The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-07 00:00:00

g, THE GOLDFIELDS.

" The new year has opened most promisingly for
the goldfields. The discoveries of the last few weeks
are important, and, even if no more be made for
some time, will afford ample soope and occupation

to a large number of miners, who were previously
in a state of uncertainty as to where best they
might dispose of themselves and their labour. And
these discoveries are not only important from the
extent of the new ground thus opened up, bufthey
give further indications and most unmistakeable
proofs that others must follow on further explora-

tions of the country. Thus one of these new fields,
on which upwards of 20,000 people have already
collected, and are earning more money, perhaps,
than has been realised at any of the great rushes'
of late years, is easily accessible, situate in an open
country, and was partly tried before, but with little
success. Here perseverance in the search has at length
opened up deposits of apparently almost boundless
extent and very tolerable richness, and such as are
eminently calculated to afford remunerative em-
ployment to the numbers of men driven off many
of the older fields by the want of water, and of
ground also suitable to the miners of limited means.
Lamplough, as the diggings of which we speak are
now called, is in the Avoca district, not many miles
from where gold was first found at the Pyrenees in
1851. The ground is shallow and easily worked,
the auriferous deposits being reached at depths
varying for the most pari from 20 to 30 feet, but,
like all the ground yet opened in that district, it
is patchy, and no clearly defined leads of gold have
yet been struck. The patches are, however, pretty
numerous, and no great distance apart, so that al-
though there are no superficial indications of their
position, the miners strike in without much hesi-
tation, especially as they so soon learn the value of
their claims. Good shallow diggings are a great
boon to the miner, and here he has them apparently
of great extent. The second new field, opened up
about the same time, is some distance to the north-
eastward, and near Sandy Creek, so famous for the
yield of its reefs, and the production of the heaviest
cakes of amalgamated gold yet retorted' in the
colony. This tract of auriferous ground, the Ingle-
wood diggings, is in the midst of, a dense scrub,
and little or nothing is known of its extent at pre-
sent. The nearest water, too, iss five miles away, in
the Loddon, so that the difficulties in the way of
exploration are very great. Still, roads have been
cut through the scrub, several gullies have been
proved to be auriferous, quartz-reefs.have been laid
hare, and much gold has been obtained from the
picked wash-dirt deemed worthy of being carted to
the river. The absolute want of water, even for

drinking purposes, will prevent the development of
the Inglewood diggings until winter comes round
again ; but they are fully expected to turn out ex-
ceedingly well, in regard to both the alluvial ground
and the quartz-reef. Of the third new field little
or nothing is known as yet, except from the dis-
closures made by the discoverer. According to his
account, it is situated among the dividing ranges
from which the Yarra, Goulburn, and some of the
tributaries of the Ovens take their rise, and it ex-
tends for a distance of some 40 or 50 miles at least.
So far he has traced it by following the water-

courses, but the country is so densely timbered and
impervious that the actual extent of the auriferous
formation will not be known for years, even though
a large population should be attracted to the ranges.
Gold was found by the explorer in black sand,
taken from the bed of every creek which he tried,
and the samples brought to town yielded, on
analysis, proportions of from soz. to upwards of
301 b. of gold, and about an eighth of the total
weight of pure tin, to the ton. All the rivers flow-
ing from these ranges have been found at different
times to contain gold in the sands, so that this last
discovery only adds another to the many proofs
already existing, that the whole of the southern-
most portion of the Australian Alps is more or less
auriferous.