East Mount Magnet is about 50 miles away, and the coach journey to it is tedious. There is a tidy little township, and some of the mines are very rich. Mr. Zeb. Lane, before going to London last year, paid a visit to this place, and took over the Windsor Castle Mine, a fine property, upon which Mr. Lane estimates that there are 25,000 tons of good ore at sight ready to pay handsome dividends. The Havelock Mine has given splendid results, and a wonderful collection of specimens was recently lodged in the Bank. Christmas Gift is another good mine, and not far off is another rich find called Payneville. Several rich patches have been found and hundreds of ounces of gold taken out of them. The district seems to have a bright future before it. I was glad to return to Magnet, and to have made my last coach journey for the present. One of the miners to whom I was speaking looked so fearfully cadaverous that I asked him what was the matter. He told me he had once been poisoned by lead in a mine, and had never got the poison out of his system. I told him about the new cure by electricity lately discovered. He seemed very thankful and said he would see the mine doctor about it at once. Over 30 experiments with this cure have lately been carried out successfully in England, and I hope it will soon be generally known, and many cures made in the colonies.
CHAPTER XXVI
Yalgoo—A Cold Welcome—Native Shepherds—Geraldton—Pearls—The Abrolhos—Dutch Navigators—Aborigines—Finis.
I reached the uninteresting township of Yalgoo at 2 o’clock, very cold, tired and hungry. I stepped from the train with my portmanteau and sallied out of the station to look for a vehicle to take me to the hotel to which I had been recommended; but, alas! there was no sign of a conveyance. A drearier-looking place I never saw. So disheartened did I feel that I returned and got back into the railway carriage again, intending to resume the journey and go on to Geraldton; but on looking out of the now open window I saw so many nice and jolly-faced people on the platform that I thought it might not be so bad a place after all, so I took a second thought and got out of the carriage once more. Approaching the gate I discovered a small boy in charge of a cart, on which I placed my belongings, and told him to take them to the Emerald Hotel, I walking behind. When we arrived there he put out my luggage and left me. Not a soul was about the hotel or the street. I felt like a sailor in a desert. I essayed to reconnoitre the place, and went in and out of several rooms, with no result. I then tried the kitchen, and found every one out there also, except the fire, which luckily was in, so I took possession and sat down on a box to warm myself. Looking out of the window, I saw two enormous emus stalking about and peering into everything. I was afterwards told that they are the most curious birds in existence, and their prying ways often cause them to be taken captive. Presently the cook turned up; strange to say, a woman cook, as most cooks in these parts are Japanese men. I asked her for some dinner; she said she had none in the hotel, it was all at the railway station. I may as well here explain that the proprietor of the hotel also caters for the railway station, and his staff goes down there to attend to the train passengers at the dinner-hour, everybody who requires dinner being supposed to get it there. The whole male population of Yalgoo goes to see the train come in; it is the event of the day. However, the cook made me a nice cup of tea and some hot toast, and boiled some fresh eggs, after partaking of which I felt myself again. Taking a look out of the front door I saw the street just as deserted as ever, so, going into a bedroom, I took a siesta until 4 o’clock, when sounds about the neighbourhood told me that the townsfolk had returned from the railway station. I accordingly went forth to make their acquaintance, and having done so I am able to speak of them in the warmest terms.
The township being such a barren-looking place I was surprised, on driving around, to find very beautiful environs. The rains had brought up millions of wild flowers of all colours, and the grass and trees were exceptionally green. There are a great many sheep stations in this district, and the mines are a considerable distance away, so I did not go to them. The exception was the Emerald Mine, which is almost in the township, and which has returned its owners a large fortune. Fifteen thousand pounds worth of gold was dollied out of it before it was sold to an English company, who then erected machinery and crushed large quantities of rich ore with big results. It was on this spot that Yalgoo’s first find was made by a native shepherd and his lubra, who told some prospectors that they knew of a quartz-heap with bright stuff on it. You may be sure the prospectors lost no time in finding the heap; other finds followed, and the Yalgoo rush commenced. Aboriginal shepherds are almost the only ones to be had in the West, and they are not very reliable; yet if any animal is lost they can always find it; they are wonderful trackers, and can follow up the track of anything alive; this power has been cultivated in them by hunting for food from infancy.
MARINE TERRACE, GERALDTON