The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-23 00:00:00

race was not sufficiently deep ; whereupon Marshall
ordered the Indians to dig it deeper. Whilst this was
in course of doing, the water being very clear, Marshall's
attention was attracted here and there to several bright
specks, which he could plainly see at the bottom of the
water. These he at first took up, carelessly, between his
thumb and finger, and threw away again, thinking no-
thing of the matter. Next morning, however, he saw a
great many more specks, some much larger than the
others; and imagining thatit might be gold, he collected
some dozen of scales, which he forthwith took to the
fort, where he found the captain at tea. Anxious to
know the captain's opinion, he at once produced what
he had found ;—and gold it proved to be. Now,
amongst the newly-arrived emigrants, there happened
to be an old Georgia gold-miner, who, when he heard of
the discovery, hastened off with others to the spot, made
a cradle, and set to work. Many others did the same.
Thus commenced gold digging in California. The
Georgia miner taught the people in the first instance
how to obtain the gold by washing, but for which, in
all probability, notwithstanding what had been found of
it, the story of its discovery might have passed away
and become a mere idle tale, like that of the shepherd who
found gold near Wellington, in New South Wales, 13 years
ego; for neither Captain Sutter nor 'Mr. Marshall knew
how to obtain it except by picking it up with their
fingers."
The author having come to the conclusion, from
various reasons, that gold mines existed iu Aus-
tralia, set out from Sydney, and travelled to Guy-
ong, in whose neighbourhood he was to make the
first experiment. The particulars of his expedition
and its success are thus related :

"After resting one day at Guyong, on the 12th of
February I started thence, accompanied by young Lis-
ter. Our course was down the Lewes Pond Creek, a
tributary to the Summer Hill Creek, which again is a
tributary of the Macquarie River. After travelling a
distance of about 15 miles, I found myself in the coun-
try that I was so anxiously longing to behold again.
My recollection of it had not deceived me. The re-
semblance of its formation to that of California could not
be doubted or mistaken. I felt myself surrounded by
gold ; and with tremulous anxiety panted for the moment
of trial, when my magician's wand should transform
this trackless wilderness into a region of countless
wealth.

" Still one difficulty seemed to present itself. There
had been an unusual drought during the summer, which
was now drawing to a close, anti the creek, where we
then were, was completely dried up. My guide, how-
ever, in answer to my inquiries, told me that we should
find water lower down ; so, following its course, we
soon fell in with some rocks which contained a sufficient
supply.

ire new turned out our horses ; and seated ourselves
on the turf, as it was necessary to satisfy the cravings of
hunger before I ventured on thy grand experiment. Had
that failed, but little appetite for food would have been
left me.

"My guide went for water to drink, end, after making
a hasty repast, I told him that we were now in the gold
fields, and that the gold was under his feet as he went to
fetch the water for our dinner. He stared with incre-
dulous amazement, and, on my telling him that I would
now find some gold, watched my movements with the
most intense interest. My own excitement, probably,
was far more intense than his. I took tho pick and
scratched the gravel off a schistose dyke, which ran
across the creek at right angles with its side ; and, with
a trowel, I dug a panful of earth, which I washed in the
water-hole. The first trial produced a little piece of
gold. Here it is !' I exclaimed ; and I then washed
five panfuls in succession, obtaining gold from all but
one.

"No further proof was necessary. To describe my
feelings at that eventful moment would be impossible.
What I said on the instant—though, I must admit, not
warranted as the language of calm rnflection— has been
since much laughed at. And though my readers may
renew the laugh, I shall not to hesitate to repeat it, be-
cause, as it was the natural and impulsive expression of
my overwrought feelings at the moment, so is it the
-only account I can now give of what those feelings were.
" I exclaimed to my is a memorable
day in the history of New South Wales. I shall be a
baronet, you will be knighted, and my old horse will
be stuffed, put into a glass-case, and sent to the British
Museum.'

"At that instant I felt myself to be a great man. I
was as mad, perhaps, at the moment, as Don Quixote
was his life through ; and, assuredly, my companion was
as simple as Sancho Panza—for the good youth after-
wards told me, he expected I should obtain for him the
honour I had promised.
" On our return that night to the inn at Guyong, I
wrote a memorandum of the discovery, which I after-
wards gave to the Colonial Secretary, as a memorial of
the great event."

A brief history of the discovery of Australia itself
is given, and an account of its various discoverers.
The description of the different methods of work-

ing for gold is curious. The writer also gives his
opinion on the land question, and an interesting
account of the rise and progress of the colony.

