7

Monday 17th [underlined] (Contd.)
Tin Mines @ 9a.m. & after a pleasant walk (except
for the foot) through a winding scrub & road, reached
Grant's after a 2 or 3 mile walk. There is a very
good show of tin & the proprietor reckons that the
tin on the surface is worth £2000. Went down the
mine (39ft. deep) which slopes at an angle of about 45°.
Windlass is made entirely of wood, handle & all. A
very good device for conveying water is a long strip
of duck, looped together by canvas loops at intervals
& suspended from sapling rails supported by cross
sticks - an original idea. Altogether the place seemed
to show signs that there was a "handy man" about.
He has 2 Chinamen working for him - both good boys.
After inspection, Mr. Grant got dinner for us, and
produced all sorts of luxuries from his store of the
inevitable tinned goods. A smoke, a rest & a yarn
& we started off for Hang Gong's Tin Mines, with the
exception of Mr. Basedow. Noticed many varieties
of small wild flowers & small birds. Some of them very pretty.
Crossed some flats, where the rich black soil was 18"
thick, & had a red clayey subsoil. Struck into the
track, & had not gone far before we met H.G's buggy
& horses, going to the Landing. Some black youths