The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-24 00:00:00

A HEROINE AT THE DIGGINGS,

The Dublin Commercial Journal publishes a letter of
quite a romantic character, lately received by a lady of
Dublin from a young female friend, and former school-
fellow of hers, now at the Australian diggings. It ap-
pears from her narrative that she and her brother were
suddenly left orphans with 3001. for their necessities, and
all the fancies and niceties which life in prosperous cir-
cumstances is wont.to include. "He had passed through
college with credit, and could write poetry and ride up
to the hounds as well as any huntsman who ever hunted
the Golden Vale, while I, on my part, could play
polkas, sing ballads, speak French and a little German,
was a capital horsewoman (only I had no horse), and
once in my life had composed a waltz, and written 16
chapters of a novel, which broke down from not know-
ing how to get my heroine out of a terrible scrape.
But, alas ! my dear friend, all these things might have
done well enough 'once upon a time,' but the real battle
of life was now to be fought by two utterly inexperienced
raw recruits ; and the question was, how our time and
means were to be profitably rather than pleasantly
spent. Fortunately, we were both young, strong,
active, and hearty, and never did any Sebastian and Viola
of them all love each other with a stronger and more en-
during affection than did Frank and I--sole remnants,
as we were, of so much prosperity and so little prudence."
After much nervous consultation over the 3001., they
determined to emigrate to Australia. On reaching Mel-
bourne they found they could not encounter worse
inconveniences at the diggings, and there they now are
under singularly interesting circumstances. The young
lady says :—" I was resolved to accompany my brother
and his friends to the diggings, and I felt that to do so
in my own proper costume and character would be to
run unnecessary hazard. Hence my change. I cut my
hair into a very masculine fashion ' • I purchased a broad
felt hat, a sort of tunic or smock of coarse blue cloth,
trousers to conform, boots of a miner, and thus parting
with my sex for a season (I hoped a better one), behold
me an accomplished candidate for mining operations and
all the perils and inconveniences they might be supposed
to bring. All this transmutation took place with Frank
and Mr. M—'s sanction ; indeed, it was he who first
suggested the change, which I grasped at and improved
on. I could not bear to be separated from Frank, and we
all felt that I should be safer in my male attire than if I
exposed myself to the dangers of the route and residence
in my proper guise. We have now been nine weeks
absent from Melbourne, and have tried three localities,
at the latter of which we have been most fortunate.
We are near water (a first-rate article), and our tent is
pitched on the side of as pretty a valley as you could
wish to visit. I have for myself a sort of supplementary
canvas chamber,' in whioh I sleep, cook, wash clothes
that is, my own and Frank's—and keep watch and
ward over heaps of gold dust and nuggets,' the sight
and touch of which inspirit me when I grow dull, which
I seldom do, for I have constant droppers in,' and,
to own the truth, even in my palmiest days I never
was treated with greater courtesy or respect. Of
course, my sex is very generally known. lam
called ' Mr. Harry' (an abbreviation of Harriett);
but no one intrudes the more on that account.
In fact, I have become a sort of ' necessity,' as I am
always ready to a good turn—the great secret, after all,
of social success ; and I never refuse to oblige a " neigh -
bour,' be the trouble what it may. The consequences
are pleasant enough. Many a " nugget' is thrust on
me whether I will or no, in- return for cooking a pud-
ding or darning a shirt, and if all the cooks and sem-
stresses in the world were as splendidly paid as I am the
Song of the Shirt' would never ,have been written, at
all events. My own hoard amounts now to be about
10 lbs of gold, and if g• on accumulating, even the
richest heiress in my family in former days will
be left immeasurably behind. Sometimes, when I
have a few idle hours, I accompany Frank and
his comrades to the diggings, and it is a rare
thing to watch the avidity with which every bucket'
is raised, washed, examined, and commented upon.
Wild the life is certainly, but full of excitement
and hope ; and strange as it is, I almost fear
to tell you, that Ido not wish it to end ! You can
hardly conceive what a merry company gather together
in our tent every evening, or how pleasantly the
hours pass. Tea and coffee we have in plenty,
for every one brings a hoard, and milk we manage to
obtain, for among us we have imported two cows,
which cost us about 501. each, but that is a mere
trifle. Cake of various kinds I manufacture, thanks
to old Betsy D— for teaching me ; and as for liquor,
we sometimes have a little wine, brandy, or arrack, and
sometimes not. And then we dance to the music of a
German flute, played by a real German, or we sing glees
and quartetts, or talk of Moore, Byron, Burns, Goethe,
Shakspeare and the musical glasses,' &c., until mid-
night, and sometimes long after it. As to suitors, I
have them in plenty, and not despicable ones, either, I
assure you."

