REPORT UBRARY 
 
 *- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORf 
 
 . RIVERSIDE 
 CHARLES L WEAVER COLLEC1 
 
 E O I, O & Y 
 
 SOUTH-WEST PAUT OF NELSON AND THE 
 NORTHERN PART OF AVESTLAND. 
 
 AI.EXA.NDEB McKAY. F.O.S. 
 
 GOVERNMENT GEOLOGIST. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 MY AUTHORITY : JOHN MACKAY, GOVEKNMENT PKINTEK. 
 1897.
 
 11 E P O E T 
 
 GEOLOGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOUTH-WEST PART OF NELSON AND THE 
 NORTHERN FART OF WESTLAND. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXANDER MoKAY. F.G.S. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 )<Y AUTHOKITY : JOHN MACKAY, GOVERNMENT PRINTEK, 
 
 J897.
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THIS Report is reprinted from the Mines Reports for 1895 
 and 1896, the descriptions of the blocks reserved for min- 
 ing purposes being taken from the Mines Reports for the 
 latter year. 
 
 The matter of the Report has been but little altered, 
 the principal object being to meet the demand for copies of 
 the Report and to provide it in a handier page than that on 
 which it was originally produced. 
 
 A. McKAY, 
 
 7th December, 1897.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 A. McKay to Under -Secretary for \ 
 
 Mines, forwarding Report . . 1 j 
 
 Chief Areas over which Auriferous 
 
 Quartz Lodes occur . . . . 2 
 
 East side of Inangahua Valley . . 2 
 
 Mount Davy Range . . . . 2 
 
 Paparoa Range . . 
 
 Waiinangaroa and Mount William 2 
 Their limited extent in Total of 
 
 Area examined . . . . 2 
 
 Gneissic Schist and Granites of higher 
 
 part of Paparoa Range . . . . 3 
 
 The Maitai Rocks the Principal Source 
 of Gold in Recent Creek and River 
 
 Alluviums . . . . 3 
 
 And Probably to the Tertiary Gravels 
 
 of Pleiocene date . . . . 3 
 
 The " Old-man Bottom " as a Source 
 
 of Gold to Younger Alluvial Deposits 4 
 
 Beach Workings . . . . . . 4 j 
 
 Gold in Cements of Cretaceous date 5 , 
 
 In the Grey Valley . . . . 5 | 
 
 In the Inangahua Valley . . 5 
 
 In the Buller Lower Gorge . . 5 
 
 In the Upper Buller Valley . . 6 
 
 GEOLOGY OF GKEY AND BULLER VALLEYS, 
 
 General Sketch . . . . . . 6 
 
 Grey Valley . . : . . . . 6 
 
 Buller Valley .. ... .. 9 
 
 The Warbeck River ... ..10 
 
 The Matakitaki River .. .. 10 
 
 Glenroy River . . . . . . 10 
 
 Upper Buller to Inangahua Junction 11 
 
 Inangahua Valley ... .. 11 
 
 Lower Bullet Gorge . . . . 14 
 
 Blackwater to Hawk's Crag . . 15 
 
 Lower Buller and Coast-line North 
 
 to Waimangaroa . . . . 16 
 
 Coastal Track, Lower Buller to the 
 
 Fox River . . . . . . 16 
 
 Coast-line, Fox River to Barrytown 18 
 
 Barrytown to Grey Valley . . 18 
 
 WESTLAND DISTRICT, 
 
 Grey River to Marsden and Valley 
 
 of New River . . . . . . 18 
 
 Teremakau Valley . . . . 19 
 
 Arahura Valley and District . . 20 
 
 Hokitika Valley and Valley of the 
 
 Three-mile Creek . . . . 21 
 
 Totara watershed, Ross, and Mt. 
 
 Greenland .. .. ..22 
 
 TABLE OF FORMATIONS. Page 
 Recent, 
 (a.) Glacier Deposits . . . . 23 
 
 (6.) River Alluvia . . . . 24 
 
 In the Hokitika Valley . . 24 
 
 On Kanieri River . . . . 24 
 
 In the Three-mile Creek . . 25 
 
 In the Arahura Valley . . 25 
 
 On the Kawhaka River . . 25 
 
 In the Waimea Valley . . 25 
 
 In Greek's and Duffer's Creeks 26 
 In the Kapitea Watershed . . 26 
 On the south side of Teremakau 
 Valley .. .. ..26 
 