NG, JANUARY 23, 1855.

Britain, none but the closest connections of the very
finest old Whig families, who have the very warmest
berths under Government, at all make head against the
ex_penso of it. Coals are more than eighty shillings
per ton ; corn has been recently imported from Eng-
land ; houses cost more than in Belgravia or May
Fair : the price of clothes is fabulous.
" The commonest necessaries of life have risen to a
price which is the dismay of every one. My dinner, a
slice of fish and a chop, with a pint of beer, costs me ss.
a day, without the waiter; my breakfast, a couple of
eggs and two small rolls, cost me exactly 1/. 12s. a
week ; tea, butter, and sugar, are extra. Common
French wine costs nine or ten shillings a bottle (at
hotels) ; the Broussa wine costs about 3s. 6d. ; but it is
not good the second day after it has been opened. The
wages of servants are in the same proportion. I have
half a servant, which costs me about 3/. a month, and
the gentleman who has the other half of him pays
more. Grooms' wages are about five pounds a month :
horse-keep dearer than in England : furniture bad, in-
elegant, and expensive. Nearly everything, however,
being imported, and most of the tradesmen only coming
here for a few years, to snake money enough to set up
Europe, there is little need to continue the catalogue.
I paid eight shillings the other day for a pair of gloves,
and forty-two francs for a ruling-whip that would have
cost about five shillings in London or in Riris. One
hotel-keeper tild me that he had made twenty thousand
p,mnds within the past year : another :aid this was not
true ; but they must be almost coining money, for they have
it all their own way; and at any of the good hotels it is
quite a favour to get a place at the dinner-table though
the cost is considerably more than at the hotels in Paris,
and would kill a German Gastwirdt on the Rhine with
sheer envy."
This very entertaining volume of sketches suc-
ceeds in portraying vividly Oriental life and man-
ners, and in conveying a clear idea of the customs
of the people. Respecting Greece, and the Greeks
too, much information may be obtained ; and the
readers will probably coincide in the hope that
" the Englishman " may rove yet further, and give
us tho result of his wanderings in a similar
volume.

Tit for Tat. By a Lady from New Orleans U.S.
Clarke and Beaton.
This work !s intended as a match for "Uncle
Tom's Cabin,' in which intention, we may be al-
lowed to say without prejudice, it very signally
fails. If the good old rule be true, that the party
who first loses their temper in an argument be in
the wrong, then certainly Mrs. Julia T--- has a
very bad case. It is intended to revenge the
" insult " offered to the proprietors of the Southern
States by Mrs. Stowe, and the object is thus ele-
gantly set forth :—" However abundantly the Eng-
lish aristocracy may choose to moisten their French
cam brics over the tinsel pages of an American
romance, the facts contained in the following pages
will prove how much more ready the Britishers
are to shed tears over our faults than to attempt
the more Christian correction of their own." This
Christian correction Mrs. T--- has kindly under-
taken for us, and very strongly sets forth how
much worse it is for crime and ill-usage to go on
in opposition to the laws, than "in accordance
with the laws of our land." The great point of the
book is the chimney-sweeping, and it is somewhat
curious to notice how often the authoress alludes
to the "slavery," cruelty, and injustice of such.
cases. No doubt grave faults exist in the execu-
tion and evasion of this and similar laws, but we
maintain that to have a law against them is some-
thing, and that we are more likely to amend such
evils by courting inquiry, and having Parliamen-
tary committees on the subject, than if we shut
our eyes to facts, declared everything we had ever
said, thought, or done on the subject the best that
could be said, thought, or done, and lectured our
neighbours. How proving us in the wrong, proves
the slaveholders in the right, it requires perhaps
American logic to explain. But why should this
attack bo made on us ? It was an American, not
au English lady, that produced Uncle Tom. Had
not the fair authoress better lecture her own coun-
trymen and women first ? It is to the credit of the
Americans that so many of them see plainly the
right ; and, as an eminent writer has observed, it
is impossible to change on such a subject. No
conscientious person ever became converted by the
advocates of slavery. They may uphold it because
they have grown up with it, and have never rea-
soned on the subject ; but if an enlightened Euro-
pean were suddenly to stand forth as its advocate,
what should we think ? No doubt the present
writer considers herself triumphantly revenged
for the blow her cause received ; but the day of
enlightenment is coming, though slowly, when we
may hope to see her and such as her confess their
mistake. Till then let us not emulate their acri-
mony, but pity their error, while we despise their
arguments.