The gold on this field was found in "leads"--that lay about one hundred and sixty feet below the surface of the ground. The leads were generally but one claim in width; and no party could obtain a claim on either of them, without first having a fight to get, and several others to keep, possession of it. My mates and I succeeded in entering a claim on Sinclair's Hill; and, during the time we were working it, we had five distinct encounters with would-be intruders--in each of which my friend Edmund Lee had an opportunity of distinguishing himself; and, by his fistic prowess, gained great applause from a crowd of admiring spectators. I have often been in places where my life was in danger, and where the passion of fear had been intensely excited within me; but never was I more frightened than on one occasion--while engaged in this claim upon Sinclair's Hill. We were sinking the shaft; and I was down in it--at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet from the surface of the earth. One of my mates--as the readiest place to get clear of it--had thrown his oil-cloth coat over the windlass. The coat, thus carelessly placed, slipped off; and came down the shaft--in its descent causing a rustling, roaring noise, that, to me below, sounded somewhat like thunder! I looked up. All was dark above; and the idea occurred to me, that the shaft had given way at the "drift"--a place about sixty feet above my head, where we had gone through a strata of wet sand. The noisy coat at length reached the bottom, and I found myself unhurt; but, so frightened had I been, that I was unable to go on with my work--until after I had gone up to the surface, swallowed a glass of brandy, and taken a few draws of the pipe! The business of mining, in the Victoria diggings, is attended with considerable danger; and those who conduct it should be men of temperate habits--as well as possessed of some judgment. Every one on the gold fields, being his own master--and guided only by his own will--of course there are many who work in a reckless manner, and often under the influence of drink. As a consequence, accidents are, or were at that time, of daily occurrence. When an accident resulted from intoxication, it was generally not the drunken man himself--but his mate--who was the sufferer--the latter having a bucket, or some heavy implement, dropped upon his head, from a height of a hundred feet. Gold miners, as a class, are exceedingly indifferent to danger; and careless about the means of avoiding it. They will often continue to work in a shaft, that they know must soon "cave" in; but they do so under the hope, that the accident will occur during the night, or while they are at dinner. So long as there is a possibility of their escaping, hope tells them they are "all right"--too often a deceitful tale.