h they had sold their
gold--say five shillings; and they would answer, ingenuously enough,
"Two shillings for opium, three shillings for chow-chow;" leaving no
margin for sundries.

We buy from the Chinamen as little as three shillings' worth of gold,
and from the mining companies up to any amount. Some of the latter
bring in hundreds of pounds' worth of gold at a time. The quartz
companies bring theirs in large yellow lumps, of over 200 ounces,
fresh from the retort; and the alluvial companies generally deposit
theirs in leather bags containing their washings, until the end of the
week or fortnight, when they sell the accumulated product.

There is, of course, a good deal of excitement and anxiety about
gold-digging. When men get into good gold-yielding ground, by steady
work they contrive to make fair earnings, and sometimes a good deal of
money; but they have usually to work pretty hard for it. Of course,
the most successful men are working miners, men who understand the
business; for gold-mining is a business, like any other. The amateur
men, who come in search of lucky finds and sudden fortunes, rarely do
any good. Nearly all the young fellows, sons of gentlemen, who could
do no good at home and came out here during the "rushes," are still in
no better position than they were at starting. A few of them may have
done well; but the greater number are bullock-drivers in the country,
cab-drivers in Melbourne, shepherds in the bush, or, still worse,
loafers hanging about the drinking-bars.

I know many men, of good family and education, still working as common
miners in this neighbourhood. Although their life is a rough one, they
themselves think it is better than a struggling clerk's life at home;
and perhaps they are right. I know one young man, formerly a medical
student in England, digging for weekly wages, hired by a company of
miners at 2_l._ 10_s._ a week; but he is not saving money. He came out
with two cousins, one of whom broke away and pursued his profession;
he is now the head of a military hospital in India. The other cousin
remained in the colony, and is now a hanger-on about up-country
stations. There is also the son of a baronet here, who came out in the
time of the gold-fever. He has never advanced a step, but is
wood-cutting and rail-splitting in the bush, like a poor Savoyard.
Still the traces of his education can be seen through the "jumper"
shirt and moleskin trousers, in spite of rough ways and