Produced by David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from scans of public domain works at The National Library of Australia.) Notes of a Gold Digger, and Gold Diggers’ Guide Transcriber’s Note: This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the '_' character as _italic_. Illustrations and maps are indicated as [Illustration: caption]. Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTES OF A GOLD DIGGER, AND GOLD DIGGERS’ GUIDE, By JAMES BONWICK, _Author of “Geography for Australian Youth,” &c., &c._ MELBOURNE: R. CONNEBEE, 174, ELIZABETH STREET, AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1852. [Illustration: Diggers] [Illustration: Routes to the Victoria Diggings] THE ROAD TO THE DIGGINGS. Gold Fields have a most bewitching influence upon fallen humanity. The very name begets a spasmodic affection of the limbs, which want to be off. Then man, as a mere lover of beauty, cannot help wishing to look upon the pretty mineral in its virgin home of seclusion, and his acquisitiveness pants for possession of the loveliest darlings ever rocked in a cradle. But the Australian Gold Fields put to the blush the very fairy tales of old. The Genii of the “Arabian Nights” would have stared, had they winged their flight over the ocean, and taken a quiet evening’s stroll under our ranges and gullies. Need we wonder that the dull eyes of the sons of earth twinkle with delight at the chamber of treasure. “They come—they come.” Well, let them come; and I for one will be glad to see them as lucky as their hearts can wish. In order to give the embryo digger a little insight into the wonders of this wonderful region, I have noted down a few facts, the result of my own experience as a Gold Digger.