 In Donegal Creek . . . . 26 
 
 In the New River watershed . . 27 
 In the Grey Valley . . . . 27 
 
 In Ford's Creek . . . . 27 
 
 In Blackball Creek . . . . 28 
 
 In Valley of the Roaring Meg . . 28 
 In Moonlight Valley . . . . 28 
 
 In Garden Gully . . . . 28 
 
 In Slaty Creek . . . . 29 
 
 In Blacksand Creek . . . . 29 
 
 On the Arnold Flat . . . . 30 
 
 In the Valley of the Big Grey . . 30 
 
 In the Little Grey Valley . . 31 
 
 In Snowy Creek . . . . 31 
 
 In the Blackwater . . . . 31 
 
 In the Big River . . . . 31 
 
 In Adamstown Creek . . 31 
 
 In the Valley of Antonio's Creek 31 
 In Slab Hut Creek . . . . 32 
 
 On the East side of Inangahua 
 Valley .. .. ..32 
 
 In Devil's Creek and Maori Gully 32 
 In Soldier's Gully . . . . 32 
 
 In Rainy Creek, in Lankey's 
 Gully, and along Murray 
 Creek .. .. ..32 
 
 In Painkiller Creek and Burke's 
 Creek .. .. ..32 
 
 In the Inangahua Valley . . 32 
 North Branch of the Inangahua 32 
 In Boatman's Creek . . . . 33 
 
 In Little Boatman's Creek . . 33 
 In Italian Gully . . . . 33 
 
 In Larry's Creek .. ..33 
 
 In Landing Creek . . . . 33 
 
 Between Landing Creek and 
 Coal Creek . . . . 34 
 
 West side of Inangahua Valley . . 34 
 At Stony Creek . . . . 34 
 
 In Fletcher's Creek . . . . 34
 
 VI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 FORMATIONS continued. Page 
 I. Recent continued. 
 
 (b.) River Alluvia continued. 
 Coast -line between Greymouth 
 
 and Westport . . . . 34 
 
 In the Ten-mile Creek Valley . . 34 
 
 In Baker's Creek . . . . 34 
 
 In Fagin's Creek . . . . 35 
 
 In Granity Creek . . . . 35 
 
 In Canoe Creek . . . . 35 
 
 In Lawson's and Scott's Creeks 35 
 Talus formed by the partial de- 
 struction of Barrytown Lead 35 
 Canoe Creek to Buller River . . 35 
 Lower Buller Valley . . . . 35 
 
 In the Waimangaroa Valley . . 35 
 In the Buller Valley, from foot 
 of the Gorge to the Inangahua 
 
 Junction . . . . . . 36 
 
 In the Buller Valley, from 
 
 Inangahua Junction to Lyell 36 
 
 In New Creek . . . . 36 
 
 Upper Buller Valley .. ..36 
 
 In the Buller Gorge, Lyell 
 
 Creek to Fern Flat .. 36 
 
 In Lyell Creek . . . . 37 
 
 In the Maruia Valley . . 37 
 
 In the Warbeck . . . . 37 
 
 In Station Creek . . . . 38 
 
 In the Alfred River Valley . . 38 
 Buller Valley from Fern Flat to 
 
 Junction of Mataira . . 38 
 
 In Doughboy Creek . . . . 38 
 
 In the Matakitaki Valley . . 38 
 
 In the Upper Matakitaki . . 38 
 
 In the Glenroy Valley . . 39 
 
 (c.) Littoral . . . . . . 39 
 
 Mikonui to Teremakau Rivers . . 39 
 North of Teremakau to Grey 
 
 River . . . . . . 39 
 
 Grey River to Seven- and Nine- 
 mile Beaches . . . . 40 
 
 Barrytown to Mouth of the 
 
 Buller River . . . . 40 
 
 North of the Buller River . . 40 ; 
 IA. Pleistocene, 
 
 High-level Old River -channels 
 
 and Terraces . . . . 40 I 
 
 In the Greenstone Valley . . 41 ! 
 
 In the Grey Valley . . ' . . 41 ! 
 In the Valley of Moonlight 
 
 Creek . . . . . . 41 
 
 On south east side of Little 
 
 Grey Valley . . . . 42 
 
 On the Big Grey, Mackley's to 
 
 Clark River . . . . 42 
 
 Lake Hochstetter to Bell Hill . . 42 
 Coast, Grey River to Cape 
 
 Foulwind . . . . . . 43 
 
 In the Inangahua Valley . . 43 
 
 In the Upper Buller . . . . 43 
 
 In the Upper Maruia Valley . . 43 
 II. Pleistocene and Younger Pliocene, 
 Extended Glacier Deposits out- 
 side the Limits of the Moun- 
 tains . . . . . . 44 
 
 South of the Hokitika River . . 44 
 
 FOBMATIONS continued. Page 
 I II. Pleistocene, &c. continued. 
 
