to have an established clergyman
holding forth near the Commissioners' tent and almost within hearing
will be a tub orator expounding the origin of evil, whilst a "mill" (a
fight with fisticuffs) or a dog fight fills up the background.

But night at the diggings is the characteristic time: murder
here--murder there--revolvers cracking--blunderbusses bombing--rifles
going off--balls whistling--one man groaning with a broken leg--another
shouting because he couldn't find the way to his hole, and a
third equally vociferous because he has tumbled into one--this man
swearing--an other praying--a party of bacchanals chanting various
ditties to different time and tune, or rather minus both. Here is one
man grumbling because he has brought his wife with him, another ditto
because he has left his behind, or sold her for an ounce of gold or a
bottle of rum. Donnybrook Fair is not to be compared to an evening at
Bendigo.

Success at the diggings is like drawing lottery tickets--the
blanks far outnumber the prizes; still, with good health, strength, and
above all perseverance, it is strange if a digger does not in the end
reap a reward for his labour. Meanwhile, he must endure almost
incredible hardships. In the rainy season, he must not murmur if
compelled to work up to his knees in water, and sleep on the wet
ground, without a fire, in the pouring rain, and perhaps no shelter
above him more waterproof than a blanket or a gum tree; and this not
for once only, but day after day, night after night. In the summer, he
must work hard under a burning sun, tortured by the mosquito and the
little stinging March flies, or feel his eyes smart and his throat grow
dry and parched, as the hot winds, laden with dust, pass over him. How
grateful now would be a draught from some cold sparkling streamlet;
but, instead, with what sort of water must he quench his thirst? Much
the same, gentle reader, as that which runs down the sides of a dirty
road on a rainy day, and for this a shilling a bucket must be paid.
Hardships such as these are often the daily routine of a digger's life;
yet, strange to say, far from depressing the spirits or weakening the
frame, they appear in most cases to give strength and energy to
both. This is principally owing to the climate, which even in the wet
season is mild and salubrious.

Perhaps nothing will speak better for the general order that prevails
at the diggings, than the small amount of physical force maintai