_debris_ of
abandoned mines, or little red flags and heaps of rubbish, which
marked the camps of new explorers. Miss Cornwall made the way
interesting by telling us the history of the various mines we passed.
One story was about a mine known to be very rich, but which had never
paid more than its working expenses. The reason for this
unsatisfactory condition of affairs could not be discovered for a long
time; but at last one man 'peached,' and was followed by the police to
a public-house, where he met four of his fellow-diggers. Although they
had all been carefully searched before leaving the mine, a more
rigorous examination by the police produced fifteen ounces of gold on
each man, the gold being valued at 4_l._ per ounce.

[Illustration: Miners' Camp]

Arrived at the mine, we donned our mining costumes and climbed to the
top of a high mound, where the crushing apparatus stood. The contents
of one of the huge cylinders had been kept especially for us to see,
and the miners now proceeded to run it out, with the result that a
good proportion of small nuggets was obtained. This was by no means
the last process. There would be two or three further washings. We
next went down the mine--in a cage, as is usual--and had to walk
through the workings, for there were no trucks or trolleys. The
operations have been successful, and the character of the ground leads
to the belief that large nuggets may yet be found in the river bed.
After going through a great many of the levels I felt tired, and sat
down, and, to amuse myself, proceeded to scratch in the side of the
heading in order to fill a little pannikin, which Miss Cornwall said
each of the children and I were to have to wash out in the
old-fashioned miner's way. Each pannikin was marked and sent to the
top in charge of one of the 'head gangers.' Many of the miners were
Cornishmen who had emigrated from the old country, and were bringing
up their sons to their own calling in this wonderful new land. They
have a saying here that a Cornish miner is the best miner in the
world, and the only one better is a Cornish man's son. The meaning of
this is that you cannot begin a calling too early in life, and that an
intimate, though perhaps unscientific, knowledge of the various strata
is of the utmost importance in mining operations.

On returning to the surface the air seemed frightfully cold in
comparison with the warm atmosphere of the mine; and I shivered and
shook, as I sat