Being delayed here,
perhaps, by the loss of their horse, or some other accident, they sink a
pit or "hole" in a "likely spot." At length some one strikes a rich
deposit. If so, it cannot long remain a secret. A few dozens or scores
are shortly at work on the adjacent ground; and if these too are
successful the news spreads like wild-fire, and within a week all the
roads and tracks leading to the spot are covered with diggers and their
carts, on the way to the new Dorado--the _newest_ being always by report
the _best_ and richest. In a few days the hills around the new working
are dotted over with white tents, the forest around them quickly
disappears, being felled for firewood. Government, on hearing of the
discovery, sends down a Commissioner with a body of horse and foot
police. These establish a camp on some central elevated position, and an
irregular wide street of tents springs up like magic in the valley
below. There are stores, large and small; butchers' shops; doctors'
little tents; and innumerable refreshment booths, where, under the guise
of selling lemonade and home-made beer, an extensive illicit trade is
carried on in vile, adulterated, and often poisonous spirits.
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