A £10,000 NUGGET.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1111, 17 January 1885, Page 3

A £10,000 NUGGET.

At one of the tents sat four men — 10th June, 1858 — talking earnestly of the future and bemoaning the past. For several months these four men had worked together in the same claim, sometimes getting barely sufficient for daily wants ; sometimes not even that. For several weeks, indeed, they had labored without any result. Not a speck of the precious metal had been seen. Their credit was stretched to the utmost limit ; but until this evening they had hoped, as diggers do hope, that on the morrow something would turn up. Now they ceased to hope ; the storeman had refused further credit, and here they were without either bread or tobacco. "This," said one, "is the last straw." "True," replied another; "we cannot work with empty pipes." "I vote," said a third, " that we go down in the morning for our tools and peg out in some new quarter." After a long discussion this suggestion was decided upon ; and early next morning, long before the camp was astir, three of the men descended the old mine, the fourth remaining at the windlass. Down in the mine the three looked gloomily around, with a kind of sulky regret at having to leave the scene of so much useless toil. " Good-bye," said one ; " I'll give you a farewell blow." Then, raising his pick, he struck the quartz, making splinters fly in all directions. His practised eye caught sight of a glittering speck^ in one of the bits at his feet. Stooping, he examined it, and the place he had struck, when, with a loud exclamation, he knelt and satisfied himself that it was gold. He then commenced picking vigorously. His mates caught the meaning, and followed his example. In dead silence they worked ou—they had discovered a monster nugget ! Then a wild, glad shout sounded in the ears of the one at the windlass, who had sunk into a half doze, feeling probably the want of his breakfast. To his inquiry, " What's going on ?" the cry came " wind up," and as he did so there rose to the surface a huge mass of virgin gold. When fully exposed to view, the men were almost insane with joy. • After watching it through the day and live-long night, they had it conveyed in safety to the bank. It was named the " Welcome Stranger," and yielded the fortunate discoverers of it, £10,000. On the site of that spot — within a few yards of which the writer himself resided — we now find a broad and busy street, a noble temple dedicated to public worship, a free library, and monster marts and warehouses, containing vast stores of the Old World's merchandise. The forest and the scrub have disappeared, and their place is occupied by the finest city on the celebrated goldflelds of Victoria.—" CasseJl's Saturday Journal."

The "Grocers' Advocate" had the followJ ing account of an ingenious contrivance to take the place of matches, and which, i] says, is now used by all the watchmen oj Paris iv all the magazines where explosives or inflammable materials are kept. Take an oblong vial of the whitest and olearest glass and put into it a piece of phosphorus, about the size of a pea. Pour some olive oil heated to the boiling point upon the phosphorus, fill the vial about one-third full and then cork it tightly. To use the novel light remove the cork, allow the air to enter the vial and then recork it. The empty space ii the vial will become luminous, and thi light obtained is equal to that of a lamp When the light becomes dim its powe: can be increased by taking out the cor] and allowing .afresh supply of. ajr to entei the vi^l,