370 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



between them, which, until the gold was discovered, were 

 extensively cultivated, so as to make this district a cheap and 

 plentiful one. Within the last four years, however, the con- 

 suming population has so far outrun the producing one that 

 the district draws largely for its supplies both on the 

 Hunter river and the port of Sydney. 



On the same evening I arrived at the summit of the hill 

 overlooking the village of Sofala, and looked down on the 

 celebrated valley of the Turon. The hills around are covered 

 with gum forest, and the bed of the river, through the centre 

 of which a small stream trickles in summer, is broad, and 

 encloses a very considerable body of water during the rainy 

 season. Many of the holes, or bed claims as they are called, 

 are situated here, and can of course only be worked in the dry 

 season, and although they are considered richer than the 

 dry claims, demand a much greater share of labour to pump 

 out the water which is continually flowing in. 



Having seen nearly all the gold-fields in Victoria, there 

 was very little novelty to interest me on the Turon. These 

 places and the occupations of the inhabitants very much 

 resemble each other, except that in a numerous population, 

 bustle and movement of all kinds, the diggings in the 

 former colony very far exceed those of New South Wales, as 

 indeed they do in the quantities of the precious metal dis- 

 covered. Here the population of miners could not exceed three 

 or four thousand. Everybody spoke in a tone of discontent and 

 dissatisfaction, and expressed their intention of leaving for 

 the Victoria diggings. Still, most of them admitted they 

 were making wages, which means about ten shillings a day, 

 or three pounds per week. I allude to working miners, and 

 not to those exercising trades and occupations of other kinds, 

 and this, from close observation, I believe to be the average 

 gains of the mining population throughout the whole of 

 Australia. 



