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erection of huts, fixing tents, and doing anything that was possible in the commissariat line. A s n e w comers arrived they marked a claim or area whereon to "dig," and their first essay was to open the back of the vein rearward of the actual operation, and further from the banks of the creek, to which all the supposed auriferous soil had to be taken for washing. Four cradles were working away, and orders for a dozen more had been sent to Burnbank, little else than a nominal township, ten miles off. T h e average gain of the dishmen was 5s. per day. Esmonds' party was thefirstto commence work, and its leader estimated that a cradle in full operation with 4 m e n might obtain 2 ozs. in a day; but some thought this was too high. For thefirsttwo or three days the number of diggers was variously put down at from 50 to 60 at work, and two w o m e n were there. O n e of these ladies devised a profitable species of reefing for herself by setting up a laundry in a small enclosure of gum-trees, where she, arms deep in work, reaped a rich, though not literally a golden, harvest. T h e diggers mainly consisted of town artizans and station hands, who had abandoned their several handicrafts and the tending of sheep and cattle. Every hour n e w faces were showing themselves—some well-provided for the change of circumstances into which they had been plunged, and others diametrically the reverse. Captain D a n a and a contingent of his black troopers were up there, scattered through the immediate neighbourhood. In the course of some days Dana returned to Melbourne, and on his way back he passed numbers of people tramping on to the Clunes. Through him it was ascertained that the average earnings reckoned about 10s. per head; but provisions had grown very scarce, and many persons were badly off T h e " gold-field" then being worked did not extend beyond seven or eight acres in area. H e had found gold in three or four places in the neighbourhood. T w o robberies had been already perpetrated, but the people were, as a rule, peaceably and honestly disposed. H e had left fourteen troopers there to maintain order. A cloud of golden rumours showered into Melbourne from all other quarters of the colony, and if a tithe of the floating talk could be credited, one only had to walk a dozen miles out of town in any direction to find more gold than he could carry, and the only exertion the stooping to pick it up. Several specimens came to hand, the most unique being one in formation like a large button; but where it was found no person could positively make out. T h e digging excitement was increasing in intensity, and Melbourne seemed as if contemplating a general move out of town. Nothing was talked of save specimens, picks, cradles, dishes, and every other known m o d e of up-turning the surface or delving into the bowels of the earth. Several small groups started in company, and one party of four, provided with what they designated a quicksilver machine, was an object of enviable admiration as they trudged along the Flemington Road, accompanied by a considerable retinue, w h o saw them to the town boundary. T h e Michel party returned from Anderson's Creek with flaming reports about the fortunes to be secured there with no more trouble than the catching. About 80 persons were located there, where the auriferous area covered several miles. M r . Bell, a jeweller, who made a flying visit, took up afistfulof earth by chance, and found a gold pin head in it. What was termed Murcutt's party was very successful, one dish of earth yielding 50, and another 40 particles of virgin gold. Mr. T h o m a s Hiscock, w h o resided at Buninyong, induced by passing events, went gold-searching in his neighbourhood, and without either m u c h scientific or practical knowledge of the subject found a valuable auriferous deposit in a gully of the Buninyong Ranges, which thenceforth assumed his name. This happened on the 8th August, and some fine specimens in quartz matrix were forwarded to Patterson, the Geelong jeweller. This finding occurred on a Saturday, and the next Sabbath was broken by wild exclamations of surprise surcharged with expectation of what was to come next. Prayers, except for each individual's good luck, were sadly disregarded on that solemn Sunday. T h e people in the neighbourhood ran about as if they had lost their senses, and the public equilibrium was by no means restored by a m a n appearing in the evening with 3 ozs. of gold, which he had obtained by walking into the bush after dinner and amateuring a little with an old fryingpan for a washing dish. T h e relative distances between places were then rather loosely defined, and topography was in a state of m u c h inexactness, so that there was little else than rough guessing as to h o w far such a place was from another place. T h e n e wfieldwas