 Extended Glacier Deposits contd. 
 Below Kanieri Forks.. .. 44 
 
 In the Arahura Valley . . 45 
 
 Basin of the Kapitea Creeks . . 45 
 On the north side of the Tere- 
 makau Valley . . . . 46 
 
 Absence of, in Paparoa Range 46 
 River Deposits formed prior to the 
 
 advance of the Glaciers . . 47 
 At Ross . . . . . . 47 
 
 Between Ross and Rimu . . 47 
 In the Kanieri Valley . . 47 
 
 At Kumara. . . . . . 47 
 
 Marine Gravels containing Black- 
 sand Leads . . 47 
 The Houhou Lead . . . . 48 
 
 Humphrey's Gully Range . . 48 
 Dwyer's Freehold . . . . 48 
 
 On Ballarat Hill . . . . 50 
 
 North side of Waimea Valley . . 50 
 The Lamplough Lead . . 50 
 
 Teremakau to Rutherglen . . 51 
 Greymouth to Point Elizabeth 
 and Barrytown . . . . 51 
 
 Brighton, St. Kilda, and 
 Charleston . . . . 52 
 
 III. Lower Pliocene and Upper Mio- 
 
 cene, 
 
 (a.) Humphrey's Gully Beds . . 53 
 
 In Humphrey's Gully Range . . 53 
 At Ross . . . . . . 54 
 
 In the Grey Valley . . . . 54 
 
 In the Little Grey and Inanga- 
 hua Valleys . . . . 55 
 
 (b.) " Old-man Bottom " . . . . 55 
 
 In Northern Westland . . 55 
 
 In the No Town Hills to Big 
 Grey . . . . . . 55 
 
 In the Little Grey Valley . . 55 
 
 In the Inangahua Valley . . 55 
 
 (c.) Brown Sands . . . . 56 
 
 In the Greenstone Valley and 
 No Town Hills . . . . 56 
 
 IV. Lower Miocene, 
 
 Blue Fossiliferous Sands and 
 
 Marly Clays .. ..56 
 
 In the Northern District of 
 Westland . . . . . . 56 
 
 In the Grey Valley . . . . 56 
 
 Between Cape Foulwind and 
 Westport . . . . . . 57 
 
 VI. Cretaceo-tertiary and Cretaceous, 
 Upper Beds . . . . . . 57 
 
 Middle Beds .. .. ..58 
 
 Lower Beds . . . . . . 59 
 
 Stanniferous and Auriferous . . 59 
 In Murray Creek and Lankey's 
 Gully .. .. ..61 
 
 In the Upper Buller Valley . . 61 
 X. Triassic, 
 
 Beds in Upper Teremakau Valley 61 
 XII. Carboniferous, 
 
 Maitai Series . . . . . . 61 
 
 In Mount Greenland.. .. 61 
 
 At the Kanieri . . . . 61
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 VII 
 
 FORMATIONS continued. Page 
 
 Page 
 
 XII. Carboniferous continued. 
 
 
 DIFFERENT BLOCKS 
 
 OF LAND RESERVED 
 
 Mailai Series continued. 
 
 FOR MINING PURPOSES continued. 
 
 In Mount Buckley Range 
 
 62 
 
 Block IX. 
 
 . . SO 
 
 In the Paparoa Range 
 
 62 
 
 XXV. 
 
 .. 80 
 
 On the Snow River, thence 
 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 . . 81 
 
 along the east side of the 
 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 . . 81 
 
 Little Grey Valley.. 
 
 63 
 
 XXVIII. . . 
 
 . . 82 
 
 Within the Inangahua Valley 
 
 63 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 . . 82 
 
 In the Buller Lower Valley . . 
 
 63 
 
 XXX. 
 
 . . 83 
 
 XII. Devonian 
 
 64 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 . . 83 
 
 Reef ton Series 
 
 64 
 
 LI. 
 
 . . 84 
 
 Te Anu Series 
 
 64 
 
 . LIII. 
 
 . . 85 
 
 Metamorphic 
 
 64 
 
 LIV. 
 
 . . 88 
 
 Mica Schists 
 
 64 
 
 LIX. 
 
 . . 89 
 
 Upper, Middle, and Lower Schists 
 
 64 
 
 LXI. 
 
 . . 89 
 
 Gneissic Schists 
 
 65 
 
 LXIL 
 
 .. 90 
 
 Crystalline and Metamorphic 
 
 
 LXI1I. 
 
 . . 91 
 
 Granite 
 
 65 
 
 LXV. 
 
 . . 92 
 
 In the Paparoa Mountains 
 
 65 
 
 . LXVI. 
 
 . . 93 
 
 In the Brunner and Victoria 
 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 . . 93 
 
 Mountains 
 
 66 
 
 LXX. 
 
 . . 95 
 
 Plutonic 
 
 66 
 
 . LXXI. 
 
 . . 96 
 
 Massive and Intrusive Granites . . 
 
 66 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 . . 97 
 
 In Northern Westland 
 
 66 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 . . 98 
 
 In the Paparoa Mountains 
 
 66 
 
 LXXVII. . . 
 
 . . 99 
 
 In the Buller Valley 
 
 66 
 
 LXX1X. 
 