onBo oonnsaabyu,rddit
AN AUSTRALIAN VENTURE.—A cutter yacht, named
the
euthCaomnpairton of
docksnnlyctsafiloedr from
the
Australia.
This frail bark is, perhaps, one of the smallest vessels
that has ever undertaken so distant a voyage. She is com-
manded by Capt. Creft, the principal owner, who has
embarked in the adventure, and purchased this little
yacht, with a view either of selling her in Australia, pro-
vided an adequately profitable sum can be realised, or of
running her in,the passenger or other trade on the Austra-
lian coast. The Corsair formerly belonged to the Royal
Yacht Club, and was the victor over the Talisman, a few
years back, in the celebrated sailing match for 1,000
guineas from Cowes to the Eddystone. The Corsair's
sailing qualities are, therefore, of a high order, and the
captain, who has altered the rig from a cutter to that
of a yawl (for the sake of steadiness in a sea way),
seems to entertain no doubt of making a quick run
to the Antipodes. The Corsair's crew consists of only
eleven persons—viz., the master, a mate and steward,
and eight seamen. She is fully found in provisions
and stores, and is a beautifully tight and well-appointed
little craft. A small but valuable cargo belonging to the
owner has been shipped, principally of such manufactured
goods as appear to be in great demand in Australia ;
among other things there are some cases of guns, pis.
tols, revolvers, cutlery, paints, hardware, and a quan-
tity of oats. No doubt, if the Corsair succeeds in
safely reaching the port for which she takes her depar.
ture, the speculation will be a remunerative one ; and
the voyage of this little merchant bark cannot fail,
under any circumstances, to be regarded with much in-
terest and curiosity. She goes to sea with a favourable
wind for crossing the Bay of Biscay, and Captain Creft
thinks that this formidable part of the voyage safely
accomplished, the remainder of the wide expanse of
portio
ocean n
of whichhis arduo he will
us ha
task. ve to traverse will be but an easy
DANES AT THE DIGGINGS.—The following letter from
Jens Peter Nielsen, a saddler, late of Ala
land but now of n,
yne, Ne South Wales, to his Aalborg, Jut-
brother, 0. C. Nielsen, a baker at Aalborg, is exten-
sively published by the Danish :
Sept. 11, 1852. I am now in Australa-era --" Sydney,
ing 10 months in London, and ela. After work-
earing half a hundred
pounds, I resolved to try my luck in Australia. I sailed
from Liverpool, and the passage cost me 301. There
were two more Danes
dig gold, and we on board, who also intended to
agreed in all and everything to enter
into a partnership
We have now been
above three months at work, and have collected 443
ounces of gold, in pieces of from one to six ounces, and
we have, moreover, 124 ounces of gold dust. At thin
present moment we are in Sydney, which is 12 Danish
miles distance from the mines, in order to secure our
gold, 'which is placed in a bank at our disposition. Yon
can have no idea where and in what manner the goldis
found here ; the more we go about, the richer are the
treasures we find. In a few days we shall again go out to
the mines. . . We live here chiefly on game, which
I provide for our kitchen, for you know that I am a
good shot. Three weeks ago I shot a wild horse, which
was eaten at the mines by 50 diggers,,
who
about a
b assisted
us in eating it. We intend to reinaili
i "eve here
s a
twelvemonth, and after that time I e
This iswe
ah all
sp
mth as in Denmarkl all
en-
be rich enough for all our born days
did climate. The average war
on a hot June day. Generally speaking, people here
weak eyes
are in good health, but those
who have
suffer much. H
I A man from am burg his going
about and imposing upon people by pretending to
water at 11. per bottle.
sell what he calls " eye w
that he will
roaring trade, and it thought
He drives a
bullet sent through his head. But a man
soon have a
careful, and does not mix himself up with quer.
who is
rels, and behaves decently and keeps on good terms with
the people at the mines, may here live as peaceably as
people do in our own country. In a few months there
will be an English functionary going back to his own
country, and then I will send you 501., that you may
come to Australia. When you get the mosey you must
come at once, whatever your position at home may be,
for here something worth having is to be raatle,—that is
all, "