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ter of some score unhappy bloodsuckers that, attracted by the noise, thrust their inquisitive heads into peril. I was perfectly familiar with the Hindostanee and Tamul languages, and held frequent courts-martial in these tongues, the culprits being sometimes a small black boy (who suffered scourging in a military style); but oftener a captured crow or a bloodsucker, and these were invariably condemned to death. Old Colonel F, the superintendent of the gun carriage manufactory, had given me a model cannon, and lots of powder and shot; and when I look back to the pranks I was wont to play with this, the only marvel was that I never seriously maimed some one; for, although it was little better than a popgun, I have knocked many and many a squirrel over at five yards, and, loading it up to the muzzle, nearly knocked my own head off by the rebound. Poor old grandmamma was the chief victim of this small cannon-not that I ever fired at her; but I am sorry to say that, on more occasions than I can well enumerate (especially after she had been indulging in reminiscences of the Irish rebellion), I have startled her from a profound morning slum ber by the sudden report of a gun, and rushing in, roared that the Philistines were upon us. Dear old soul! she never got me into trouble, though the least I often merited was a hearty good caning.

Those were glorious days!-spangled and brilliant chequer-work in the unfurled banner of my experience; when the sun shone only to fill my heart with joy and exuberant spirits; when sickness was a stranger-care and anxiety weeds that had not yet been planted to spring up and choke the better seed of innocence and happiness; when sunshine or rain had each a peculiar pleasure, and the long day only came to a close to find me ready to drop smoothly off into a delicious slumber, only broken occasionally by visions of bird's nests and unripe mangoes. Then when there was to be a grand public review of all the artillery and infantry from the Mount and Palaverum, besides squadrons of cavalry down from Arcot, no general made greater preparations than I did for these occasions; and, as owing to the hot weather, they usually commenced soon after daybreak, the preceding night was one of broken rest and perpetual alarm. Every servant, every orderly, every black boy had distinct and separate instructions how and when to call me next morning, so that the family were surprised and perplexed at the sudden and alarming invasion of bedroom windows about an hour before daybreak, when crows were waking up noiselessly to their morning pillaging excursions; and showers of gravel stones, and hootings, and yellings firmly convinced poor old grandmamma that a new rebellion had broken out, until the real cause being stated, hot coffee thoroughly aroused all parties, and we drove off to witness the brilliant spectacle. So many horses used to break loose or throw their riders, that I was never permitted to appear on the field mounted, which was

a sore annoyance to me, against which I could find no remedy. All these and a hundred other pleasant souvenirs of St. Thomas' Mount and Palaverum possess my mind; but I must come back there again, as in the course of years I returned hitherward from my early travels.

One day the quiet monotony of our lives was interrupted by the sudden appearance of two strangers, one of whom turned out to be my widowed brother-in-law, the judge at Bellary, the other his particular bosom friend, the paymaster of Invalids at Ponamalee, a rough, queer-looking old chap, with a fiery nose and bushy whiskers to match, and who stumped about with a wooden leg in a way that was quite marvellous to my young mind. The loss of one leg seemed to have caused a dryness all over his clay, for he was perpetually sipping brandy and water, and humming to himself the old Indian nursery rhymes-

"Off we go to Ponamalee,

Drink a glass of Sangaree,"

which lively ditty he illustrated scores of times (for I watched him to the sideboard marvelling), in-law had been removed from Bellary to the before breakfast was upon the table. My brothercoast; and as this latter was a healthy station, it Zillah judgeship of Tellicherry on the Malabar was agreed that we should accompany him thither, grandmamma, my two sisters, and myself travelling stud of famous horses, and plenty of good dogs, in palanquins, C▬▬ on horseback. He had a being a sporting character, and almost one of the first presents he made me was a pony, a very valuable Pegu pony, mounted whereon I paid my farewell visits to friends at the Mount, and started upon that first and most interesting journey of my life.

CHAPTER II.

THE START.

RAILWAYS are beginning to spread their iron fibres over the Madras Presidency now. In 1830, the appearance of a solitary steamer in the Madras Roads was hailed with acclamations of delight, became a seven months' topic of conversation, and gave birth to endless leading articles in the Male Asylum Herald, and other organs of the press, which congratulated the community on this most auspicious event, and prophesied augmentation of trade to India. Madras was then even minus a bishop.

