s, to seek
his fortune on the banks of the Sacramento; and though, among the great
crowds of struggling and jostling diggers, he met with but little
success, yet he learned the methods by which gold is discovered and
secured, and laid the foundation for adventures in Australia which were
afterwards to bring him both wealth and renown. Whilst he toiled with
increasing disappointment on one of these famous goldfields, the scenery
around him, and the appearance of the rocks, recalled to his memory a
certain secluded valley beyond the Blue Mountains, which he had visited
thirteen years before; the notion floated vaguely through his mind that,
perhaps, in that silent spot, there might lie great treasures, such as
he saw his more fortunate companions from time to time draw forth from
the rocks and soil around him. Day after day the image of that winding
creek among the hills near Bathurst recurred with increasing vividness
to stimulate his imagination and awaken his hopes. At length this
feeling impelled him to seek once more the shores of Australia in order
to examine the spot which had so often been present to his day-dreams.
He lost no time in sailing, and scarcely had he arrived in Sydney ere
he set out on horseback to cross the Blue Mountains. On the 11th of
February, 1851, he spent the night at a little inn a few miles from the
object of his journey, and shortly after dawn he sallied forth on his
ride through the forest, carrying with him a spade and a trowel and a
little tin dish. In the cool air of the morning the scent of the
spreading gum trees braced up his frame as he plunged deeper and deeper
among those lonely hollows and wood-clad hills. In an hour or two he
reached the well-remembered spot--the dry course of a mountain torrent
which, in rainy seasons, finds its way into the Summerhill Creek. He
lost no time in placing a little of the grey-coloured soil into his tin
dish, and at once carried it to the nearest pool, where he dipped the
whole beneath the water. By moving the dish rapidly, as he had learned
to do in California, he washed away the sand and earth; but the
particles of gold, which are more than seven and a half times heavier
than sand, were not so easily to be carried off. They sank to the corner
of the dish, where they lay secure--a few small specks, themselves of
little value, yet telling of hidden treasures that lay scattered in all
the soil around.

A few days were spent in a careful examination