enough in itself. Even in California, which was then regarded
as the very fountain-head of gold, no such nugget had been found.
Yet, a couple of weeks later, a strike was made of such importance as
to throw even the Black-fellow Nugget in the shade. This second strike
determined the fortunes of Australia.

"One of the 'forty-niners,' who went to the California gold-fields in
the first ship that sailed from Sydney after the news of the
Sacramento discoveries had reached Australia, was a prospector called
E. H. Hargraves. He got to California in the middle of the rush, but
luck was against him.

"As happened so often with the men who knew only a little mining, he
thought he could do better than merely follow the crowd. He staked a
claim that looked more promising than the ground on the outskirts of
the established mining camps. The claim proved worthless, or nearly
so.

"Seeing the vast crowds streaming into California, and being convinced
that there would not be gold enough for all, Hargraves decided to go
home, rather than to stay in the California gold-diggings and die of
hunger--as so many of the forty-niners did."

Jim nodded assentingly. He knew those stories. Many a one had his
father told him. He was well aware that the trail of gold is a line
of graves.

"On his way back home," Owens continued, "Hargraves remembered that he
had seen ground in New South Wales which bore a marked resemblance to
the regions where gold had been found in California. It was not
ordinary alluvial gold land, such as prospectors were apt to seek, and
no one had ever suspected that gold might be found there. Hargraves
had kept his eyes open, when in California, and had realized that
alluvial gold was but a beginning, that the biggest amount of wealth
lay in a reef.

"Reaching Sydney in December, 1850, Hargraves made his way towards
what is now the town of Bathurst. He was out in the field,
prospecting, when the Black-fellow Nugget was found, and heard nothing
about it.

"Near the end of February, 1851, working in Summerhill Creek, he
discovered sure signs of gold, though in no such alluring quantity as
had been found on the creeks leading into the Sacramento River. He
worked steadily up the creek, not only panning as he went, but also
striking off to right and left to see if the ground gave promise of a
reef. There, on the last day of the month, he found a bowlder of
quartz and gold, or, to speak more correctly, a detached piece