men thought themselves
befooled by Hargraves, and it might, perhaps, have cost him his life had
he fallen into their hands. On his trip to Sydney he was careful to
disguise himself, to avoid their threatened revenge. He received from
Government, however, his preliminary reward of L500, and, in after
years, New South Wales voted him the sum of L10,000, which was
supplemented by a present of L2,381 from Victoria. Other profits also
accrued to Hargraves; so that he was, in the end, recompensed for his
toil and trouble with a handsome competency.

The gloomy reports of returning diggers checked for a time the flow of
people to the west; but in the month of July an aboriginal shepherd on a
station near Bathurst burst in upon his master while seated at dinner,
his eyes glistening with excitement. He was only able to stammer out:
"Oh, massa, white man find little fellow, me find big fellow". When his
master drove him in a buggy through the forest, the shepherd pointed to
where a hundredweight of gold was sticking out from a rock. It was so
heavy that they had to chop it in two with their axes before they could
lift it into the buggy. It was afterwards sold for L4,000. So splendid a
prize, obtained in so easy a manner, was a temptation too dazzling to be
resisted; and the stream of people along the Bathurst road was now
tenfold denser than before.

#5. Government Regulations.#--When the population on the goldfields began
to grow numerous, the Government found it necessary to make arrangements
for the preservation of law and order. A commissioner was appointed, who
was to act as a magistrate; he was to be assisted by a small body of
police, and was to take charge of the gold escorts. As the lands on
which the gold was being found were the public property of the colony,
it was thought to be but just that the community, as a whole, should
participate, to some small extent, in the wealth raised from them; and
the order was, therefore, issued that diggers should in all cases take
out licences before seeking for gold, and should pay for them at the
rate of thirty shillings per month.

New diggings were, from time to time, opened up, and fresh crowds of
eager men constantly pressed towards them, leaving the towns deserted
and the neighbouring colonies greatly reduced in population. For some
months the Turon River was the favourite; at one time it had no less
than ten thousand men upon its banks. At Ophir, and Braidwood, and Maroo