eaving Don Luis, then, smoking in the tent,
we proceeded to work, and found that the great majority of the
gold-finders appeared to entertain our opinions, or at all events to
imitate our practice, as to labouring on the Sunday. I had now leisure
more particularly to remark the nature of the soil in which the gold
was found. The dust is found amid the shingle actually below water, but
the most convenient way of proceeding is to take the soil from that
portion of the bed which has been overflowed but is now dry. It is
principally of a gravelly nature, full of small stones, composed, as
far as I could make out, of a species of jasper and milky quality,
mingled with fragments of slate and splinters of basalt. The general
opinion is, that the gold has been washed down from the hills.

I worked hard, as indeed we all did, the whole morning. The toil is
very severe, the constant stooping pressing, of course, upon the spinal
column, whilst the constant immersion of the hands in water causes the
skin to excoriate and become exceedingly painful. But these
inconveniences are slight when compared to the great gain by which one
is recompensed for them.

At twelve o'clock, our usual primitive dinner hour, we met at the tents,
tolerably well tired with our exertions. No dinner, however, was
prepared, both Jose and Horry being still absent in pursuit of the
strayed horses. We had, therefore, to resort to some of our jerked
beef, which, with biscuits and coffee, formed our fare. After dinner,
we determined to rest until the next day. The fact is, that the human
frame will not stand, and was never intended to stand, a course of
incessant toil; indeed, I believe that in civilized--that is to say,
in industrious--communities, the Sabbath, bringing round as it does a
stated remission from labour, is an institution physically necessary.

We therefore passed some time in conversation, which was interrupted by
the arrival of Jose and Horry with the strayed horses. Horry demanded
an immediate increase of wages, threatening to leave us and set to work
on his own account if we refused. Bradley tried to talk big and bully
him, but in vain. Jose had a sort of fear of Don Luis--who in return
looked on his servant as his slave--so he said nothing. We could see,
however, that they had evidently been in communication with the diggers
around, and so we gave in. Later in the afternoon I started with
Malcolm and McPhail for a walk through the diggings.