fair share of toil, you will not wonder that I set off with a band of young men, all as eager as myself. We took each with us only a small knapsack of necessaries, and we had amongst every two a small handy shovel and mattock. Some carried tin basins for washing the sand, and others had with them a few carpenter's tools. There was also a slender provision of cooking utensils. I bundled my articles in a blanket, and using my spade as a staff, took the road one morning, in the best possible spirits.

Bathurst lies west from Sydney, and to get to it we took the route through Paramatta, which also contributed numbers for the same destination. There was great fun on the road; so many parties were jogging on their way all anxious to get on, as if the gold would all be picked up before they reached the spot. No one had any distinct idea of what was seen or what was to be done. They, however, knew that the gold which they might be so lucky as to get, would be readily bought from them by the Sydney jewellers, at good prices. I did not observe any fighting or misconduct among the hurrying groups of travellers. There was general good-humor, and a disposition to help one another in any small matter. On the second day we met a man returning. He showed us a piece of gold that he had secured-it weighed three and a half ounces; and he was so elated with the prize and the prospect it held out, that he was going back to Sydney to procure apparatus for digging and washing on an extensive scale; at the same time to wind up some ordinary affairs that he had left in confusion.

I must hurry on. It was toilsome crossing the moun

tain-gorges, and the road was almost entirely up hill, till we got to a considerable altitude. Here there were highlying plains and much broken country, with runs of water and much picturesque scenery. We were now in the gold regions, about thirty-five miles beyond the town of Bathurst. The first sight we got of the Ophir diggings was in coming down a rocky height, where we observed a miscellaneous body of men, scattered in twos and threes in the bed of a creek, and all busy in the search for the precious metals. Adjoining, here and there, were tents; and several stores were open for the use of the emigrants. One of the tents was occupied by a government officer, who acts as chief-magistrate, and sells licences. There were also some police present. We commenced operations almost immediately. One of our companions amused us by dashing, with a whoop and hurrah, into the bed of the rivulet, and lifting a handful of gravel to see what kind of stuff it was. Along with a young emigrant who agreed to share with me in all that could be gathered, I went to a spot which was seemingly less encroached upon than other places, and there began to shovel up the loose sandy debris, and wash away the lighter portions. We succeeded as well as could have been expected. Before night, we had gathered as many grains of gold as would have filled a thimble. This we thought a good beginning; and are pushing on with high hope. I wish you were here to see the strange scramble that is going forward. As yet I have seen no disorder. There are many most respectable people engaged in the operation of gold-digging, and that helps materially to preserve orderly conduct.

So far goes our informant. We add for general entertainment the following letter extracted from an Australian paper lately forwarded to us :

At the present time there are about one thousand people. at the mines, and the number is daily increasing. A friend of ours, who returned thence a few days ago, informed us that he met seventy-two on the road from Bathurst; and when it is considered that Ophir is the centre of an immense circle, from which many new trodden roads radiate in all directions, and that a steady stream of human beings is daily flowing from each, some idea may be formed of the rapid increase of the digging population. About three miles of a frontage are occupied with this busy throng. Every village of the surrounding country is emptying itself, or sending forth its quota to the great gathering. From a letter received from Carcoar, by the last mail, we learn that it is nearly deserted. Fresh faces are to be daily seen in our streets which by the following day have disappeared, their places being supplied by others; and if our readers wish to know what has become of them, we simply tell them that they are off to the diggings. A few days ago a band of about a dozen women left Bathurst for the diggings, and since that time several small knots of females have started for that locality, where we are informed they drive a profitable trade by the washing-tub. Tents and gunyas are rearing their heads in every quarter; but hundreds receive no other protection from the weather. than a few boughs thrown together after the fashion of a black-fellow's mansion. In fact the whole settlement has the appearance of a vast aboriginal camp. The preci