Some memories of a miner's life; or, Five years on the gold fields of New Zealand; being a description from memory by the author, recounting his trials and hardships in that faraway country; to which are added a number of pertinent facts and comments on some of the geological fallacies of to-day

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Chapter I. Bound For Melbourne

I left Wheeling June 10th, 1858, accompanied by Mr. John Blair, and sailed from New York on the 17th on the steamer “Kangaroo” for Liverpool, England, arriving at that port in 14 days. We were only a few hours out when a dense fog set in and remained with us a week. At this time the second Atlantic cable was being laid, and the captain, in order to have the party report when he landed in England, stood farther to the north than the general course of steamers. This not only brought us into extremely cold weather, but also into the vicinity of ice¬ bergs and they were entirely hidden by the fog; but as “luck would have it” (for man in general owes more to good luck than to good judgment), the fog cleared away long enough to expose the great danger we were about to encounter. The captain up to this time had not made his appearance on deck) some said he was sick, while others, with broader views or suspiciously in¬ clined, said he was drunk, but let that be as it may, when brought on deck by the first mate his appearance had a very soothing effect upon the passengers.

The captain after viewing the situation ordered the steam¬ er’s course changed at once. This news was most satisfactory to all on board, especially to the cwk, for at this time the passengers had full possession of the galley, rendering it almost im¬ possible for the cook to get either in or out. Although most everyone was trying to get his nose in the galle 3 r , it couldn't be called a case of nibbing, as they were only trying to get their noses warm. The steamer now encounters large fields of broken ice. Once clear of this we had no more danger apparently until we landed in Liverpool. Mr. Blair and I remained here a few days, then went to Ireland, where we remained about a month and then returned to England.

We left Liverpool, England, on the 8th of August, 1858, and after a passage covering three months landed in Melbourne. Our passage was one of the ordinary class. We had only two little excitements on board ship during the long voyage: one was caused by an American ship trying to cross our bows, the other was getting into the vicinity of the Southern Islands. Early one morning, just ahead of us, we could barely see the top of the ship's mast in the horizon. The wind was favorable and a stiff breeze was blowing. Our ship being a large one, consequently carried a large amount of canvas, and in an hour or so we were abreast of the strange ship and discovered her to be the “Black Hawk," from Liverpool to California. The wind continued good, and in a few hours we were as far ahead of the “Black Hawk" as she was of us in the morning. At noon the wind began to fail. This gave the “Black Hawk" the advantage, en¬ abling her to carry all her canvas, a thing she couldn’t do in a stiff breeze on account of being a small vessel. With a few hours of this favorable wind, the American ship was full abreast of us again, but she appeared not satisfied at that, and began making the attempt to cross our bows. Now the excitement began. The first mate ordered all passengers abaft in order to lighten the bow of the ship and at the same time sending an old sailor to the wheel. It was now hot between the two vessels for an hour. The “Black Hawk" made three attempts to cross our bows, but failed. The failure was largely due to the “Black Hawk" keeping so close to our vessel, for she was carrying all

FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND.

her canvas at the time. This, with the position of the wind, naturally threw the American vessel in the shade. If she had kept further off and sailed a little ahead she could easily have accomplished her purpose. But still such an act on the part of the “Black Hawk” was not only foolish, but dangerous in the extreme, for had she failed in the attempt our captain would have undoubtedly run her down, for he was hot enough at the time to have done it. The “Black Hawk” now seeing that she was beaten, and apparently with much reluctance, dropped back to our stern and crossed, at the same time giving us three cheers and asking us what we thought of their Yankee-built ship. Our vessels parted then, and when once out of sight never saw each other again.

In those days, if not at present, sailing vessels bound for Australia, in order to catch more favorable winds, generally sailed as far south as 45 degrees, then made a straight shoot, as it were, for Melbourne. This brought ships almost on a line with the South Sea Islands. In the neighborhood of these Islands the weather was both thick and foggy; it was so much so that we hadn’t seen the sun for a couple of days, and on tl\is account our ship was, to some extent, sailing at random.

