Australia and Its Gold Fields: A Historical Sketch of the Progress of the Australian Colonies, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day; with a Particular Account of the Recent Gold Discoveries, and Observations on the Present Aspect of the Land Question

Front Cover
H. Ingram and Company, Milford House, Strand, 1855 - 240 pages
 

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 64 - Gold, in the figurative language of the people, was " the tears wept by the sun," 1T and every part of the interior of the temple glowed with burnished plates and studs of the precious metal. The cornices which surrounded the walls of the sanctuary were of the same costly material ; and a broad belt or frieze of gold, let into the...
Page 63 - But the most renowned of the Peruvian temples, the pride of the capital, and the wonder of the empire, was at Cuzco. where, under the munificence of successive sovereigns, it had become so enriched that it received the name of Coricancha, or
Page 187 - Admitting, as every reasonable person must, that a certain degree of concentration is necessary for the advancement of wealth and civilization, and that it enables Government to become at once efficient and economical, I cannot avoid perceiving the peculiarities which, in this Colony, render it impolitic and even impossible to restrain dispersion within limits that would be expedient elsewhere.
Page 116 - is a memorable day in the history of New South Wales. I shall be a baronet, you will be knighted, and my old horse will be stuffed, put into a glass case, and sent to the British Museum.
Page 64 - The gardens, like those described, belonging to the royal palaces, sparkled with flowers of gold and silver, and various imitations of the vegetable kingdom. Animals, also, were to be found there,— among which the llama, with its golden fleece, was most conspicuous,— executed in the same style, and with a degree of skill, which, in this instance, probably, did not surpass the excellence of the material.
Page 64 - All the plate, the ornaments, the utensils of every description, appropriated to the uses of religion, were of gold or silver. Twelve immense vases of the latter metal stood on the floor of the great saloon, filled with grain of the Indian corn...
Page 121 - In reply to your letter of the 3rd instant, I am directed by the Governor to inform you that his Excellency cannot say more at present than that the remuneration for the discovery of gold on...
Page 43 - When the sacrifice was ended, having melted down a vast quantity of gold, he cast half bricks from it, of which the longest were six palms in length, the shortest three, and in thickness one palm : their number was one hundred and seventeen ; four of these, of pure gold, weighed each two talents and a half ; the other half bricks of pale gold weighed two talents each.
Page 119 - If this is a gold country, Mr. Hargraves, it will stop the Home Government from sending any more convicts, and prevent emigration to California; but it comes on us like a clap of thunder and we are scarcely prepared to credit it".
Page 24 - Wales a gaol, and he left it a colony ; he found Sydney a village, and he left it a city ; he found a population of idle prisoners, paupers, and paid officials, and he left a large free community, thriving on the produce of flocks and the labour of convicts.

Bibliographic information