s, therefore, necessary to take
immediate action. There was another regulation in the land laws,
according to which, if a person applied for 20,000 acres, and paid down
L20,000 in cash, he became at once the proprietor of the land. The
"nobs" determined to avail themselves of this arrangement; but when they
put their money together, they found they had not enough to pay so large
a sum. They therefore asked the "snobs" to join them, on the
understanding that, after the land had been purchased, the two companies
would make a fair division. By uniting their funds they raised the
required amount, and proceeded with great exultation to lodge the money.
But part of it was in the form of bills on the Adelaide banks; and as
the Governor refused to accept anything but cash, the companies were
almost in despair, until a few active members hunted up their friends in
Adelaide, and succeeded in borrowing the number of sovereigns required
to make up the deficiency. The money was paid into the Treasury, the two
companies were the possessors of the land, and the Sydney speculators
arrived a few days too late.

Now came the division of the 20,000 acres. A line was drawn across the
middle; a coin was tossed up to decide which of the two should have the
first choice, and fortune favoured the "snobs," who selected the
northern half, called by the natives Burra Burra. To the southern part
the "nobs" gave the name of "Princess Royal". The companies soon began
operations; but though the two districts appeared on the surface to be
of almost equal promise, yet, on being laid open, the Princess Royal was
soon found to be in reality poor, while the Burra Burra mines provided
fortunes for each of the fortunate "snobs". During the three years after
their discovery they yielded copper to the value of L700,000. Miners
were brought from England, and a town of about 5,000 inhabitants
rapidly sprang into existence. The houses of the Cornish miners were of
a peculiar kind. A creek runs through the district, with high
precipitous banks of solid rock; into the face of these cliffs the
miners cut large chambers to serve for dwellings; holes bored through
the rock, and emerging upon the surface of the ground above, formed the
chimneys, which were capped by small beer barrels instead of
chimney-pots. The fronts of the houses were of weatherboard, in which
doors were left; and for two miles along each side of the stream these
primitive dwellings looked out upo