 . . 99 
 
 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 . . 99 
 
 DIFFERENT BLOCKS OF LAND RESEB 
 
 ,VED 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 .. 100 
 
 FOR MINING PURPOSES. 
 
 
 LXXXV. . 
 
 ..101 
 
 Block I. 
 
 67 
 
 LXXXVI. . . 
 
 ..102 
 
 II. 
 
 68 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 ..103 
 
 III. 
 
 70 i 
 
 , Lxxxvnr 
 
 ..105 
 
 IV. 
 
 78i 
 
 LXXXIX. . . 
 
 ..105 
 
 V. 
 
 74 
 
 XC11I. 
 
 ..106 
 
 VI. 
 
 76 
 
 XCIV. 
 
 ..106 
 
 VII. 
 
 76 
 
 xcv. 
 
 ..107 
 
 VIII. 
 
 79 
 
 XCVi. 
 
 ..108
 
 B, E P O H T 
 
 ON THE 
 
 GEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH-WEST TART OF NELSON 
 
 AND THE 
 
 NORTHERN PART OF THE WESTLAND DISTRICT. 
 
 Mr. A. McKAY to the UNDER-SECRETARY of MINES. 
 
 Mines Department, Wellington, 
 SIR, 18th August, 1895. 
 
 I have the honour to forward my report on parts of the Grey 
 and Buller Valleys and the Paparoa Mountains, in the district of the 
 west coast of the Middle Island, in which I was engaged during Sep- 
 tember, October, parts of November and December, 1894, and parts 
 of February and March, 1895. 
 
 During the latter part of November and the first half of^December, 
 1894, I was engaged with Mr. N. D. Cochrane, Inspector of Mines, 
 in making an examination of a portion of the Mokihinui Coalfield, a 
 joiut report on which has already been presented ; and during the 
 latter part of January and till the middle of February, 1895, [ accom- 
 panied Mr. Gordon, Inspecting Engineer, on a trip to the east district 
 of Auckland (the Urewera country), the report on which is also a 
 joint one; and, again, I accompanied -Mr. Gordon to the west coast 
 of the Middle Island, and with him made an examination of the 
 different blocks of land reserved for mining purposes in the Westland 
 District, north of the Mikonui River, and in the south-west part of. 
 the Provincial District of Nelson. The report on this work is also a 
 joint one. 
 
 In compliance with your directions, the examination of the region 
 of the Paparoa Mountains, and parts of the Grey and Buller Valleys, 
 was made principally with the object of studying the nature and 
 source of the gold deposits of that district. To do this involved the 
 necessity of paying some attention to the general geology of the dis- 
 trict, and a study of the lithological and petrological characters of 
 the rocks, their mineralogical composition and contents. 
 1
 
 2 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 In exploring for mineral veins likely to contain metalliferous ores 
 or gold, more especially the latter, I have shown that the chief areas 
 over which auriferous quartz lodes occur, or may be expected to 
 occur, extend, 
 
 1. As a narrow belt along the east side of the Inangahua Valley, 
 from near the Buller River to Reefton. This work *as first under- 
 taken during January, 1874, when I examined the gold-bearing rocks 
 of the district, distinguishing them from the associated Devonian 
 series,, and traced them from Rainy Creek and Merrijigs north 
 to Larry's Creek; and, during the latter part of December, 1875, 
 from Rainy Creek, through Merrijigs, in the direction of Big River 
 to Antonio's Flat; and in 1882 I again examined the same district 
 for the purpose of clearly discriminating between the Carboniferous 
 (auriferous) and the Devonian (non-auriferous) strata of the district, 
 and determining the limits of each. Also at this time I examined 
 and determined the limits of the Lankey's Gully cements, lying 
 between the two branches of the Inangahua River, and the same 
 rocka lying farther to the northward. 
 
 2. The auriferous rocks occurring as a wedge-shaped area of 
 limited extent, stretching along the middle or lower slope of the 
 Mount Davy Range, from the Grey River at the upper end of the 
 Brunner Gorge to within the watershed of Ford's Creek. The reefs 
 of Langdon's Creek occur within this area. 
 
 3. The rocks of the Paparoa Range, from the northern end of 
 Mount Davy and the source of Ford's Creek to the northern source 
 of Moonlight Creek. This area is of considerable extent, and con- 
 tains numerous lines of reefs, some of which are of gigantic dimen- 
 sions, and probably auriferous to a degree that will enable them to 
 be worked for gold. All the creeks draining from this range, with 
 one exception, are gold-bearing, and thus give evidence of the 
 auriferous character of the rocks into which their channels have 
 been cut. 
 
