" ROUGH AND TUMBLE."

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1538, 9 July 1873, Page 4

THE GREY RIVEB ARGUS, JULY 9, 1873.

There are said to be 39,000 crippled females in Britain. 'i'::.V Are blacksmiths who make a living by forging, or carpenters who do a little couriterfitting, any worse than men who sell iron and/steel fora~living. ; ;

[from an occasional correspondent.] No Town, July .7. A great change has taken 'place in this district during the last t welvemon ths in the nature of. mining 'generally;.., formerly the principal feature was smallfrushes to creeks and terraces^ which* were "quickly : worked out, but itis.i.npw; so; long since the exciting, report^of a ... new,, rush has gladdened ouf : ears/ that we.' Kegin to imagine that the days' of new discoveries have gone for ever.i • iThis place: is now assuming a more settled appearance. A great number of the miners are employed in constructing large dams and races, and in cutting long taifraces into ground that will probably give them employment for years, so that every part of the district bears evidence of a, more, permanent style of mining than prevailed formerly. I notice that Rough and Tumble Creek is now undergoing that last operation in mining termed "taking it all on a face." This has been as rich a little creek as there is in the district, but the great drawback to its being worked effectually is its waist of fall. Every claim required a tailrace of a considerable length before they struck the reef j and very often, when the races were completed, or nearly so, a flood would come and destroy the! labor of weeks, so that a great, . deal ; of the ground wa3 left unworked. Messrs Turner and party are now employed in • cutting a tail-race iip this creek. They started at the junction of Rough and Tumble with the main creekj and the race, which is completed for a distance of . 200 ft, is calculated to? be proof against floods. This party has not struck payable gold yet, but ". they expect that ' another hundred feet will bring them on to ground that will pay well, andif their race remains, weatherproof, there is no doubt they have ar seat of ., work before them that will pro^e/^ighlyi remunerative. . . ".' '" " "' " i •' ' There is agreat 1 extent of country about this district that has never y.et had,a pick put intp. it. ., The be^t'of/cpu'ntry that lies between'Dea'dmanVanJitho No Town Creek is las likely a>quarter forrgold as there is on the Coast. Fine looking terraces and gullies' compose the whole of , f this belt of. country,! !butrstill( they > remain unprospected, and! the 'sound ! of an axe or i 'the Bight ' of smoke ' rising 'from a camp, betraying the' presence 'of 1 the' old stamp of prospectors, : is never: heard or seen , : after leaving, the! No. Town /Creek uniiil you come within sight of Deadraan's. The same may be said of the country that extends from the 'other side of the creek to the Arnold River, and the considerable "time which has elapsed since the last new discovery must be attributed to itie departure from amongst us of that class of diggers whose delight it vis to take their tent and a fortnight's tucker, and start into the bush away from old diggings, and set to work with a will to find a bit of gold for themselves. . This class of diggers is necessary, if not absolutely indispensable, to the opening np of a new gold field; They are men who seem to have an aversion to following in the footsteps of another. I believe that in whatever sphere of Uife they might be moving they would tryand. cutout a^ path for themselves, and, as they are generally men of a tough. , physical organisation, fitted by nature to endure hardships and privation, they; -naturally;,' become the pioneers of a gold field. Those men seem in their element while a, country is in a rude state;< while the axe has done little, towards clearing the bush, and the only habitations to be 'seen 'are tents' for the diggers and calico shanties and stores, but 1 the appearance '6r the first : signs of civilizari tiori is the signal for 'tsein to take up their 'tent and extend' their explorations still 1 further into th ( e untrodden bush, and pre- . pare the way for . the . ' less ; j* adventurous digger. I have noticed that in whatever -company those men ; may. happen to be . ' they generally usurp the principal share of the conversation) there is usually a ccr T tain amount of originality or drollery about them— a. something to distinguish them from the common hereof /men. that makes one fancy that under more fatorable circumstances they would, 'fiave '-' become ornaments to society, arid, even though fate made working men and' ' diggers of them they still ; remain; true to . their superior natural gifts, and. make the verybestof diggers. "Roughaad Tumble," the prospector of the creek inrthis district of that name, was a genuine specimen of the pioneer digger,' and in almost every quarter of the Australian and New Zealand diggings there is ! a gully or creek bearing his cbghdmen, jt is now a long time since he left the coast. He and his class, performed, their, allotted, duty; on these gold fields, and. if that indefatigable prospector is still of the land of the living the Roper or some 1 other new gold field is sure to have the benefit of : his experience ■ and perseverance , as a. prospector.; Poor "Rough," he was a. genial soul, and freely spent his hard earned goldj and if he ha I the failing, too common 'among . diggers, of protracting his spreelto an unwarrantable length,, he, generally made up 'for it by secluding himself' in the bush for 'two or three months, 1 or by taking up his swag in disgust and leaving for •some un- , explored quarter he .had a.fancy*for.;' He generally ran up, a little grog score after every spree, arid his style of' settling with the publican was " ; very characteristic of the man.: He i seldom had the money to square. , the account, and he had too much unpolished honor .to skulk away without, infprmir<g his debtors, arid the way 'he managed was by putting a bold front on himself, and slinging his swag off his shoulder as he came to the shanty where presided the fair Hebe Who had kept his mind in thrall for the space of a week or a fortnight, and who generally managed to get the contents' of his chamois into her own pocket. 0, sweet were' the smiles and gentle the pressure : of the hand of this charming fair ? one when first she saw a digger who h&d just come down for a spree. She waX so anxious to know how he : had been getting on ; she hoped he had been getting plenty of gold, and ; was altogether so gushing and solicitous to please that she easily inspired a sort of bastard love iri'the breasts of men who probably had not seen a woman for months. Arid tfue.as mercury to : the variations of the weather was the extent ( f her blandishments to the weight of a man's purse. 'At \ first the.sidelong look, 'the' pressure of the hand,, jwh'en; giving change, and allowing a man the familiarity of putting his arm round the waist, Which she reproved with such a reproachful look. . But as his funds got exhausted, so her smiles became scarce, until the time arrived when empty pockets compelled him to get his drink on credit,