Under these circumstances travelling was an arduous undertaking; especially when, as in our case, a large family, with attendant Indian retinue, with household furniture and baggage, were about to traverse some thousand miles from one extremity almost to the other of the presidency; over almost inaccessible ghauts, and through a dense jungle, the very name of which was sufficient to terrify the timid; as, in connexion with fevers, robbers, wild elephants, tigers, bison, chetahs, and

abominably venemous serpents-whose variety of shape and size, and the nature and length of torment inflicted by their sting before terminating in death, might be classified under the head of legion. Much preparation was requisite in purchasing provisions and necessary vehicles of transport for ourselves and the servants; in hiring bullock carts, coolies, and ponies for the luggage; and, when all these had been procured or hired, in arranging the line of march, and marking out the distances to be travelled day by day (for it had been determined that we should travel by easy stages so as to keep pace with the baggage, or rather that the baggage might keep pace with us). And when all this was finally settled, and the hour of departure drew nigh, of a truth we mustered a formidable party, such as under proper discipline of arms, might have proved a troublesome foe to encounter even for the once terrible Pindaries.

But to give the reader some faint notion of what travelling in India entails, I must endeavour, as briefly as possible, to place before him a table of details. In the first place, the party consisted of three ladies and their three native ayahs, who, besides the writer, travelled in palanquins, making in all seven palanquins, each with a complete set of bearers and cavaddy coolies-and a set consists of twelve bearers, a head bearer and two cavaddy coolies. So this one item alone, inclusive of insides, amounted to one hundred and twelve persons. Then came my brother-in-law, who rode on horseback, having three horses to change. Each horse had a godahwallah (groom), each godahwallah had a wife, and each wife had at least four childrenthis party making eighteen. Then came the old barouche with the older horses, and a perfect Methuselah for a coachman; a man who had then served different branches of the family through more than half a century, and who I believe still drives the coach of some thirtieth cousin at Tavishapoondy; who had no fault but that of getting royally drunk on the recurrence of each monthly pay day; and, when under the influence of arrack, addicted to trying new coach whips upon his faithful old partner, the mother of seventeen children, all grown up, and every one of them serving in some capacity in the family. Why, bless my heart! this man's family alone would have colonised a very respectable village, and summed up, I am pretty sure, to close upon fifty. Then came the high caste butler or head dubash, who carried his wife and mother with him, but secreted them carefully in a well screened hackerry; he himself riding upon a wretched tatoo. Then came the cook on a brahminy bull, all knives and skewers (not the bull but the cook), with commodious sacks full of cooking utensils; clattering and banging against his short legs, whenever the bull would persist in breaking into a horrid trot. He also had a wife and family perched somewhere amongst the furniture, in one of the eight bullock carts. So had the "Matey," who straddled upon a donkey; so had the madsalger, who rode Shanks'

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mare; so had not the chokera, who was burthened with gun and shooting material, and walked lovingly beside the Tonneycutchee's daughter (whom the young villain married, and mounted upon a sorry nag, as soon as we got to Bangalore). But who shall pause to enumerate the countless and motley assembly? The dog boys leading greyhounds and pointers in chains; the hookabadee, the chillmugee, the bullock drivers; the hired coolies, the men, women, and children that constituted that caravan, as the Arabs say—such reflections throw dirt upon memory's beard, and bring confusion to the intellect.

It was arranged that we should travel in two divisions until arriving at the Ghauts, or penetrating the Wynard jungle; then, for mutual security's sake, we were all to keep close together, and to content ourselves with travelling one instead of two stages per diem. With this understanding, the heavy division, consisting of the baggage carts, the coolies, and the servants, with their families, constituting the most picturesque caravan I have ever in my life encountered, started at 3 p.m., the day previous to that fixed for our own departure; and when the last cloud of dust from hoofs and wheels had subsided in the distance; when the people that had assembled to witness the start had dispersed again, then we that were to follow subsided into solitude and repose, after six weeks of incessant turmoil, bustle, and dust of packing, during all which interval I, individually, had been on the summit of my glory, getting into everybody's way; having occasional skirmishes with coolies; superintending the basketting of favourite fowls, and game cocks, making testamentary codicils of pigeons, old clothes, odds and ends of useless furniture, and above all of quails (on which I set immense value, owing to their pugnacious qualifications) in favour of one or the other of my disbanded militia, I revoking the same half a dozen times in as many hours. Now however, everything was disposed of and everybody gone, and from a perfect storm of excitement we had subsided suddenly into the gloomiest desolation and calm. Every room in the house was stripped bare, and the coach house and stables were deserted. Legless old chairs, broken and seedy picture frames, empty bottles and half emptied pickle jars, rusty hoops and smashed barrels, small heaps of straw and dust, crooked and broken nails, with a handleless hammer, this constituted the general aspect of all the rooms, whilst legions of sparrows fluttered in and out of the open doors and windows, unscared and uninterrupted. The bearers had gone to take leave of their friends, and were not expected back before midnight. The three ayahs were on similar errands. My sisters, grandmother, and brother-in-law had gone to bid good-bye to the sister we were leaving behind, and I, (it was the first dawning impression of independence,) was left in solitary charge of the house and the seven palanquins (which were to be our beds for the night), and wandered from room to room like a

