2 66 ./r.V77v'.//../.S7,/ ILLUSTRATED. 



outcrop of copper ore a singular de-posit, contained chiefly in a conical hill, on a 

 poorly-brassed, lightly-timbered plain. In the hill-side is a spring, and stock-men and 

 shepherds were often pu/.xled by the bright green deposit about the rocks, and the 

 nu-tallic last.- of the water. Some practical investigators, attracted by the bush-men's 

 yarns, set themselves to trace out the cause of this green deposit, and very soon came 

 on magnificent lodes of various descriptions of copper ore. A company was formed to 

 work the property, and a township grew with great rapidity. Cornish and Welsh miners 

 were brought up the Darling from Adelaide, furnaces were built, shafts sunk, adits 

 driven, and copper to the value of upwards of a million sterling has already been 

 raised. The primitive buildings were mostly of slabs, pine-logs, or pist work, but many 

 of them have already been replaced by substantial brick structures. A fall in the price 

 of the metal and the difficulty of obtaining fuel for roasting ores and smelting have 

 yiven a check to the progress of the place. Firewood has to be brought in by a tram- 

 line, fifteen miles in length, the bush for some distance round having been cleared of 

 timber. The hope of this copper district for the indications of copper ore are widely 

 spread lies in railway communication with the coal-fields in the neighbourhood of Dubbo. 



Beyond Cobar, to the west, and running through much scrub-land, is the road to 

 Wilcannia, the river-port of the central Darling, of the Paroo, of the Barcoo, and the 

 1 >iamantina country of Queensland, of the gold and silver country in the burnt bleak 

 Barrier Ranges, and of a great area of rich pastoral land bordering on and adjacent to 

 the River. Wilcannia has grown up since 1868, being the best crossing-place for stock 

 travelling from the north-western pastures to the Melbourne and Sydney markets. From 

 being a mere fording township it grew to more importance as the starting-point to the 

 gold-fields of Mount Brown and the silver-country to the south-west. Excellent stone 

 has been found in quarries in the neighbouring hill, and good and substantial buildings 

 indicate that the old ford is to be a permanent township. A varied and peculiar traffic 

 is found in Wilcannia. Horse and bullock teams trend through the streets and camp on 

 the common every day. The river-steamers, constructed for shallow-water navigation, pass 

 up the stream laden with stores, and down tjie stream with bales of wool. But novel 

 to Australian bush-men are the camel-teams, which were introduced in order to make the 

 journey to the mining districts when two or three days' stages had to be travelled 

 without water. From four to eight pairs of these quaint creatures are harnessed to an 

 ordinary horse-waggon, and encouraged by their Arab or Afghan driver, toil with many 

 a grunt and groan over their weary and arduous journey. Two hundred miles lie 

 between \\ ilcannia and the townships of the gold and silver fields a dreary distance 

 unrelieved by any pleasant break. 



But travelling up and down this River when the water is in flood is by no means 

 dreadful. I he boats used in the trade are fairly comfortable, with sleeping-cabins placed 

 on a hurricane-deck. Towing one or two barges astern, they fight their way manfully 

 up stream, cutting out in times of high-flood to ana-branches or side-currents, steaming 

 away over tree-tops, and not unfrequently getting hung up or snagged on submerged 

 obstacles. They travel by day and by night, some old river-pilots preferring the darkest 

 night, as the three or four powerful lights invariably carried show ahead a broad illu- 

 minated path, along which it is tolerably easy to steer. But the up-river journey is 