 4. An area of semi-metamorphic and unaltered slates and sand- 
 stones that occupies part of the Waimangaroa watershed, and thence 
 extends through Mount William south across the Buller Valley as a 
 narrow belt, the rocks of which are well displayed in these localities, 
 and in the road-cuttings from the east bank of the Little Ohika for a 
 quarter of a mile along the road through the Buller Gorge. A small 
 area of slates invaded by granites, and also containing quartz reefs, 
 appears on the banks of the Buller River between the Inangahua 
 Junction and a mile and a half further down the river. 
 
 These rocks occupy but a very limited extent of the total area 
 recently examined within the Grey and Buller watersheds from the 
 coast as far inland as the east slopes of the Bruuner and Victoria
 
 McKAY. South-We&t Nelson awi Northern Westland. 3 
 
 Mountains, from the Buller to the Brown Grey, and west of a line 
 from the Bog Saddle (leading from the Upper Grey into the Buller 
 watershed) to Lake Brunner. Within these limits, excluding the 
 Matakitaki and Mangles watersheds, all the important gold-workings 
 of the Grey and Lower Buller Valleys are to be found, and no effort 
 has yet proved successful to trace the gold to the schists and un- 
 altered rocks of the Spencer Mountains and the main range to the 
 south-west; and it does appear almost a necessity that the gold found 
 in the low grounds o.f the westward region has been liberated from 
 rocks confined to the western area. 
 
 The rocks of the higher part of the Paparoa Range, from the 
 sources of Slaty River and Bullock Creek to the Buller Gorge, are 
 gneissic schists, passing sometimes into granites and at other times 
 into mica schist. Throughout, the whole of this series of rocks are 
 remarkably barren in metalliferous ores, and it was in vain that they 
 were searched for auriferous quartz reefs or other indications of the 
 presence of gold. As the rocks on examination are unpromising in 
 appearance, this unfavourable view is confirmed by what has been the 
 experience of the alluvial miner, whose trips into the so-called granite 
 region, as regards gold-getting, have always been without success; and 
 systematic and successful workings have never been carried on within 
 the area covered by these rocks except in localities where it may be 
 clearly shown that the gold has been derived from a distant and 
 different source. 
 
 The auriferous Maitai series of rocks, which are of Carboniferous 
 age, must therefore not only be regarded as supplying gold to the 
 creeks and mountain-streams, of which they form the bed and bound- 
 ing valley-slopes, but they must have largely contributed gold to those 
 alluvial formations that are at some distance from the slate areas, and 
 that usually rest on Tertiary clays or soft sandstone. Thus the 
 presence of alluvial gold in the gravel deposits of the low grounds may 
 indicate the source of the gold in one case as being in the neighbour- 
 ing range, and in other cases as being at a considerable distance. For 
 example, at Langdon's, Blackball, and Moonlight, on the north-west 
 side of the Grey Valley, the gold is mostly derived from the slates of 
 the adjoining range, while on the south-east side of the Grey Valley, 
 from the Arnold to tlfe Big Grey, it would be hard to say from what 
 particular area of slate the gold of Nelson Creek, Orwell Creek, or 
 Napoleon Hill has been dei'ived. 
 
 These gravels on the south-east side of the Grey Valley extend 
 into and along the same side of the Little Grey Watershed, and thence 
 into the Inangahua Valley, along the east side of which they are 
 found as far as Coal Creek. They form a belt of country varying 
 from two to five miles wide, and the gravel formation is of great
 
 4 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 thickness 300 ft. to 600 ft. On these gravels, as a false bottom, rest 
 the alluvial deposits of modern date, which constitute the wash of 
 the many gold-mining localities that lie along this belt of older gravel 
 formation. As to the south-east of the boundary-line of the gravel 
 formation very little gold-mining has, and scarcely any is at the 
 present time, carried on, it is a fair, nay, the only, inference that 
 may be drawn that the gold in the superficial modern deposits of the 
 creek-valleys has been derived from the older gravels that underlie and 
 form the surrounding hills. This, by those having any knowledge of 
 the facts, will scarcely be denied ; and naturally from this follows the 
 inquiry : Are these older gravels likely to afford gold-bearing strata 
 rich enough to pay for working (in situ], without the interposition 
 of the natural processes of sluicing and concentration along the water- 
 channels of the district, as has been in the case of the creek-gravels 
 already worked ? Many miners believe they are auriferous, and would 
 pay to work, but perhaps the greater number contend that no gold is 
 to be got from the " Old-man bottom," the term by which the alluvial 
 gold-miner designates these gravels. 
 