On the morning of the third day we were still in darkness, with the ship running before the wind about sixteen knots an hour. The first mate, not knowing his exact position, and thinking he saw by the water some indications of land, woke up the captain and brought him on deck, and between rubbing his eyes and taking in the situation for a moment, he ordered all sail to be taken in and the necessary soundings made. This order opened the door for alarm, and an exciting time ensued amongthe passengers. Some thought the captain was the right sort of a man, while others, as usual, cursed him in their own sly way for retarding the ship’s progress, as they were in a great way and hurry to reach Melbourne. But this is just how a large portion of the human family look upon a man to-day who uses caution or judgment; he is, in their judgment and estimation, either a fool or a coward^, and not capable of filling the office he holds. For my part I did not say much, but I was just as anxious to get to Melbourne as any one aboard, but still I preferred at this time to sail around the island to taking an overland route.

It was November 8th when we landed in Australia, and we were much surprised to find that it was just the beginning of hay harvest; but we never had an idea of traveling all that distance on the ocean wave to work in hay—we were going to have gold or nothing.

At this time a new gold field had been discovered in the vicinity of Murray river and known by the name of “Indigo,” some two hundred miles north, or rather northeast of Mel¬ bourne. We remained in Melbourne for a few days, during which time we found a teamster going to the mines, and we . gave him five dollars each to haul our blankets and mining tools. This fellow was receiving about eighty-five dollars a ton for hauling general merchandise. We traveled about twenty-five* miles a day—some days less and some more, according to how we found water to camp by, without any regard to our own wishes in the matter. When the time came for retiring for the night we took our blankets and made our bed on the ground under the wagon and slept very soundly until awakened at daybreak by the peculiar call of the magpie, accompanied by the peals of the “laughing jackass.” It is not necessary for a man to carry a watch to tell him when it is daybreak in the country of Austra¬ lia, for those magpies will tell him every time without ever mak¬ ing a mistake. These magpies are similar in appearance to those we see in the “Old Country,” but their voice appears en¬ tirely different and that is, it is more musical. When they be¬ come domesticated, in regard to talking they far exceed the parrot. A great many small stores by the wayside keep one of them in their places of business. If a customer comes in the magpie will call “Sally,” or if a customer should lay hands upon any article the magpie will shriek at the top of his voice “Rogue! rogue! rogue!” The bird is also quite a mimic, and takes spe-

FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND.

cial delight in mimicing cocks crowing. I have heard of parties refusing one hundred and twenty-five dollars for their talkative friends, the sum offered being no inducement to the owner.

As we traveled along, the forests or bush differed in appear¬ ance widely from anything I had ever seen. The trees were mainly of the gum species, and instead of the leaves falling off the bark peels off. This gives the trunks of the trees the ap¬ pearance of being dead, while the leaves or foliage is green.

In passing over the Goldbourne river on a punt, we got a view of the renowned “platapus.” This fowl, or whatever it may be called, appears to have been made up from a little of everything. Naturalists, in their imaginary ideas, give it as their opinion that this was the primitive bird, and from it all the feathered tribes sprung. But as this is only their idea, we will just give them credit for the idea and not for what they know about it.

In due time we arrived at the mines. It happened to be Sunday morning, and we pitched our tents outside the camp on an elevation. We had scarcely finished arranging our tent when a crowd of men began to halloo behind or over the eleva¬ tion. We wondered very much what was going on, but it was soon explained to us by a kangaroo hopping past us. It made its way across the diggings through a great crowd of men and dogs. The only thing that saved it was that there was so much dust kicked up that it was enabled to pass through the shouting crowd unobserved. When next I saw that kangaroo it was going up the range on the opposite side of the flat at a lively rate, followed by hundreds of yelping dogs, but they appeared to be no company for the kangaroo. This kangaroo hunting, as I afterwards learned, was largely the Sabbath day’s work among a large portion of the miners.

We remained at these mines for a week or two looking over the ground. The ground we found to be all taken up, and the nearest claim we could take up was several miles from where they were getting gold. This was discouraging, to say the least.

The sinking was two hundred feet deep, and there was no one, seemingly, caring to sink a shaft to this depth for fun; so any one possessing a claim contented himself in “shepherding” it —that is, working the claim an hour or so every day in order to hold it, for if one neglected this duty some one would be sure to jump it and take it from him.

This was too slow work for us, besides our board was very high and cutting fast into our little surplus of cash. Water cost us twenty-five cents per bucket. This was the first time we ever bought this beverage.

