This reads funnily now when Mount Margaret is as civilised as Coolgardie was then, and is connected by telegraph, and possibly will be soon boasting of a railway.  The blacks had been very troublesome, “sticking up” swagmen, robbing camps, spearing horses, and the like.  It is popularly supposed that every case of violence on the part of the natives, may be traced to the brutal white man’s interference in their family arrangements.  No doubt it does happen that by coming between man and wife a white man stirs up the tribe, and violence results, but in the majority of cases that I know of, the poor black-fellow has recklessly speared, wounding and killing, prospectors’ horses, because he wanted food or amusement.  A man does not travel his packhorses into the bush for the philanthropic purpose of feeding the aboriginals, and naturally resents his losses and prevents their recurrence in a practical way.

As a matter of fact, the black population was so small, that even had every individual of it been shot, the total would not have reached by a long way the indiscriminate slaughter that was supposed to go on in the bush.  The people who used to hold their hands up in horror—­righteous horror had the tales been true—­at the awful cruelties perpetrated by the prospectors, based their opinions on the foolish “gassing” of a certain style of man who thinks to make himself a hero by recounting dark deeds of blood, wholly imaginary.  I remember reading a letter to a friend from his mother, in which she begged him to take no part in the “nigger hunting excursions” that she had heard went on in Western Australia.  Poor lady! she need not have disturbed herself, for such things never existed, nor had her boy ever seen a black-fellow, except round the slaughter-yards of Coolgardie!

No luck attended our search in the Mount Margaret district, and we shared the opinion of everybody there that it was a “duffer,” and after events had proved what that opinion was worth.  Travelling and prospecting as we went, we at last succeeded in finding a reef which we thought was worth having.

May 30th.  We made camp amongst some auriferous hills in what is now known as the Niagara District, and within a few miles of a spot where, subsequently, a rich find of gold was made.  Since the natives were known to be troublesome in this locality, we adopted the plan of one stopping in camp whilst the other prospected.  Formerly we had considered it safe for the one at home to be within reasonable distance of camp, but now, when semi-civilised natives were prowling about, it was unwise to leave the camp at all.  Luck found gold first, but in so small a vein of quartz that we did not consider it worth working.  The next day, however, we “got colours” in a fine big reef, and, moving our belongings to its vicinity, started prospecting the outcrop.  Everywhere we tried we found gold sprinkled through the stone like pepper, and by “dollying” obtained good results.  Satisfied with the prospect, the next thing to be done was to cross-cut the reef to ascertain its thickness and character below the surface.