Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/440

416 Nash, the discoverer of the gold-diggings here. He had been an unsuccessful prospector for twenty years, had gone through all kinds of privations, narrowly escaped death at the hands of the blacks on many occasions, and was almost killed by the earth caving in on him while working a prospect hole. He always went by himself, and worked alone. When he found gold here he managed to work away for three months without interruption; then he was discovered by a stockman, who took a claim next to his and spread the news abroad. Nash became a rich man at last, but his health was ruined, and he had little real enjoyment of his wealth.

"The alluvial diggings at Gympie were soon worked out, and reef, or quartz, mining followed. In fact, the reef mining began while placer mining was at its height and the alluvial diggers were in the full tide of success. The placers were, and the reefs are, very rich, and many of the workings have paid enormously to their owners. Of course where there have been so many prizes there has been a proportionate number of blanks, and there is no telling how many thousands of men have left Gympie poorer than when they came here.

"The town consists practically of a single street which straggles up and down for more than a mile, with here and there an attempt to run