"memento mori"
of buried ages, and follow the Turon a little further on his journey. Before we proceed, I have a promised task to perform; a digger's widow has solicited me to write an inscription for the tombstone of her husband. He rests in the golden earth where he laboured, amidst the glooms of the wild and tangled forest,-- God has spoken, And the strong heart she leaned upon is broken.
It is done and we will go forward -- half a mile of scrambling over masses of rock and piles of debris, and we are under Stewart's point -- here cliffs 80 feet high overhang the river, and, sloping from the summit, a rich piece of surfacing has been worked, and is nearly wrought out; the wash dirt is sent down by means of shoots to the water's edge. Lower down the stream a party of miners, some of them lately returned from Rockhampton, are turning the river so as to get at a place where they say that there is a bit of gold, -- the river now sweeps round to the west, the channel is still deep, but the rocks are replaced by sloping banks, the mountains more distant on either side subside into undulating flats and ridges, lightly timbered, and clothed with a bright green velvet sward, the gift of recent showers. Now and again a digger's hut is to be observed with its patch of garden and potato ground; and ever and anon scorched logs, old tin cases, and broken bottles, mark the site of an abandoned camp. The road from Bathurst to Tambaroora comes in from the southward, and here crosses the river, where a tavern sign invites the passer-by to prepare himself for the long and toilsome ascent to the tableland; further a-head the stream strikes the base of the highest range in its course (Monkey Hill), and turns south for a mile and a-half, when, as if determined to go no further out of its road, it bursts through a narrow gorge, and passing a bench named "Soldiers' Flat," where the first commissioner established his first encampment, and which is now occupied by huts and vegetable gardens, is again compelled to follow the great range to the southward for two miles, when it receives the waters of Nuggetty Creek, and, thus reinforced, breaks through all obstructions and rolls onward still towards the setting sun. From the Great Wallaby to the Gorge, in various secluded nooks, diggers have permanently established their homes, and have erected their cottages in the midst of blooming gardens, where they raise whatever vegetables they require; flocks of goats are to be seen browsing on the cliffs, and several horses revel in the rich pastures on the low grounds. The diggers here are, with few exceptions, family men, and are bound to the spot by a double tie, their wives and children, and their homesteads. At the entrance to the gorge is a pretty little village, containing a few cottages, two or three stores, a blacksmith's shop, and an inn; it is the last place where supplies are to be found on the river before its junction with the Macquarie. There is an appearance of peace and domestic comfort, a sort of homeishness surrounding this little community, that may be sought in vain amongst the activity and bustle of crowded camps, where gold is more abundantly found: mining here is now chiefly confined to the bars and bed claims, and the recent unsettled weather has been unfavourable to river working. The diggers jog along in family parties, making their expenses, satisfied that if they, do not get much gold. that it is still in the ground -- they can live -- are disposed to bide their time, and are averse to any expensive undertakings where success is doubtful. Long Bar has been frequently worked over, and some portions of it have proved very productive. I was informed of more than one person who had purchased small stations with the proceeds of a few weeks' labour. Much of it has not been bottomed; it is still worked, and five or six families are located about it. A numerous party of Chinese claim the lower part, and clear their way, but are not said to be saving much. The cry is ever water, either too much or too little. In the river, near the bank of Nuggety Creek, are some registered claims not now workable. Nuggetty Creek descends from the highlands on the left bank of the Turon. It has its source in the lofty box ridge on the right of, the Bathurst road, and flows along its base for three or four miles, with an easy declination, when it precipitates itself over a succession of rocky heights, and falls into the river. Heavy nuggets have been found from its source downwards, but it has been little worked, as in the upper part water is seldom available. An immense outburst of trap rock is visible in the ridge from which it has its source, and on the lower elevations, at the base of the same ridges, are vast dykes and reefs of feruginous quartz. Gold abounds in all the watercourses and gullies in the vicinity. A large reef of quartz crosses the river above the village, and, ascending a low ridge, takes a S.S.E. course, and is lost in the untrodden mountains. Below this reef, and extending to the gorge, is a wide basin, the surface of which, to the verge of the high banks of the stream is auriferous, and pays well for carting to the water. This surface, and the substrata resting on the schistose rock, varies in no respect from that already described at Circus Point and elsewhere, consisting of gravel and waterworn boulders. It has been worked 500 yards back and to an elevation of 300 feet above the river, and is payable under certain conditions to the top of the ridge. The waters once precipitated them selves over the range they have broken through at the gorge, and as that barrier yielded to the aqueous action, the bed of the stream sank with it. It is probable that an ancient channel will be found at the back of ridges now hundreds of feet above the present water level. Opposite the inn is a long rounded hill which terminates a descent from the box ridge; it is about 300 feet high; the entire surface is auriferous, and would pay for puddling or sluicing, as would all the ridges in the neighbourhood of the same elevation with their descending slopes. By a comparatively trifling expenditure of labour and money, water could be, brought at certain