The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-25
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER % 1898

al the bottom of a creek, gold was stick
ing out at the sides, which proved that
there was a large proportion of the prec-
ious metal in the concrete. / frequently
picked up large nuggets. but had no use
for the metal, save 10 make ornaments for
my wife, bus these she did not appear to
value, ana promptly gave them away 10
some children wherewith 10 amuse them.
Alluvial god was found TO the north of
my mountain home, and reef gold 10 the
south. the richest deposits OF an occurring
in the southwest.
I found great quantities of gem stones
of every shape and color, which could be
distinguished by looking through them
when wet. In some cases the prevailing
color Of the stones would be various
shades of red, in others blue and in rarer
eases green. This 1 took respectively to
be ruby, sapphire and emerald The red
color predominated; it is my opinion that
many of these are gems of great value.
They Were of varying degrees of hard
ness, which l used 10 test by scratching
one against the other. Knowing l was
interested in such things, the natives
showed me stones which We're brilliantly
black, and looked like pieces of freshly
broken coal. These stones l found to be
extremely hard and would scratch every
other stone except one. From what l have
learned since l have no doubt that these
one occasion l came across a range of
granite hills extending several miles, and
the adjacent creeks contained large guam
titles of pieces of broken reefs and lodes
and water-worn pebbles, also immense
quantities of heavy black sand which
supposed to be iron. but which l now
know to be tin. In several localities we
found low ridges of iron stone mixed with
red clay, very similar to those | beheld
in the vicinity of Mount Margaret when l
reached civilization at these Western Aus
traiian gold fields. Among these iron
stone ranges, broken iron-stonc and quartz
were lying in immense heaps or hillocks,
and in almost every piece of stone coarse
gold could be seen. There are thousands
OF tons of this auriferous stone. Lying on
the surface, in another locality, an iron
stone formation stands up above the
ground 10 hight of about four feet; 1t is
twenty feet wide and over three hundred
in length. In all the depressions of water
courses In the neighborhool. both coarse
and fine gold is plentiful The surface
here for some distance appears to be full
of gold
In another district I found large guam
titles of native copper lying about in
pieces. All these localities though far re-
moved from a settlement, can be reached
without much difficulty by properly equip
ped transport parties, and | hope before
long to have the satisfaction and reward
OF leading the first prospecting expedition
to exploit them.
My wild life came to an end at last. An
epidemic of influenza swept over the coun-
try and carried off my wife who had in
the most literal sense been my guardian
angel for so many years. My surviving
children were also swept away. Thus left
alone, without the old interests that had
made life tolerable, / determined to make
a last effort to reach my own people and
leaving my mountain home, I set out for
the southwest. On this, however as in
all my journeyings, 1 was never able to
take direct line, but had to go hither and
thither with the tribes among whom / was
sojourning. After a time found a tree
marked Forrest, the name of the explorer
who had passed that way, and turning
south l at length met a narty of prospec-
tors many days north of Mount Marga,
the nearest camp
Taught by bitter previous experience 1
knew that before l could appear among
the whites / should have to get some of
my natives to procure some clothes for me
by any means known TO them. When at
length 1 ppesentedtp myself before the
white men, I am afraid they did not at
first look with favor on their guest l an
swered their questions and when they
heard l was without mates and had been
journeying hither from the interior for
nine or ten months, they were convinced
I was person of weak intellect A ques-
ton of my own, what year is this?' con-
WINGED them altogether that they were
right in their conjecture. However in the
end l obtained help and work, and In 1895
| reached Melbourne, whence by slow
stages and not without many difficulties
1 got back this year to Europe
Louis de Rougemont.