68 TiMEHRI. 



and hard, comparatively, as boot sole. When dancing, 

 they will stamp with their feet and the noise can be 

 heard at a great distance. 



On Sundays, religion holds its sway. Service is held 

 twice a day. One or more of the men take in the " War 

 Cry" regularly, and racy extra6ls from that humorous 

 publication together with the meals, fill up the intervals. 

 The most energetic pay calls at the neighbouring placers. 

 Gold diggers, as a rule, are very religious. They 

 invariably say, "God willing," or " by God's help," in 

 reply to an order. When called upon to turn out in the 

 morning, they are generally in the midst of some 

 very lengthy morning prayers. If you catch a thief, the 

 morality with which his '• matties" will cry shame upon 

 him, is very instru6live — but as you will generally catch 

 a large proportion of them in some dishonest a6l before 

 you have done with them, it can hardly be edifying. I 

 have heard them say : "Thou shalt not steal, but take a 

 little to help thyself." Their motto seems to be " beg, 

 borrow, or steal" ; although it is only when they cannot 

 steal, that they will condescend to beg or borrow. 

 They are extremely superstitious, and their tales 

 of the supernatural are only equalled by their nancy 

 stories, jokes and parables. All of these are surprising 

 in their way, but they must be heard to be appreciated. 



At this present moment, on the placer where I am 

 stopping, we can boast of a ghost, and a phantom tom. 

 One day when cutting posts, a man discovered a grave 

 on the side of a hill. Since then, the ghost experiences 

 come fast and furious. Frequently at night, the tom is 

 heard working ! Nobody, under any consideration 

 can be induced to go alone on the "grave hill." The 