seasons from the upper portion of Nuggetty Creek, by means of a race, partly flumed and partly cut; that level would command the highest auriferous ridge in the vicinity, and a dam across a ravine 200 foot in width would retain water for months at the required elevation. It has been talked about, but the extent of the operation alarms the diggers now on the spot; they are not disposed to pull together sufficiently to carry such an undertaking to a successful issue; they will leave it as a legacy to their children's children, unless the Chinamen go at it, which is not improbable. These people comprehend the advantage to be derived from co-operative labour. Taking the Bathurst road to the southward, you gradually rise into a high valley, which, still rising, carries you over the Box-ridge, and on to Wyagdon, distant l8 miles, where the district has attained its highest elevation. As you advance along the road from the river you observe several quartz reefs of un- usual size, all trending in the same direction, S.S.E. and the gentle acclivities swelling from the valley are covered with quartz fragments, now and again detached masses of trap rocks may be observed resting where they fell from the heights -- the rocks composing the lower ridges consist of a variety of schists, while those at loftier elevations are chiefly trappean, with occasional dykes of altered sandstone: here the traces both of aqueous and igneous action are very distinct. A decomposed schist of a dazzling whiteness forms the surface, and is most painful to the sight. About four miles from Lunberg's you arrive at a ridge, from which three small creeks descend from a quartz reef, these creeks were discovered and worked up to the reef last year, and proved to be rich; they were short and contained numerous beautiful specimens of gold in combination with quartz. It is somewhat singular that the watercouse into which they disembogue contains no payable gold. There are many other small creeks and ravines in the same neighbourhood that appears to be equally auriferous -- the indications of the presence of gold in payable quantities amongst these ranges, amounts to a certainty, the creeks and gullies on all sides removed any distance from the river have yet to be prospected; in fact, the gold-bearing country appears to extend north, south, east, and west, from this point. Frightful broken ranges surround the valley through which the road passes, but in the recesses of these mountains, as yet untraversed by the white man, will be discovered narrow flats, creeks, and gullies, pregnant with gold; miners have confined themselves hitherto to favoured spots of easy access on the main waters, but all these gloomy glens will eventually be opened up, as the digger is driven into the mountains by his necessities. As you advance into this district it increases in sublimity and rugged grandeur. Leaving the road, and ascending to the highest summit of the box ridge, you find yourself on a narrow richly-grassed table-land, overlooking the entire district, a chaotic mass of mountains on every side, descending from the plateau, which in the distance presents a long unbroken blue line overtopping the ranges in the broken country. From the northern plateau, a series of parallel ranges stretch away to the southward, and it is through these ranges that the Turon so often forces a passage. Far to the S. W. the clear outline of the Canobolas Range rises from the table lands gradually descending east and west from its towering central summits, and to the eastward of this range, Bathurst Plains may be plainly discerned under the horizon. To the westward the table lands, which are only separated by the river in the vicinity of the Box Ridge, recede rapidly to the north and south, forming a lower basin. This great basin, like that to the eastward, is filled with broken ridges falling from the plateau on either side to the river, which here runs between high and precipitous banks, with many windings and deviations from the true course, still westward. Returning to Limberg's Inn from the summit of the Box Ridge over a richly grassed country, you find yourself regularly used up, and resolve to take it easy for the rest of the day. The next morning off again. The river,"still the river,"
-- now toeing the line along precipices that ovcrhang the stream, and then descending dangerous tracks to the margin of the water, and following the trail under all the difficulties of rank vegetation, snakes, huge rocks, and prospect holes, you occasionally pass a digger's tent, located at some favourable bar or elbow. He will possibly tell you"he is making tucker,"
but the probability is that"he is making liquor also,"
as I fell in with two out of live in a decided state of rum. Eight long miles, and you are at the foot of a spur on the south bank, where a path conducts you to the, great reef once held by the Turon Great Nugget Vein Company; they built houses, and raised hundreds of tons of quartz, sinking many shafts for the purpose, but never commenced crushing operations, and have long since abandoned it. A number of diggers are domiciled in the houses, and children turn over the heaps of quartz in search of specimens, which they frequently find. The diggers are mostly employed in the watercourses and gullies falling from the reef, and partly in the bed of the river; all make a subsistence -- some clear from £1 to £5 a week, but the greatest number do not exceed £2; the children can all add a few shillings to this, with their tin dish. The geological formation differs little from that described in other parts of the river. From this point to the junction small parties of diggers are scattered along the bars at long intervals, working with varied success, the majority obtaining but a meagre return for their labour. The lower part of the river is but little known, and has yet to be fairly prospected. A shorter track over the mountains brings you back to your quarters at Limberg's, sufficiently tired and exhausted with the day's explorations. And now, Turon, source of disappointment to thousands from all countries and all climes, of fortune to many, of sure subsistence to all who will labour, for a time farewell.