We next heard of another gold-field discovery. It was only a few miles off, and we concluded to try our luck upon it. We walked to the place, and, seeing others pegging out claims, we followed suit. This we thought sufficient for one day’s- accom¬ plishment, so-we returned to camp with the understanding that we would return again in the morning to do some work. When morning came and we had eaten breakfast we started for our claim, but on our way became lost in the bush, the result of taking a short cut, but as it happened we drew the long one this time. We wandered around all day in the hot sun with nothing to eat or drink. We became terribly thirsty, especially when it became known to us that we couldn’t find any water fit to drink. During our wanderings we came across water-holes, but the water was so extremely filthy that it wasn’t fit for man to drink unless under the most extreme circumstances. There are some prohibitionists probably who would tell us that they would rather drink such water, filth and all, than take a drink of whis¬ ky, and most likely speak the truth, but I am here to say that I would prefer the whisky on all such occasions.

These 'water-holes, as they are called, are dug by ranch or station men, as they are generally termed, in the rainy season in the valleys or flats, and during the season they become filled with water. This is the source from which the cattle in general throughout the summer months obtain water, and the constant coming and going of herds keeps the water riled and muddy all

FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FEILDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 11

the time. This not only renders the water unfit for even cattle to drink, but any other thing. The only way a person can make use of such water, provided he has tea, is to boil it and make tea out of it, and in this way he may manage to quaff a little. I have been obliged to do this many times.

In our wanderings all the cattle we came across, especiall} r unawares, ran away from us like rabbits, apparently perfectly wild.

It was now getting late in the evening, and we knew that some thing had to be done, and that right away, and we began to study the situation seriously. We concluded that there was a bush road from the mining camp to the Murray river that lay west of us, and if we kept walking all the time in that direction we might accidentally run across it. We did so, and about dark came to it, and were then about eight miles from our camp, which we reached at about eight o’clock, not only tired, but thirsty and hungry in the extreme, and, I might add, with but very little starch in our collars. In meditating upon the hard¬ ships we had undergone during the d&,/, it was very plain that we hadn’t made much, unless it was in the large dose of expe¬ rience we had received.

It was now but a short time after Christmas and wheat¬ harvesting time. Hearing that some farmers on the Murray river, some ten or twelve miles distant, wanted help in their fields, we concluded to leave the mines for the present and go there and take a hand at reaping wheat and try to make a little stake in a financial way. We crossed the Murray river on a punt at a town called Albury. About two miles from this point up the river we found a farmer who had several fields of wheat to reap. The wheat was very heavy and laying in all directions. He offered us five dollars an acre for reaping and board included and the privilege of sleeping in the stable at night when the horses were out. This privilege we thought very kind of the farmer, indeed, and in taking a survey of the man in my own way my conclusion was that he had never paid his way to the colony. A great many men were sent to those colonies in early days with their passage paid, but, notwithstanding all that, it appeared to them to be a leap in the dark, and was looked upon not only by them, but by their relatives as well, to be hard and disgraceful. But, after all, it turned out to be a blessing to many of them in disguise, for we find many of them to-day with large farms and well off, but still looked upon with suspicion, as many of this class will prefer men who do wrong to those who do right. I was informed that if a man goes to them and asks for a night’s lodging they might let him sleep in the stable or out¬ house, but if he told him that he had committed a crime and the police were after him, the farmer would not only feed him, but would hide him in the best place about the house.

We were just in time for dinner. There appeared to be plenty on the table to eat, but it was far from being in a shape to our liking. The weather was hot and having no ice (it being unknown in this part of the colony), the butter was not Only strong, but extremely soft—in fact, if it could have gotten loose it would not only have walked, but run. Under these circum¬ stances we partook of a very light meal, although feeling at the same time that we had ample room for more. This made a very bad impression on us. We studied over the matter awhile, and it was hard for us to decide whether to leave right away or not, but as we wanted work we concluded to try harvesting a few days anyhow. So we took our sickles and off we went to the wheatfields and reaped the grain that afternoon. When it came time to retire for the night we made our beds in the stable and turned in. About three o’clock in the morning we were awakened by the farmer bringing in his horses to feed. This didn’t suit us at all, for we were feeling rather tired, not being used to the kind of work we had been doing the day before. We tried to work another day, however, but the combination of getting up so early in the morning, coupled with the hot sun coming down somewhere between 130 and 135 degrees during the day, was rather more than we greenhorns could stand, so we threw up the job and determined to try the mines again on another field from the one we were on.

