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plied with liquor , and it was thought not unlikely they might attempt to obtain it by surprise or force . The " insensibles " were left as they lay , and I ascended to what , after long use to a Tasmanian Possumrng spread upon fern leaves , seemed a too luxurious couch .

Next day , a party of Germans arrived , on their way to some new diggings of which they made a great mystery , near the souces of the Grey and Buller : and I regret to say that the army | of martyrs to alcohol was greatly augmented ,

including the Captain and Maurice . The landlord and I had to pile them one upon the other , against the bar , before retiring to rest . A special Providence is said to care for drunken men ; to it alone those underneath must have owed freedom from suffocation before the dawn .

On the fourth day , considering that the state of our finances did not warrant further indulgence ( the authorised term for a digger ' s spree , such as I have described , is a fortnight ) , I shovelled our friends outside the house , where , with Miller ' s assistance , they were drenched

thoroughly with buckets of water , and rolled down the slope . There , heaped among the grass and fern , in the fresh air , they gradually revived and staggered to their feet : the first up being the most energetic in rousing and kicking up the others . The Captain had sense enough to

make preparation for departure , which was effected towards nightfall , each of us being laden with from 60 to 90 lbs . weight slung across the back by leaves of the Flaxbush , * the burdens consisting of flour , salt meat , coffee , tea , sugar , and sundries .

After a jovial march , enlivened by stumblings and mishaps , as we waded along the creek or scrambled over the boulders in the darkness , we neared home and halted to listen to unwonted sounds of revelry which issued from the hut . Jack ' s rollicking voice sang out : —

" And now my song is ended , there ' s one last wish I crave , That that infernal skipper may never rest in his grave : May he be drownded , far away , upon some sandy shoal , Where the sharks may rattle his bones about , and the devil may take his sonl . "

Here another voice struck up an irrelevant chorus—Come , all you jolly diggers , come , diggers young and old !" " My word ! " said Scottie , " it ' s that scamp Maurice found his way here , to pump Jack about our claim . " So it proved : the pair were glorious , rattling their pannikins , and stamping round under the influence of new

rum . Thus began my life at the diggings . Having worked the claim for nine weeks , the gold-bearing limit of the soil was reached , and it became evident that to work longer wouldn't pay . A description of surface-digging may not be

uninteresting . The race which brought water to the side of our hill , was supplemented by a telescopic series of wooden troughs , called boxes , mounted on trestles . These boxes were fitted with false bottoms , so perforated as to make a series of

shallowpitsalong their whole length . The trestles were moveable , and the alignment of the boxes was thus easily altered to suit our work ; fresh boxes and trestles being added to suit distances as required .

The acqueduct being brought immediately alongside of our work , the soil from the hill ' s surface was flung in spadefuls into it . Over the earth thus thrown in the water rushed , sweeping it along , but depositing all metallic and heavy particles in the pits of the false bottom . At the end

of the last box , the earth ( called " tailings " ) fell out deprived of metal , and the water spent itself down the hillside . At the end of each day ' s work , after closing the trap in the dam to cut off the water , the boxes were dismantled ,

the false bottom removed , and the gold dust carefully collected . Gains were reckoned and divided every Saturday ; and as I reflect upon the rough and ready character of my companions , I am pleased at remembering the entire confidence each reposed in the other .

We dissolved partnership : Scottie and Jack elected to remain on the ground , the former purchasing the greater part of our plant , the remainder of which we carried to Takaka . The Captain and Baker started for Nelson , which I should have done also , had it not been my fate to again

encounter " the lucky digger . " We found him at Miller ' s , recovering from a severe attack of inebriety . On learning our intentions , he drew me aside , and told me in mysterious whispers he had had a remarkably rich prospect , which two men could work out and nett £ 500 each in a month .

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All his clothes and tools were gone in exchange for liquor , but he would make me the munificent offer of " halves " if I would furnish and start the concern . I agreed , made the requisite disbursements , and within a week started for Maurice ' s El Dorado , npon which that great discoverer

bestowed the unsuggestive name of " One speck Gully . A small dray , drawn by one bullock , laden with our plant , and managed by Miller ' s hopeful heir , a boy of ten , accompanied us one day ' s journey , beyond which was no practicable track . In the bottom of the ravine which

formed the entrance to our gully we camped for the night . Two days were spent carrying the stores to the spot selected by Maurice , where , as we did not contemplate a very long stay , we erected a much slighter tenement than that of Waikara-Mumu . First we felled trees and cleared

the ground , then we built a kind of American log-hut with long fern-trees , locally called " bungy . " These trees are light to carry and soft to touch , have no branches but at

the top ; when severed their interior appears cellular and spongy , their core a complicated geometrical pattern darkly stained in . We dispensed with chimney , and suspended our pot outside , gipsy fashion , upon three forked sticks .

Our palatial abode I contemplated with intense satisfaction ; never tired of admiring its interior snugness , its tight thatch of " ghighi , " its hardened floor , the neat trench round about it , and , above all , the lovely prospect which greeted our opening eyes each morning on awaking , thro '

the door-less door way . Just inside , well-sheltered , we planted our candlestick , literally a candle-stick or sapling . It was straight , six feet long , with sharp end driven into the ground . Its upper end was cleft in shape of a cross ,

and permanently distended by small wedges ; into the gaping aperture thus made the end of the candle was inserted . Reviewing our arrangements , I felt "Monarch of all I surveyed , " and Crusoe's feelings would have been tame compared to mine .

Maurice was an entertaining fellow . His thoughts ran in eccentric grooves , he narrowly missed being a genius , with methods of expression quite out of the common way . His distinguishing faculty was his strong perception , almost divination , of the presence of gold . Where another

man would wander for weeks prospecting round and round , Maurice would hit upon the right spot almost at once . He had been three years a digger , had had many a lucky find , and had squandered his gains upon the " spree " as soon as made , remaining poor throughout . He had

abandoned civilised life by reason of one heavy misfortune , and craved return to it in order to satisfy one great aspiration ; these two were never absent from his mind , so that in conversation he would be sure to allude to one or the other . The former , was his having been in gaol . This ,

he asserted , arose from the villainy of a lodging-house crimp and beech-comber , who had nearly got him shipped off from Wellington , whilst he was there drunk on the spree , and who , after having robbed him of everything , trumped up a charge substantiated by falsehood . I never

heard the other side of the question , but experience of the villainies practised undetected ( both at home and abroad ) upon the unfortunate votaries of alcohol , led me not to discredit his version . He dated everything , therefore , not from the year of our Lord , nor the month of the year , but so many weeks , months or years , " since I went to gaol . "

For instance , " War broke out in Taranaki just two years and a half after I went to gaol " — " Collinson was found starved to death on the Wairau about nine months

after I went to gaol . " His soul ' s ambition was to own a horse ; he had , when a drover , often ridden the beasts of others , and had had gold enough to buy a stable-full ; but somehow or other , always

before effecting a purchase , opportunity had flown or his cash had vanished . He expressed his determination to work hard now , to stick to his next earnings , and to be happy , with a horse of his own , at last . ( To be continued ) .

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