y. At last we got safely across
the water, alongside the swollen creek, now raging in fury; and glad I
was when, rising the last hill, and looking down from the summit, I
saw the low-roofed houses of Majorca before me.

I found that we had been more fortunate than a party that left Clunes
a little later, who had the greatest difficulty in reaching home by
reason of the flood. At some places the gentlemen had to get out of
the carriages into the water, up to their middle, and sound the
depths of the holes in advance, before allowing the horses to proceed.
And hours passed before they succeeded in reaching their destination.

During the course of the day we learnt by telegraph--for telegraphs
are well established all over the colony--that the main street of
Clunes had become turned into a river. The water was seven feet deep
in the very hotel where we had dressed for the ball! All the back
bed-rooms, stables, and outbuildings had been washed away, and carried
down the creek; and thousands of pounds' worth of damage had been done
in the lower parts of the town.

A few days later, when the rain had ceased, and the flood had
subsided, I went down to Deep Creek to see something of the damage
that had been done. On either side, a wide stretch of ground was
covered by a thick deposit of sludge, from one to four feet deep. This
was the debris or crushings which the rain had washed down from the
large mining claims above: and as it was barren stuff, mere crushed
quartz, it ruined for the time every bit of land it covered. The scene
which the track along the creek presented was most pitiable. Fences
had been carried away; crops beaten down; and huge logs lay about,
with here and there bits of furniture, houses, and farm-gear.

I find the floods have extended over the greater part of the colony.
Incalculable damage has been done, and several lives have been lost.
The most painful incident of all occurred at Ballarat, where the
miners were at work on one of the claims, when a swollen dam burst
its banks and suddenly flooded the workings. Those who were working on
the top of the shaft fled; but down below, ten of the miners were at
work at a high level, in drives many feet above the bottom of the
claim. The water soon filling up the drives through which they had
passed from the main shaft, the men were unable to get out. They
remained there, cooped up in their narrow dark workings, without food,
or drink, or light for three days;