In regard to the character of the land along the Murray river it is very productive. I was informed by this farmer that he often raised seventy-five bushels of wheat to the acre, and a hundred bushels of oats. I believed him to be telling the truth, for I never saw such wheat as I saw growing here. This pro¬ ductiveness of the soil is largely due, of course, to the river over¬ flowing its banks every winter.

The nearest mining camp to us is Beachworth, some twenty-five or thirty miles off. We started for there, passing through a rough and wild part of the country, and several times were at¬ tacked by wild cattle, but managed to keep them off by jumping suddenly at them. Reaching Beachworth, as usual, we couldn’t find anything to do that we thought would pay, but of course we could have turned in and made a living by harvesting wheat. In regard to these mines they had been worked out years before. The only persons working them at this time were Chinamen, and they appeared to be very numerous in the neighborhood. In going about the place we passed through one of their camps. I was obliged to press my fingers tightly on my nose until I had got through it for the stench was really beyond what I could in reality stand. We remained in Beachworth for a couple of weeks, and, finding a team for Melbourne, we returned to that city again, where we" remained for a few weeks. Here my part¬ ner and I separated, and, though we aften heard from each other, we never saw one another again. He started for Ballarat and I for Bendigo. When I arrived at an old mining camp, known as Castlemain, some seventy-five miles distant from Mel¬ bourne, on the Mt. Alexander road, I fell in with a party of miners going to a camp known as Back Creek Daisy Hill, sixty miles off. I was as anxious for the road as any of them, and made up my mind in short order to accompany them and try my luck in that direction. On the evening of the second day’s travel we overtook a party of men also bound for the mines.

Among the party were a colored man from Baltimore and a na¬ tive of the East Indies. When time for camping arrived we se¬ lected a good place in the woods, or bush, and made a huge fire, as it was now winter, or rainy season. I found out from their conversation that the colored man had been a cook on a vessel and had left it at Melbourne, and that the East Indian had been a sailor, and that he, too, had left his ship at the same port, both apparently determined to try their fortunes on the mines of Australia, With the colored man giving his experience at sea, coupled with a few snake stories, and the East Indian giving some elephant stories, I felt very much at home for the night; in fact, I felt so much so that I sat up until twelve o’clock. When we were all retiring for the night I felt very much amused at the gentleman from the Levant. In preparing himself for bed the first thing he did was to tie up his head in a red handkerchief; next his feet in the same kind of material. I almost wished that a fire would break out in camp during the night just to see this fellow get out of bed. In fact, I could not refrain from laugh¬ ing at the idea.

Arriving at these mines, we found ourselves, as usual, too late. The ground was all taken up wherever there was the slightest show. There is no doubt had we stayed around here for a few months we might have done some good, but idling around was rather expensive, besides it did not suit us by any means, for our ambition was to make a fortune right away, and anything short of this didn’t meet our approbation. We only stayed at this place a week until we heard of another new gold discovery. This time it was on the Pyrenees mountains, about twenty-five or thirty miles away. We started for it. We ar¬ rived at a small station, or ranch, located on a small stream known as the “Bet-Bet,” about nightfall. We ought to have reached this station earlier, but we got lost on the way. We slept all night in a shepherd's hut. During the night two ox, or bullock drivers, as they were called, came in late. They got up on a kind of a half loft to sleep and one of them rolled off his roost before morning, but he had so much steam up that he didn’t get much hurt, still he caused us the loss of considerable sleep. When morning came we started for the new discovery, which was now only a few miles off. We learned in the night, however, from the shepherd that the new gold field was of no account. This statement of the outlook cut no figure with us, as we were determined to see the mines anyhow, as we had traveled thus far in their direction.

When we reached the camp we found a small inn with a small store attached to it. On the signboard in front of the inn was written, “Drag me through the world.” Taking the sur¬ roundings in general into consideration, what appeared on the signboard seemed strikingly appropriate. It was learned that the man who kept the inn and store had started the false report in order to make business better, but in this he was fooled. For revenge the miners bought him out without a consideration, be¬ sides giving him a couple of black eyes, and finally compelled him to leave the country or to hide himself completely. It was said that this fellow was a Yankee, but Yankee tricks were far below par in that country, as the inhabitants appeared not to have forgotten the “wooden nutmegs.”

