Gold-diggings of New South Wales. 47 



Lost ill delighted contemplation of the beauties of nature, 

 no account was made of the passage of time, so that part 

 of the return journey had to be made in the twilight. It 

 was a delightful, clear, moonlight night. The deep stillness 

 in nature was only occasionally broken by the shrill cry of 

 the cm4ew [Numenius arquata\ from the neighbouring swamps, 

 or the rustling of Wallabies disturbed by the tread of the 

 advancing horsemen. Buried in a sort of dreamy charm 

 that could find no utterance, the riders left their horses to 

 choose their own pace over the sward, hardly able to realize 

 that they were indeed under the unclouded brilliancy of an 

 Australian sky, traversing the forests haunted by the timid 

 kangaroo and the swift but shy emu. 



Unfortunately it was found impossible, owing to want of 

 time, to visit the Blue Mountains and the gold regions around 

 Bathurst. We had to content our curiosity as to the pro- 

 ducts of the gold-fields by examining the nuggets exhibited 

 by the fortunate finders in the jewellers' shops of George 

 Street, Sydney, and the particulars furnished in the daily 

 papers of the well-authenticated riches of the gold-fields of 

 the oldest colony. During our stay a lump of gold was dis- 

 covered in the Western district weighing 150 lbs., and worth 

 £6000. Such instances of good fortune only tend to raise 

 fallacious hopes of being equally fortunate in the breasts of 

 thousands of men. Shortly before our arrival, on the news 

 being promulgated of the new Eldorado in the north near 

 Port Curtis on the Fitzroy, not less than 16,000 men flocked 