rebelled against the authority of the supreme Government at Melbourne in 1855. They rose to repel the military by arms. One fearful collision occurred, and it is impossible to say what might have been the final issue of the sanguinary struggle if Sir Robert Nickle, who commanded the military in Victoria, had not arrived on the scene, and at once entered the camp of the diggers. He was a veteran, who had served in the Peninsular campaigns with Wellington, and had grown old in arms, but had never before met his own countrymen in deadly combat. It was a bold task for a soldier to ride into the heart of armed enthusiasts, whose minds were irritated by the recent slaughter of friends and companions; and it would have appalled many a stout heart. But the commander | was no neophyte, and he had little to fear, for he was sinking under a violent disease, and had not many days to live. When his venerable figure was distinguished, the most violent forgot their grievances, threw down their arms, and farther bloodshed was spared. The complaints of the diggers were found so just that the Government was under the necessity of dismissing the irresponsible magistrates. The diggers have now municipal institutions, they elect their wardens and administrative officers, and are fairly represented in the Colonial Legislature.

They seldom live or work singly; but are usually associated together in parties of from two to six, who reside together in one tent or hut, and eat at the same table. The married diggers, of whom there are many at work, have separate tents, generally work together, and share the proceeds, each making such domestic arrangements as suits his convenience.

Those who now visit the gold fields can form but a very inadequate conception of the singular and incongruous appearance they presented in the first phase. Nothing more rude and comfortless could well be conceived than the mode of living then common. The diggers had, in many cases, to walk a hundred miles or more from Melbourne, Geelong, or Sydney, to the field of their proposed operations. A great many of them could not obtain carriage for their implements, food, and bedding, and such as they were compelled to take they had to carry on their backs. There were few houses of accommodation on the line of march, and the weary gold digger had to sleep in the open air with very scanty covering. It is little to be wondered at that the majority reached the gold fields weary and footsore, and they had many privations still to encounter.

The colonists for the most part brought a tent, and a fair stock of necessaries, with them. They generally had enough to eat and drink, and a shelter from the weather. There were, however, hundreds of runaway sailors and other adventurers, who had no money, and had to content themselves with rude huts formed from the boughs of trees, or a rug, or a couple of canvas bags stretched over a pole, the sides being fastened to the ground. Many

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of the early diggers were shepherds and stockmen, who had deserted from the stations of the surrounding squatters, and they, being well acquainted with the shifts of bush life, had little difficulty in obtaining treasure. I have seen a hundred weight of gold obtained in an afternoon by working men; and every digger who had a claim in Eagle-hawk Gully, Bendigo, realised a handsome property; but, even in the most splendid era of fortune-making, there were hundreds who never got a start, and who had to abandon the gold fields for want of supplies and implements.

The diggers did not then, as now, follow mining as a regular calling. No person thought of remaining, for any time together, on the gold fields. To make a large fortune and return to their former occupations was the desire of the many. A few, perhaps, aspired to enrich themselves, and return to spend their money in Europe. Many found gold in the very first pit they sank, and, after a stay of some days or weeks, returned in triumph. Those who were unsuccessful did not usually remain over the month, but retraced their way, with heavy hearts and doleful countenances, towards their homes, and returned to their every day occupations. Nearly all of them were disgusted with the mode of life, and anxious about their families from whom they were separated. Then, as now, digging was a lottery, some parties doing a thousand ounces in a few weeks, and others not clearing the expenses of the outfit. The population increased with great rapidity, and the competition every day became more and more keen. Any rich spot was taken possession of by crowds of hungry and eager adventurers, and constant disputes about claims ensued. The aggregate amount of gold obtained was as great as ever, but it had now to be shared by ten times the number of persons. From this competition those who had property or other lucrative engagements, soon retired, and the field was left to such as had no capital, and were dependent upon their labour for their livelihood. The latter class were compelled by necessity to continue on the gold fields, and digging became their legitimate occupation.

We now reach the second phase of gold digging; the population began to settle on the ground instead of going and returning every few weeks to Melbourne, Sydney, or Geelong. The main roads were not now crowded with teams of diggers going to and fro. They had discovered that continuous labour was absolutely necessary to their support. The change in the aspect of the gold fields was magical. Tradesmen and storekeepers began to gather, and townships were laid out and settled, with a celerity which astonished even those accustomed to the back woods of America, where such transitions are very rapid. I had left Forest Creek in 1852, a settlement of canvas. A year afterwards I visited it again, and found a fine township, with all the comforts and conveniences of high civilisation. Courts of General Sessions were established, and the Judges of the Supreme

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Court opened a criminal sessions every three months. There were spacious hotels, churches, and printing offices; a variety of theatrical celebrities from Europe were performing at the time, and not long after, this digging township was honoured by visits from Lola Montes, Catherine Hayes, and G. V. Brooke.

