EARLY DAYS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 15 December 1932, Page 3

EARLY DAYS

OLD GOLD-DIGGING DAYS

LIFE IN THE ’SIXTIES

(Specially written for “The Mail” by H. P. Washbourn)

The hermit crabs, nob having any house, have to take advantage of some empty shell and when they get too big for that or see a larger or more comfortable one shift into it and it becomes their home. On the diggings the way of the hermit crabs was very much followed in the matter of residence. There was no property in a house, or whare unless occupied by the owner and if he moved lo some other part of the. diggings, as soon as lie went out ol his place, some one else if it were hotter than their own, at once shilled in.

The open hills were all covered with the white and red gaultheria bushes which were always loaded with berries and when thirsty a handful gathered as one went along relieved thirst very much. The, blue orchids were a very noticeable feature of the country, and in favourable places would give quite a blue colouring to the landscape. _ They are still plentiful where the firing has not been so constant.

In (lie early days of the diggings the Aorere Valley was all very heavy bush with a great many immense rata trees and most of the upland on which the diggings were situated was covered with birch bush and camps were mostly pitched in or near the bush. There were then millions of small flies which were known as “smoke flies.” They 'yere very small and white or a very light colour. Most flies and insects do not like smoke, but these seemed to delight in it and over a camp fire they would form a high column in the smoke following it as it waved about, always to keep in it. A puff of wind would sometimes scatter the smoko and them, but they were instantly back in the column again. They did not bite or interfere in any way except that if you got a puff of smoke you got your face and eyes full of them. Ido not know if they have been exterminated like the lower country bush.

On one occasion we camped at Puponga on a pleasure trip. We had gone up there in a small boat and had found an ideal place to camp close to the beach with a. thick canopy of trees overhead and a clear grassy place underneath. We had a good fire and were lying around it in a blanket yarning when _ we noticed that something kept dropping from the trees above us. At last one of the party said he would see what it was and found it to bo “wetas” who were out on the branches (being nocturnal in their habits), and as the heat or smoke reached •them they dropped off. On making this discovery we suddenly felt a. great desire to lio out under the stars and made another fire where there were no trees. The weta is an extremely ugly looking thing and from look and manner very pugnacious'and with their very powerful jaws or pincers (really intended for boring holes in solid wood to live in) could no doubt give a very nasty bite, hut do not seem to use them for offensive purposes except in self defence. 1 have seen the head of a largo male as large as the first joint of my thumb. I have often had them on me in the hush but was never bitten by one. In “sixty-nine” when the Perseverance quartz mine was causing some excitement. and specimens being almost the only topic of conversation there were a number of gentlemen from Nelson sitting round a. table in Golden gully, of course talking specimens, when I put a box on the table saying “perhaps there is a specimen you would like lo see.” One of the party at once opened the box and out jumped a very indignant weta. Perhaps its temper had not been improved by being shut in the box. Whether this was so or not its was not in a good temper and at once made warlike demonstrations, first at one and then at another all round the table and seemed to challenge any of them to fight if they wished to and Very soon had the table to itself. I then took it by the horns or feelers and notwithstanding its protest put it hack in the box.

Serious accidents from blasting rock with powder were not very frequent, although narrow escapes were more so. The principal cause of accidents was the idiotic drilling out of charges that had missed five, with steel drills. One man was blasting limestone and had charged a hole with powder and not having any fuse he had laid a train of powder to fire it and while he was trying to light the far end of the train with a fire stick a spark fell off on the other end of the train and fired the shot killing him instantly. With dynamite accidents mostly occur from very stupidly going back when a shot has not gone off as soon as the others to see if the fuse had been lighted. This is against the law but still it is done.

The severe earthquake of 1866, although not so heavy as that of 1855, was very much of the same character, and it was a day or two before it quite ceased.

On the diggings one had n great opportunity of observing the idiosyncraises of individuals, as the diggers were quite free to live as their natural fads or whiins inclined them and there was no restraint of having to do as others did if they did not wish to. Perhaps this was the freedom they were so unwilling to give up and they lived within themselves and were cheerful and hopeful. In a sense they lived very hard lives in the matter of work, food and social comforts as compared with the settlers.

In 1860 there were two men that I knew, twin brothers, fine looking young men about 30 years of age and their ideal of life seemed a strange one and not an ambitious one. They were noticeably strong and active looking men, yet their idea of life seemed to he n erely (o exist without working and they managed it for 40 years. They would go into a. hut vacated by some oilier digger and if there was a garden so much the hotter and grow a few vegetables as they mainly relied oil these to live on. They would fossick a little to get enough to buy a little tobacco, matches, etc. One of them had very black hair and heard and at 70 years of ago had a full head of hair and not a grey hair in hair or heard. It is very difficult to understand how strong, healthy and fairly well educated men could lead such a life.

‘'Jumping” was not much done i'll the, Collingwood goldfields ns it was looked upon as being a. legal hut rather dirty kind of robbery. In digging ‘‘jumping” meant taking advantage of some legal point to roll a man of his claim, commonly he had let his “miner’s right” run out. or that his pegs and trenches were not quite in accordance with the. "rules and regulations.” Another cause was that lie had too much ground. In peeping ol'f a claim where perhaps there was no ono else within a mile, a man would peg off the amount of ground by stepping it. and wheii it came to he accurately measured it would be. found that, he bail a yard or two tub much am) then a “juniper” could take The surplus horn which side lie liked, and this was qliere the man was working and where the best gold was. A caso of tins sort occurred at the Quartz ranges in 1863, when we were “jumped.” The warden was away at the time. On his return he came up on the Sunday and decided that the surplus ground world belong to the parly tlint, pegged it oil’ tile first on Monday morning. At midnight

on Sunday night the jumpers came and pegged it off and wo kept quiet until tile sun rose on Monday morning v\ hen we pegged it oft’. Both parties claimed the ground, and it came before the warden who decided that as legal pegging oft could only be done between sunrise and sunset we bad the ground and the ‘'jumping” failed. In the middle “sixties” a rather curious incident occurred on the Collingwood diggings. Three men went prospecting beyond the Quartz Ranges and after 10 days or so returned at night to the Ranges and then went to Collingwood and hajj about a fortnight’s rest and got some provisions sent up to the ranges. During the night when it could not be seen the direction they were going in they left there. About a fortnight afterwards they returned tired and disappointed with the following story. That in returning on the first expedition they had come across a reef showing rich gold and that they had left their tools at. it to come in for tucker. The second trip was to open and explore this reel' but after a long search they could not find either the reef or their tools. This was generally considered lo be merely a yarn, and nothing more was thought about it. Several years afterwards two of the men sold some property on the West Coast and came again to Collingvvood lo make another attempt to find the reef and alter a long search were again unsuccessful. Beyond a doubt the iiieii believed that they had found a rich reef and their second and third trip ami the secrecy of their movement would c'piiliiqit this and yet. olio cannot, understand three diggers having Hie organ of locality so weak that, they could not find a place they had hern to in so 'limited an area. Did they find a rich reef or did they not. If in the future some one should come across a rich reel' and some, very old rusty tools, they will wonder why the owners left Ihcpi! Are you embarrassed with stout figure? Secure youthful slenderness with Youth-o-Form All Chemists.