Now, multiply this by 6, and we get the small amount of 1,666 lbs 6 oz, or nearly 14 cwt 3 qr 39 lbs, being little short of three quarters of a ton of gold per week. Although the Escort Returns prove that the average yield at Eureka is greater than either Mount Alexander or Bendigo, yet it is an acknowledged fact that the largest share of the gold is obtained by a few, and that success is far from being equally divided. A party would have the same chance of a fair average here as at Bendigo if the holes were of the same depth, but the deep sinking prevents a party from embracing the same opportunity as shallow sinking, for the same number of holes cannot be sunk. The stuff when found always turns out very rich, but the gold appears to lie in a single vein which runs along the sides of the hills not more than 30 or 40 feet in breadth. Many parties, however, who have hitherto been unsuccessful are in great hopes that with better weather, better diggings will be discovered in the gullies and beds of the creeks, the gold in which will be more equally distributed in the ground.
Gold has a very exciting effect upon almost every individual.
When a man finds a large quantity of it, it often carries him into the highest regions of human bliss, and when unsuccessful to the lowest regions of despondency. Instances of the kind are daily occurring. No later than yesterday, I asked one man how he was getting on, to which he replied first rate. Bendigo and Forest Creek, in his opinion, were not to be compared to Eureka, for one pound weight found at the former twenty pound weight could be found at the latter place. The next acquaintance I met with did not think the diggings were any good, he had sunk sixteen holes averaging twenty-five feet deep, and had obtained nothing.