"The

The Government ruled with despotic power on the gold fields for several years. On all these localities the camp was the centre of attraction, as it contained the police courts, the residences of the gold commissioners, and the escort office. Those commissioners were nominated by the Government, and had the sole control of the gold fields. They were not responsible to any authority, and from their decisions there was no appeal. Many of them were inexperienced persons, of haughty manners, and the diggers were treated more like serfs than equals, while the property of the colony was wasted by their negligence and extravagance. The diggers suffered long; but at last the tyranny and corruption of the Government officials became insupportable, and they sought by arms that justice which otherwise was not available. After the outbreak at Ballarat, the Government was compelled to grant local selfgovernment to the digging communities. Camp," which used to be the terror of all, is now seldom thought about-the functions of Government having been transferred to the local courts, the members of which are elected by the people. The journey from Melbourne to Bendigo, which occupied from seven to ten days on foot, and two to four days on horseback, is now performed in one day. The various lines of conveyances are splendidly horsed, and travel at a very quick pace. The gentleman who first started the line to Castlemain was an American; the coaches are usually built after the Yankee fashion, and the drivers are Yankees, and the best that the world can produce. They often drive six horses at full speed over rough bush roads, and no serious accident has yet occurred. Four lines run daily to Castlemain and the surrounding gold fields, and it is likely that in a few years that town will be connected with Melbourne by rail. The road is now enlivened by towns and villages at various intervals; the country is everywhere becoming settled and in many parts enclosed and cultivated.

There are four methods of obtaining the auriferous metal-surface washing, deep sinking, puddling, and quartz crushing. A fifth not seldom resorted to is by turning the water off from its usual channel, and looking for gold where the stream had formerly flowed.

What is termed "surfacing" consists of simply washing the soil on the surface of the ground, which is occasionally auriferous. This was the method employed on the first fields in Victoria, such as Clune's, Anderson's Creek, and Ballarat. Deep sinking did not occur to the early diggers until the discovery of the Cavenaghs' at Ballarat. This family had been surface washing, but, finding

a pit which had been opened and abandoned, they took possession, or what is termed "jumped" it, It has always been the rule on the diggings, that if a claim has been abandoned for a certain number of hours, any person who likes may jump into it, and take legal possession. The Cavenaghs descended till they reached a lair of dirty, greasy clay, of a blueish colour, and in it they discovered an enormous quantity of gold. Their companions also began to sink to this peculiar spot, and the results were most splendid. For a long time the diggers used no other machinery for washing than the cradle; and it is certain that they did the work in so slovenly a manner that they lost nearly as much gold as they saved. Like every other occupation of life, gold digging demands knowledge and experience, and at first all were neophytes. When the old Californians arrived, great improvements began to be made. The diggers did not continue to waste the gold in washing, but by experience they were at length able to extract the ore from the clay without waste. They no longer opened large square pits-a toil of a week's, and at times of a month's, duration; but they economised their time and labour by sinking shafts just large enough to enable them to descend, and when the auriferous soil was reached, they opened drives under ground. Instead of finding the ground everywhere thrown up, as on the old fields, the passer by now only sees these shafts open here and there, the diggers going to the full extent of their claim below the ground. great finds of gold have been always in or near the lairs of pipe-clay, which generally lies over or amongst bright slate. There are sometimes pockets of gold in crevices amongst the layers of slate. The gold usually runs in zig-zag form, disappearing here, appearing there, and is capricious and uncertain. The "lead," as it is termed, or the line where the gold runs, was lost on the Avoca for nine months, and the field deserted. who were "fossicking " in the old holes suddenly struck the long lost lead, and a second rush ensued, and the Avoca again swarmed with active miners. When a rich lead has been struck in a flat or gully, the whole of the ground is marked off by eager adventurers, anxious to have a chance of being near the right spot. Few of their claims, however, are actually "bottomed," for the owners merely watch* their more active contemporaries; but if there is any chance of gold, they sink shafts without delay. In some thousand claims there are seldom more than ten per cent. really remunerative, the remaining portion being blank, or so poor as not to repay the owners. This is why many will not exert themselves to sink until the result is known, but in order to have a legal title to their claims, the owners must work for some time each day on them-if abandoned for twentyfour hours they may be "jumped."

The

Some miners

*This is termed " shepherding " a claim. A claim without gold is termed a "shicer."