 I agree with the minority in this case, and am of the opinion that 
 in many instances the " Old-man bottom " is worked under the belief 
 that, in the particular instance, the gravels do not belong to the same 
 series, but to a younger formation. Such differences of opinion might 
 be maintained with a show of reasoning when the higher beds, or beds 
 that outcrop at a low angle, are concerned; but when it can be shown 
 that the auriferous stratum occupies the middle of the gravel series 
 as developed in a particular locality, or it may be the lowest stratum, 
 then it is hard to see how it could reasonably be contended that these 
 gravels are non-auriferous. But, while it may be admitted that the 
 " Old-man bottom " is thus a source of gold to the younger drifts 
 within the area over which it extends, the origin of the " Old-man 
 bottom " itself, and the original source of the gold it contains, is a 
 much more debatable question. This has at some length been dis- 
 cussed in a former report dealing with the northern part of the West- 
 land District,* and need not be more then adverted to in this place. 
 
 Another condition of the occurrence of gold, and another form of 
 mining, is the beach-workings, and the mining of auriferous black- 
 sand deposits at higher levels, and often at a considerable distance 
 inland from the coast-line. Such deposits within the district ex- 
 amined are found over the greater part of the coast-line and immedi- 
 ately inland, but are more noteworthy in the northern and southern 
 parts. The northern part, extending from the Buller River to 
 Charleston, has yielded very large quantities of gold and supported a 
 
 * " Geological Explorations of the Northern Part of Westland," Goldfields and 
 Mining Reports, 1893, p. 132.
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westiand. 5 
 
 large mining population for a long series of years, and is still very far 
 from being exhausted. In the southern part of the district, from 
 Greymouth to Canoe Creek, the recent black-sand deposits on the sea- 
 shore and the raised beaches further inland have also been very pro- 
 ductive, and are still yielding a large return of gold. 
 
 Gold-workings in cements of Cretaceous date are also likely to 
 develop into considerable importance, and prove a comparatively per- 
 manent form of mining in both the Grey and Buller Valleys. In 
 the Grey Valley, and on the south-west part of the Paparoa Range, 
 the beds in question have been but little prospected with 1he direct 
 purpose of proving them gold- bearing, but there lacks not indications 
 of their auriferous character, both in the Mount Davy Range and in 
 the valley of Slaty Creek and Big River. In the first-mentioned 
 part of the district a great development of coarse breccia-conglome- 
 rates and pebbly quartz drifts extends through the range, from the 
 slopes of the Grey Valley to the coast-line between the Nine-mile 
 and the Twelve-mile Creeks, north of Greymouth. The coarser 
 material of this division of the cements resembles the breccia-con- 
 glomerates of the Horse Range and Trotter's Creek that form the 
 lower strata of the Shag Point Coalfield, in the Otago Provincial 
 District, where, of somewhat finer grain and not quite so angular in 
 character, it resembles the deposit of the Blue Spur, air Tuapeka. 
 The finer and more quartzy material, which is the higher in the 
 series, resembles closely the quartz drifts of Central Otago, where, 
 over a widely-extended area, they are often very rich in gold. 
 
 In the Buller Watershed, along the east side of the Inangahua 
 Valley, both kinds of deposit are developed ; the coarser brecciated 
 material within the valley of Boatman's Creek, and the quartz drifts 
 from Rainy Creek to the gorge of the Buller River, on the west slope 
 of the Brunner Mountains. 
 
 The vast formation of angular brecciated material represented in 
 Hawk's Crag, in the middle part of the Lower Buller Gorge, has not 
 been proved to contain gold, but, so far as has been ascertained, no 
 one has thought of testing any part of this formation with the object 
 of proving it auriferous ; nor may it be said does it hold out any 
 great prospects of rewarding efforts to show that it is payably 
 auriferous, but there is quite a possibility of its being so. The 
 arguments in favour of Hawk's Crag breccias being gold-bearing are, 
 that the material, though angular, has been transported from a dis- 
 tance, and therefore some sort of arrangement favourable to the 
 aggregation in particular horizons of the gold it contains must have 
 taken place. The component rocks of the breccia material, though 
 various, is mainly a subschistose rock, which, when in situ, was 
 likely enough to contain gold-bearing reefs. Unfortunately, so far
 
 6 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 as proved, the gneissic schists of the Paparoa Range do not contain 
 gold. 
 
 While dealing with the probability of gold occurring in cements 
 of Cretaceous date, I may close this by remarking that, during a 
 recent visit to the Upper Buller Valley, in which I accompanied Mr. 
 Gordon, Inspecting Engineer, we were both strongly impressed with 
 the evidences that a very large part of the gold found in the valleys 
 of the Maruia, Matakitaki, Mangles, &c., have been directly derived 
 or liberated from conglomerates and pebble-beds under- and over- 
 lying the principal or lower coal seams. The facts constituting the 
 evidence on which our opinion as to the auriferous character of the 
 conglomerates referred to is based, have been known to all during the 
 last twenty years or more, and in a vague way have been speculated 
 upon by Mr. Cox when reporting on the geology of the district.* 
 
 The facts are not more clear now than they have been at any time 
 during the past twenty years; but they are such as lead to the very 
 definite conclusion that the conglomerates referred to are a great 
 storehouse of gold, and are likely to prove of the utmost importance 
 in the near future, now that attention has been pointedly drawn to 
 them. 
 