Here we were again, with out hopes most terribly shaken, but we lost no time in brooding over ill-luck. There was an¬ other old mining camp known as “Mountain Hut” on this range, some distance to the west. We concluded to go there and see what could be done, or if there was anything in store for us. When we reached this place we found a few miners at work, but scarcely making a living. We had a look-around for a few days, during which time it became quite apparent that it was no place for us to linger, so we took our departure for another old mining camp known as the Amphitheatre, some distance further away to the west, and at the foot of the same range. In traveling to this camp we passed through some very fine forests and nicelaying land. My two partners and guides told me they had often traveled through these forests in the spring of the year when the ground was almost white with manna. This manna is not only found in this part of the country, but in many other parts as well. It is simply a kind of honey that falls or drops from the leaves of certain kinds of trees in the spring of the year. The honey thus dropping in the cool of the morning be¬ comes congealed and can be easily gathered. It melts or disap¬ pears before the hbt sun, and I might say that it corresponds almost in every respect to the manna that fed the children of Israel in the wilderness. There is no doubt but that the manna which fed the children of Israel fell from trees, God using them as a medium for His work, for as can be seen, God made use of mediums in all His miracles. The children of Israel being told, and believing that the manna fell from heaven, although it only fell from the leaves of the trees of the forest, would not alter the truth of this matter, because it fell through and by the direct will of God, and which would be equivalent to it falling direct from heaven.

Arriving at the Amphitheatre we found it about the same as the rest of the mining camps we had already visited. If there was any difference it was in the fact that it was largely owned and controlled by Chinese. The sinking to the wash-dirt in some places, that is, the dirt containing the gold, was about forty feet. The wash was very thin and patchy, at that. We re¬ mained here a few weeks, sunk two shafts, but didn’t get any¬ thing to pay us for our work. But we couldn’t feel so very much discouraged at this, as there were thousands of others in the same boat as ourselves, and this very often has a soothing effect upon one’s disappointment.

One of my partners now proposed to go to another old mining camp known as Mt. Ararat, some thirty miles further to the west and rather north of the range. I was right in for the pro¬ ject, as we had traveled around so much that I now felt that I would about as soon travel as work, for at this time it did appear to me doubtful if we had been offered a good steady job whether we would have accepted it or not. So we made everything ready for the journey and started for Mt. Ararat. The first night ont we camped somewhere on the northern slope of the range. We started a big brush fire and cooked and ate our suppers. The night being clear and not very cold, we deemed it unnecessary to pitch our tent, but to spread it over us, for the purpose of adding a little more to our comfort, and at the same time protect us from any dampness that might fall at any time during the night. We made our bed a short distance from the fire, with our feet towards it. A short time after we had turned in one of my companions remarked that his feet were getting warm, and raising up to see what was the matter, he discovered that the tent was on fire on top of us. We got from under it in a hurry, and when the fire was distinguished we made the lamentable discovery that there was a large hole burnt in the tent, rendering it almost useless. We received a lesson here never to lie down so close to a fire again, especially when there was grass in the camp. As our camp was well down towards the base of the range, about ten o’clock at night it became very inter¬ esting to us to hear the cattle rushing past us full speed to the valley below to drink. The fact is that between going and returning they kept us awake the'greater part of the night. For my part I wasn’t a bit annoyed, for I thought it was one of the grandest things I ever heard. The country here was en¬ tirely new. You might travel a long distance before you would even come across a shepherd’s hut.

When we arrived at Mt. Ararat, after a survey of the town, we concluded there was little difference, if any, between this mine and all those we had already visited. We are now about at the end of our string, and to settle down to only making a living was too much for us; in fact we couldn’t entertain the idea for a moment. After studying the matter over, and it seeming fool¬ ishness to proceed further, we thought it best to return to the Amphitheatre and remain there until something new would break out or turn up in the shape of mining. I gave one of my partners nearly all the loose change I had to go and buy some provisions for the journey. He got drunk, and as he did not return in the time we allotted him we started off without his company, not even taking provisions for the journey, for we had become so mad that we thought we would not feel hungry for a week, but in this thought we were mistaken.