Washington sentinel., 1901-06-01

y
the outward and visible sign, as the
optimists thought, Of a universal state
| OF peace and brotherhood, Bendigo was
attracting gold seekers Of all nationali'
| ties Round about the POrcupine Inn
the scene beggared description, Diggers
were drinking liquor from all kinds Of
| utensils, drunken fights were in progress
on every side, and hundreds fought and
clamored to get to the bar"
! The methods adopted by the diggers OF
those days prove the richness Of slluyial
Bendigo. The sinkings w-re from eight
to ten feet. The diggers wore "large
sheath knives, and, sitting in a hole,
they used the blade OF the knife to flip
out bits OF gold" On Tronbank and
| Eaglehawk from three to four ounces
day per man was the average gain But
some men had richer finds, Imagine
| taking 81 pounds weight Of gold from a
hole before breakfast; 5000 for the
mornings work! One Of the largest
! nuggets, the "Darcombe," was sold in
London for $3.50; and, another,
! eucrusted with quartz and oxide of iron,
was purchased by the Victorian Gov
ernment for s. $50 and sent as a present
to the Queen. One day, when a man
named Emmett was gathering twigs to
boil the billy, he perceived gold shining
in the quartz-a pleasant surprise at
was spread like a pat OF butter on a loal
ofbread, as though it had been squeezed
between two laces OF quartz Yet even
with this evidence Of richness no one
was tempted bv the reefs; they preferred
digging in the red alluvial. For a time
this part was a visiting place for idlers,
and a year later was being worked by a
nigger, who broke of the pieces Of gold
studded quartz, built them up into lit e
pyramids, and sold them as curioslties
to visitors" The pioneers Of the Ben
digo REFERS we're two boys who after
wards sold their property to a German,
one Ballerstedt, who, knowing the value
Of ore at sight, made some Szoo. 900 by
his purchase.
The rush to a new field was like the
road to Epson on the Derby day; every
conceivable kind OF vehicle might be
| seen, from wagons to wheelbsrrows
The diggers were clustered on a iayorite
piece OF land "like ants on a mound
Hundreds lay upon their backs, with
outstretched arms, gripping perhaps
/ pistol IN one hand, sheath knife in the
/ other, and claiming to own at least all
| the ground they could encompass"
Others were filling bags with the surface
| stuff. The din was tremendous, and to
| reduce this exciIsd chaos to order in
! the allotment OF eight feet claims, was
the difficult task OF the commissioners
Some Of the adventures of gold finding
were curious. Two friends taking a
/ walk one Sunday, sit down to rest, and
find nugget at their feet. They resolve
to work the gully, so mark some trees
on the way home. Next day they start;
but alas! in the meantime a rush has
taken place in the neighborhood, and
| the trees have been ielled. Where is
their rich claim? They cannot find il.
They found the nugget on April II, and
! by May s the diggers we're ''shovelling
| gold from beneath each others ieet."
| The two friends joined the rush, but
could mol get nearer than within mile
! and half OF the rich ground. The gold
was iound at depth of feet inches,
! and soon the friends left under the I'M
| preston that il had been worked out,
Another party took possession, worked
it deeper, and sent 40, 900 ounces OF gold
to Melbourne by the escort May 26
being wet, the friends suolled 10 the
surface hills where the best gold was
being found, and there in the centre Of
it was the log they had sat upon and the
tree they had marked five weeks before
In that short time it had charged from
an unknown gully in the bush to the
| celebrated Eaglehawk, where 9oOoC
men we're at work, and I2o, 900 ounces
of gold we're being carted away pei
| week! This was bad luck for the friends
but they went on to German Gully, anc
in ten weeks time had yEsoo apiece.
One of the curious phases connected
with gold finding was the Saobatarian
ism OF the diggers. The men who die
not scruple to settle disputes by a fight
the men who would rob others, the mer
who drank and gambled, would not dis
on Sundays. They cooked, and travel
led, and washed their clothes; they die
all manner OF work, but from diggins
they abstained and the bad feeling
displayed towards some Italians at Fiery
Creek had its origin in the fact that tbs
foreigners employed their Sundays II
digging. It was a superstitous bowing
to convention, to the customs Of the OlC
World, an acknowledgment Of an un
written law Of what the digging Dopu
lauou was pleased to call morality.
Political Crisis in Prussia,