She offered them
two guineas for it, which they indignantly refused, and she then declared
her intention of injuring their pracitce as much as possible, which she
had power to do, as her tent was of an evening quite the centre of
attraction and her influence proportionably great. Pity 'tis that such a
woman should be able to mar or make the fortunes of her fellow
creatures.
TUESDAY, 28. - The holes commenced yeserday were duly "bottomed," but no
nice pocket-full of gold was the result; our shipmates, however, met
with better success, having found three small nuggets weighing two to
four ounces each at a depth of not quite five feet from the surface.
WEDNESDAY, 29. - To-day was spent in puddling and cradling.
Puddling is on the same principle as tin-dish-washing, only on a much
larger scale. Great wooden tubs are filled with the dirt and fresh
water, and the former is chopped about in all directions with a spade,
so as to set the metal free from the adhesive soil and pipe-clay.
Sometimes I have seen energetic diggers tuck up their trowsers, off
with their boots, step into the tub, and crush it about with their feet
in the same manner as tradition affirms that the London bakers knead
their bread. Every now and again the dirtied water is poured off
gently, and with a fresh supply, which is furnished by a mate with a
long-handled dipper from the stream or pool, you puddle away. The
great thing is, not to be afraid Of over-work, for the better
the puddling is, so much the more easy and profitable is the cradling.
After having been well beaten in the tubs, the "dirt" is put into the
hopper of the cradle, which is then rocked gently, whilst another party
keeps up a constant supply of fresh water. In the right hand of the
cradler is held a thick stick, ready to break up any clods which may be
in the hopper, but which a good puddler would not have sent there.
There was plenty of water near us, for a heavy rain during the night
had filled several vacated holes, and as there were five pair of hands,
we hoped, before evening, greatly to diminish our mud-heaps.
Now for an account of our proceedings.
Two large wooden tubs were firmly secured in the ground and four set to
work puddling, whilst Frank busied himself in fixing the cradle. He
drove two blocks into the ground; they were grooved for the rockers of
the cradle to rest in, so as to let it rock with ease and regularity.
The ground was lowered so as to give the cradle a slight slant, and
thus enable the water to run off more quickly.
