Page:Notes on New Zealand (1892).pdf/154

144 or fields are, of necessity, very similar. A few adventurous emigrants, or perhaps one by himself, would stumble across a pocket or a reef of gold. Considerable wealth became theirs almost in a moment, and they seldom concealed it for long. But this success, too easily earned, raised the wildest expectations in the minds of all who heard of it, fatal to a reasonable appreciation of the most apparent obstacles. The man who became infected with the gold fever allowed no considerations of prudence or fitness to stand in his way. Such men came from all quarters of the globe and joined in the mad rush for