 Of course it remains to be proved whether the gold is widely dis- 
 persed throughout a great thickness of gravel or conglomerate cement, 
 or whether it is concentrated so as to occur as rich deposits, allowing 
 of its being mined from particular bands of conglomerate. From the 
 well-rounded character of the bulk of the conglomerates the inference 
 is that the gold will be found as rich deposits in particular horizons, 
 although, at the same time, the cements may be generally gold- 
 bearing to a less degree. I have, &c., 
 
 ALEX. McKAY. 
 
 The Under-Secretary of Mines, Wellington. 
 
 GEOLOGY OF THE GEEY AND BULLEE VALLEYS AND PART 
 OF WESTLAND. 
 
 GENEBAL SKETCH. 
 
 NELSON DISTRICT. 
 
 Grey Valley. The principal source of the Grey River is Lake 
 Christabel, which lies towards the south-western end of the Spencer 
 Mountains. Towards the east, these mountains are formed of sand- 
 stone and indurated shales of probable Carboniferous age, followed at 
 places by calcareous breccias, and diabasic ash-beds, red or green, 
 
 * Geological Reports, 1883-84, p. 9,
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson titid Northern Westland. 1 
 
 that are probably of Triassic age. From beneath these, to the west- 
 ward, appear mica-schists. 
 
 From Lake Christabel the Grey flows west across the schist-belt 
 till it receives the Brown Grey coining from the north, from the 
 junction with which it has a south-west course between schist moun- 
 tains on the east side of the valley and granite mountains on the west 
 sid'e, till, again altering its course, the river breaks through the 
 chain of granite mountains, and thus forms the first gorge of the Big 
 Grey. Through the granite gorge the rive^i- at first runs north, then 
 north-west to the point where it receives the Alexander coming from 
 the north-east. Thence the Big Grey has a generally west-north-west 
 course to its junction with the Little Grfey, below which junction the 
 united waters are known as the Grey River. The gorge 'of the Big 
 Grey and the course of the Alexander River are in granite or gneissic 
 rocks ; but around the sourfctes of the Snowy River, a tributary of the 
 Little Grey, the granite gives place to unaltered rocks consisting of 
 sandstones and slates, forming part of the auriferous series of Reef tdn- 
 Maitai series of Carboniferous age. These rocks, as a belt four to 
 five miles wide, extend north east to the Inangahua, and from Merri- 
 jigs north to the reefing district of Crushingtott and Murray Creek. 
 
 The Little Grey has, from its source to its junction with the Big 
 Grey, a south-West course. Its broad Valley is filled with recent 
 alluvial shingle from Squaretown to the junction with the Big Grey. 
 These recent alluvial deposits are mainly confided to the low grounds 
 of the middle part of the valley and its north-western side. On the 
 south-east side the Valley is filled with a vast accumulation of gravels 
 of Pliocene age that are biit across by tributaries of the Little Grey, 
 such as Slab-hut Creek; Antonib's Creek, Adamstdwu Creek, and 
 Black water. These and the lesser streams falling into then! have so 
 cut down and sculptured the Plidcelie gravels (Usually known as 
 " Old-man bottom ") that they now form brdken hilly country, i'lill 
 of deep, narrow creek-valleys. 
 
 On the north side of the lower part bf Big River these gravel 
 hills for a time terminate, and high-level river-terraces, formed by 
 the action of the Big Grey, take their place. Several streams' rising 
 in the Paparoa Range join the Little Grey f rdm the north-west. The 
 largest of these, the Otiitutu, or " Rough River," falls into the 1 Grey 
 just below the junctidn of the Little Grey. After debouching from 
 the granite mountains, ambng which it takes it rise, the Rough 
 River has its course for five or six miles across att alluvial plain built 
 up of material mainly derived from the mountains In which it takes 
 its rise, and which is therefore due to its bwn action. 
 
 BeloW the junction bf the Little Grey with the Big Grey the 
 united waters are denominated thfe Gtrey River, aiid the valley of this
 
 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 part of the watershed from the junction to the sea, is called the Grey 
 Valley. The lower alluvial grounds of this part are from two to five 
 miles wide. These lower lands are limited on the south-eastern side 
 by a belt of broken hilly country, which, having a breadth of from 
 seven to eiglit miles, extends from the southern bank of the Big Grey 
 to the Arnold Flat, a distance of nineteen miles, and is continued to 
 the south-west across the valley of Stillwater Creek to the water-divide 
 leading into the New River basin. This belt of hilly country 
 is broken through by the Ahaura and Arnold Rivers, and its whole 
 breadth is traversed by Nelson Creek, the main source of which 
 comes from Lake Hochstetter. Numerous smaller streams take 
 their rise among these hills, and generally follow a north-west 
 course to their junction with the Grey River. These hills are 
 formed of Pliocene gravels ( :e Old-man bottom"), and are nearly 
 in direct continuation of the same gravels on the south-east side of 
 the Little Grey Valley. All the streams breaking through or taking 
 their rise in them are gold-bearing, and in the beds of many of them 
 the gravels have proved exceedingly rich in gold. 
 
