is a masterpiece of descriptive writing, nor can we too strongly recommend it to the notice of those persons—if any such still there be—who imagine that gold-digging is a pro fitable and lucrative pursuit. Having tried one or two fields without suc cess, and satisfied that nothing was to be done in so crowded a field, the author with his party resolved to " prospect" for themselves. They stole away from the diggings quietly and advanced up the creek whence they conjec tured the gold must be washed down. The narrative of this journey has more than the interest of romance. The reader can himself scarcely escape a touch of the gold fever as he reads. He sympathises with the anxiety of the party to baffle pursuit by obliterating all traces of their route, and participates in their eager scrutiny of the soil. The story of the bullock-waggon stealthily proceeding to some newly- discovered spot, with two eager Yankees dodging it, and the trick by which at last the vigilant pursuers are baffled, are told with dramatic effect. At lust the diligence of Mr. Howitt promised to meet with a rich reward. He relates of his scouts : They passed through glens where the tree-ferns were so tall and thickly grown as to close over their heads, and made it nearly dark. But the most important thing was that at some twelve or fourteen miles distance amongstthe hills, they prospected a considerable stream, and found abundant signs of gold. Hither, therefore, we mean to steal away as secretly as possible. The spot thus selected on the Upper Yackan danda proved really rich in gold, but the dis covery was soon made known:— Yesterday a man made his appearance, and spying our tin-dish, in which we had washed out a few ounces of gold, and placed it in a hollow tree, he very unceremoniously marched up to it, took it up, and began to examine it. I called out to him that that was making rather too familiar. " All right !" said he; set down the dish, and disappeared ; and this morning he reappeared at the head of some scores of others, marching in Indian file through the wood, shouldering their picks and spades. So farewell to the quiet of these woods, and to the gold of this creek. This formidable invading army, looking gay enough in their red jumpers, and blue jumpers, and wide-awakes, but by no means attractive to us, at onco marched straight up to our claim ; sprang down into it, examined the clay at the bottom, nodded to each other their approbation, and hastened to appropriate sections of the creek both above and below. We had cast our eyes on several spots which appeared particularly promising ' they have pounced upon them all; and already we behold their carts arriving with their tools and tents. They must have been somewhere not far off when their scout,dis covered us. Tho success of the party excited the envy of some neighbouring diggers, and never did the auri sacra fames assume a more devilish aspect than in the case of the ruffians who, with passions wound to uncontrollable fury by their own disappointment and the Howitts success, endeavoured to drive them from the spot or compass their destruction. A savage threat of murder at last brought matters to crisis ; the protection of the gold commissioner was invoked, and the ruffians were effectually silenced. teeted with the present tile only instance 01 SUUII LIIO y0..,,c,.,.. ~—..--. -- Jives have met with since diggerdom commenced, for the unaccountable prejudice : crisis ; the protection of tile Bola commissioner general announcement is "I am going to-morrow ! "—and At this moment we discovered that we were on the was invoked, and the ruffians were effectually they go. Richard, however, kept his word, and did not go station of Mr. Forlonge, a wealthy squatter ; and Alfred silenced. till his master thought he was suited. immediately rode off to his house, about seven miles dis• On all points connected with the present to Some just reflections are made on the state and unparalleled industrial progress of wonderful accounts sent home by Mr. La suitable for an invalid. Mr. Forlonge instantly sup- . . plied him with as much good bread, butter, eggs, milk, Trobe in his despatches : Victoria these volumes give full, and generally and vegetables as he could bring; and the next day sent fair, information. We must except, however, There is certainly no man who has done so much to one of his overseers from the hut near us, and took us— turn the heads of people all the world over, regarding the tent , baggag e, and crippled cart—all away together. Mr. Howitt's remarks on all that relates to the squatting interest—a subject on which gold here, as Mr. La Trobe by his official statements; and They soon had our tent pitched near the hut, where our yet, when he hears of the crowds coming, he affects to party c ould slee p , while Alfred and m y self were located his Radical predilections , we sus p ect, blind him almost as completely as the lust for gold wonder at it l "What are all these people coming for?" in the hut. To this generous and hospitable treatment he demanded of me. "What?" I replied in astonish- there is no doubt that I owe my life. A few days more did the ruffians with whom h e had to contend ment ; "why, simply to gather the gold that you tell on the banks of the old c reek would have seen the last at the diggings. By his own showing, the them lies everywhere and all over the country." Surely of me. squatters are by far the moat estimable and never were there such Arabian Nights' stories as those Here we have been since then, and here we are; and I intelligent class in the colony, and though of of Mr. La Trobe's despatches. He rides up to Mount must now give you some notion of the place, and the life course it would not be desirable to give them Alexander, and the first two men that he sees at work here. We are lodged in a slab hut, roofed with broad he pauses to watch. In two hours he sees these men sheets of the stringy bark; whieh are tied to ths rafters by a monopoly of power, yet it would appear that