The quantity of gold obtained in Victoria, since its first discovery in 1851, is thus stated : The average earnings from 1851 to 1858 are, in the estimate, calculated for the entire population of the gold-fields. Since 1859 they are reckoned only for those actually engaged in gold-mining. This statement is very noteworthy, as showing that, though some fortunate persons are greatly enriched by the pursuit, ordinary adventurers cannot count upon obtaining as much remuneration as is procured by farm servants and town labourers, and this under conditions that add considerably to the cost of food and all the necessaries of life. 1868, however, the average yield per head (£104, 18s. 8d.) was higher than in previous years. In 2. New South Wales.-In this colony the annual charge for a gold-mining licence is 10s. Its principal gold-fields, nearly all alluvial, are (1) Ophir or Summerhill Creek, about forty miles long, with its tributaries Lewis Ponds Creek and Emu Swamp Creek, each about fifteen miles long, in the county of Roxburgh; (2) Turon River, fifty miles long, with several tributaries; (3) Meroo River, about forty miles long, with Louisa Creek for its chief tributary, connected with a wide extent of country, especially rich in auriferous deposits; (4) Tamboroura Creek, twenty miles long; (5) Lachlan gold OUR COLONIAL GOLD-FIELDS. 399 field, near the river of that name; (6) Abercrombie River, sixty miles long, emptying into the Lachlan; (7) Cudgegong River, also near the Lachlan; (8) Arauen River and its tributaries, stretching up to the Buffalo Range; (9) Murrumbidgee and Adelong; (10) Burrangong and other rich gold-fields in the south; (11) Liverpool Plains, Hanging Rock, and Peel River, in the north; (12) New England, also in the northern district. The following are the details of the New South Wales gold exports, the exact produce not having been recorded: : 3. Queensland. Several important gold-fields have been discovered, the first great impetus resulting from the finding of a nugget, which weighed nearly a hundredweight, at Gympie Creek, in September 1867. Other fields now being worked are at Cape River, Boulderscome, Morinish, Rosewood, Calliope, Ridgelands, Crocodile and Canal Creek. The total yield in 1868 was 166,000 ounces, worth £664,000. 4. New Zealand. This colony is second only to Victoria in wealth of gold. The Otago gold-fields of Tuapeka, Mount Benger, Dunstan, Wakatipu, Wokomai, and Mount Ida, supposed to cover in all an area of two and a half million acres, yielded, up to the end of September 1868, £9,036,750. Those in Westland are next in value, their yield to the same period being worth £4,293,832. The gold obtained from Nelson before the same date amounted to £2,674,202, that from Auckland to £180,209, that from Marlborough to £131,458, and that from Southland to £88,132. The recent discovery of the Thames gold-field in Auckland promises to vastly increase the importance of that province as an auriferous district. 5. British Columbia and Vancouver Island.-Gold was found in the former of these colonies in 1850, though with slight result till the opening of the Big Bend field in the summer of 1865. The auriferous value of Vancouver Island was proved by the opening of the Locke mines, eighteen miles from Victoria, in 1864. The British North American gold-fields, however, are by no means so extensive or useful as the Australasian. INDEX. ABERCROMBIE, Sir Ralph, Canada invaded by, 93. Acadie, or New France. See Canada and Nova Scotia. Adelaide, South Australia, 260, 261, 265, 267, 269, 272, 308. Albany, Western Australia, 302, 304. Alexander, Sir William, Nova Scotia granted to (1621), 85, 97. Arthur, Sir George, first governor of Tasmania, 235, 238. Auckland, New Zealand, 344, 347, 355, 357. Australia, 198-232, 243-322, 364-366. Australia Felix, 230, 245, 308. Australia, South. See South Australia. Australia, Western. See Western Australia. Australian Aborigines, 199, 203-205, 230-232, 304, 309-312, 314, Ayscue, Sir George, his invasion and capture of Barbados in 1651 BACON, Lord, on colonization, 368. Bahamas, the, first visited by Columbus, 15; their colonization by Baird, Sir David, in Cape Colony, 160. Ballarat Gold-Fields, Victoria, 279, 281, 284, 285-287, 290, 291. Bass, the Australian discoverer, 214, 215, 234, 243. Bathurst, Australia, 217, 278, 290, 291, 305. Batman, John, his early settlement in Victoria, 245, 246, 248 Bendigo Gold-Fields, Victoria, 279, 281, 291. Bermudas, the; their discovery and colonization, 53; their progress and present condition, 54. Blaxland, the Australian explorer, 305. Bligh, Captain, governor of New South Wales, 213. Borneo, Sir James Brooke's rule in, 194-197. Botany Bay, 203, 205, 206, 209, 211. Bourke, Sir Richard, governor of New South Wales, 227, 228, 249, 250, 332. Bowen, Sir George, governor of Queensland, 296. Boyd, massacre of the crew of the, in New Zealand, 324–326. Bradford, Canada West, 126. Brazil, the fabled Island of, 1-3. Brisbane, Sir Thomas, governor of New South Wales, 219, 226. Bristol, early voyages of exploration from, 1, 3-7. British Columbia, its early history, 136; its establishment as a colony British Guiana, its history and present condition, 57, 58. Brooke, Rajah, in Borneo, 194-197. Bruce, George, the first English resident in New Zealand, 324. Buckley, his adventures among the natives of Victoria, 246, 249. CABOT's discovery of America, 4-6, 68. Calvert, Sir George, his colonization of Newfoundland, 70. Canada, discovered by Jacques Cartier (1534), 82; colonized by the |