_SLY GROG SHANTIES._
"The diggings hoh! the diggings hah!
Shout for the diggings, shout hurrah!"
--_Diggers' Chorus._
During the hours of relaxation the proceedings on the diggings
contrasted vividly with the day's employment. The end of the day's
labours was in the early days announced by the firing of a gun from the
tent of the Commissioner. Then followed a general abandonment of the
chip, chip of the pick against the rock, the delving in the mud, the
barrow-wheeling, the cradle-rocking, and the puddling in clayey
water-holes. With mud-bespattered shirt, clay-soiled pants, and heavy
yellow-stained boots, each digging-party sought its tent. Then the
ringing sound of axes wielded by brawny arms told of preparations for
the evening meal. Hundreds of thin lines of blue smoke ascending from as
many fires joined to make the large volume that wafted overhead. Soon
the singing of the kettles on the blazing logs cheered the weary
digger with the prospect of a fragrant pannikin of tea to moisten his
damper--a somewhat heavy staff of life, but one admirably adapted to
support the toiling gold-seeker.
[Illustration: ON THE GOLD FIELDS.]
Refreshed and stimulated by the evening meal, the diggers would then
light their pipes, and soon the curling wreaths of smoke circling round
betokened the complacency of the different companies. Then yarns were
spun, arguments held, and songs sung, until the loquacious and musical
ones became exhausted or the listeners had fallen asleep.
SLY GROG SHANTIES.
But the harmony of such scenes was but too often disturbed by the noise
of drunken revelry--
"Sottish sets more opulent than wise,
The sly grog shanties and hotel comprise;
Wasting the profits of their jewell'd claims,
In hurtful stimulants and risky games."
Although selling intoxicating liquors was an illegal offence on the
first gold-fields, yet, despite the vigilance of the Commissioners, the
votaries of Bacchus were supplied with their spirituous comforts by
certain storekeepers, who cunningly contrived to conceal the illicit
decoctions and carry on a brisk trade on the sly.
The ingenuity of these sly grog-sellers in baffling the police evoked a
corresponding sharpness on the part of the Commissioners in detecting
illegal practices. When a plant was discovered its contents were either
confiscated or wasted, and its owner, if found, was visited with the
full wrath of the authorities, and afterwards punished according to the
law.
An instance of the summary manner in which some cases were dealt with is
here inserted from _Glimpses of Life in Victoria_:--
"We stopped next before an empty tent of ample dimensions, which
appeared to court the light of day, for it was half-open, and its
interior was unusually neat and clean. A heap of digging implements lay
in front, and a pair of moleskin trousers were hung artlessly over the
top of the tent (Mr. ----'s informant had bidden him to take notice of a
tent so decorated). Inside, at the furthest end, stood a large-sized
bedstead, white and clean to outward appearance, with a deep valance
running round the foot. Nothing in the least suspicious was visible in
this neat open dwelling; nevertheless, it was to the pure white couch
that Mr. -----, having dismounted, marched straight up through the
opening of the tent, with the order that it should be searched
forthwith. The valance was lifted and disclosed a large quarter cask and
several kegs full of rum, which were taken up and deposited outside.
'Who is the owner of this tent?' demanded Mr. ---- again of the crowd
which had gathered around him. The question was repeated, but it fell,
as before, on a silent assembly.
"'Since this property has no owner,' said he, 'I will quickly show you
what I will do with it.'
"Catching hold of a pick that was lying at hand, he set to work himself
to remove the top of the cask, then dipping a bucket into the liquor, he
soused the tent inside and out; the kegs were emptied out in like
manner, till the whole of the hoarded store was spilt, and the air was
reeking with the smell of rum. Then striking a match, he applied it to
the ground, and the spirit igniting set fire to the tent, which flared
and blazed up in a moment, throwing a ruddy glow over the throng of
angry faces that looked on in gloomy silence, broken only by a
half-smothered imprecation from some of the most daring of the crowd.
The flames arose higher and higher, when suddenly a gun went off,
producing for the moment an effect which might truly be called
sensational. No one knew whence the discharge had come, whether some
hand in the angry crowd had fired it, and whether others might follow;
presently, however, it was ascertained that the gun had been in the
tent, and that the fire had caused it to explode. 'We had better move
off,' said a voice; 'there might be more guns yet in that tent.'
"As might be expected, such proceedings were viewed by a certain class
of diggers with anything but satisfaction. Cries of 'It's a ----
shame,' and 'Don't waste the ---- grog,' evinced the boiling feelings of
the rougher element. Even the lovers of order were generally mortified
by the restrictions of the liquor laws."
[Illustration]