 South-east of this line of hills the country is of lower elevation, 
 and broad shingle-terraces (due to action of the larger rivers, the 
 Big Grey, the Ahaura, and the Arnold, &c.) extend from the south- 
 eastern limits of these hills to the foot of the high mountains forming 
 the outermost of the series of ranges that culminate in the main axis 
 and water-parting between the east and west coasts of the island. 
 
 On the northern side of the lower part of the Ahaura River 
 there is an alluvial gravel plain due to the action of that river when 
 running at a higher level. On to this plain Orwell Creek debouches, 
 at a point about one-third of its total length from its source. The 
 Ahaura runs in a deep channel, having on the south-western banks 
 steep cliffs of gravel belonging to the "Old-man bottom." . The 
 lower part of its course is through a deep narrow gorge to the lower 
 river-plain of the Grey Valley, across which it has a short course to 
 its junction with the main stream. 
 
 The Arnold River from Lake Brunner flows along a broad valley, 
 the surface-gravels on its north-eastern side for about a mile back 
 from the stream are due to the modern action of the river, a lesser 
 breadth on the southern side is due to the same action. 
 
 Beyond the broad alluvial tract of this part of the Grey Valley, 
 or to the south-east, the granite belt extends from the gorge of the 
 Big Grey to and across the Ahaura River, and thence to the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Kopara, and beyond this along the south side of 
 Lake Brunner into the watershed of the Teremakau and the West- 
 land district. East of the granite-belt there is a broad rib of mica- 
 schist, the true limits of which have not yet been ascertained, and
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 9 
 
 beyond this the unaltered Palaeozoic rocks, forming the main chain 
 and extending eastward into the Amuri district of Nelson. On the 
 north-west side of the Grey Valley, between Slaty River and Black- 
 ball Creek, alluvial flats near the level of the river are confined to 
 the lower parts of Slaty River and Moonlight Creek. Along the 
 western bank of Slaty there is a considerable area of such land, now 
 mostly occupied by farmers. In the lower Moonlight the area is 
 less, and the low grounds along this stream, both above and below 
 the junction of the Meg River, form a narrow strip on both banks. 
 Elsewhere from Slaty to Blackball, and south-east of the sslate range 
 or coal rocks, " Old-man bottom " appears at the surface, unless it 
 is covered by high-level creek gravels of younger date. In Blackball 
 and Ford's Creeks there are no heavy bodies of gravel deposit due to 
 other action than that of the streams at present operating in the 
 denudation of the country. . 
 
 Between Blackball Creek and the Brunner Gorge, on this side of 
 the valley, there is a fringe of shingle of limited breadth deposited 
 by the Grey River, the mountain-creek wash found in the beds of 
 the several streams of this nart being derived from a narrow belt of 
 slate on the slopes of the Mount Davy Range, or from the con- 
 glomerates and breccia conglomerates at the base of the Cretaceous 
 formation, as developed in this part of the Paparoa Chain. 
 
 The Grey Valley below Brunnerton, as far as the Limestone 
 Range running from Point Elizabeth to Marsden on the New River, 
 shows alluvial triangular flats one on each bank of the river; that 
 on the northern side extending some distance up Coal Creek, that on 
 the southern side being bounded by hilly country lying towards the 
 New River watershed. 
 
 Buller Valley. The area of the Buller Valley here coming under 
 consideration in the upper valley embraces the watersheds of the 
 Matakitaki and Maruia Rivers, both of which take their rise in the 
 Spencer Mountains, and flow north in nearly parallel courses to their 
 junctions with the Buller. From the Grey Valley a low depression 
 leads by way of the Bog Saddle into the valley of the Maruia, 
 opposite, or nearly opposite, the junction of the Alfred River. The 
 Bog Saddle is, a bush-covered plain, formed by the action of the 
 Maruia River when this was an affluent of the Grey, and not, as now, 
 of the Buller River. The diversion of the Maruia to its present 
 course, and the lowering of its bed, has cut away the eastern margin 
 of the old high-level river-bed, and the erosion of the valley of the 
 Brown Grey has, in like manner, circumscribed the former area of 
 the shingle- beds now confined to the higher level of the Bog Saddle. 
 Towards the source of the Maruia River the rocks of the Spencer 
 Mountains consist of sandstones and slates of Carboniferous age.
 
 10 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 Appearing from beneath these, and forming the mountains between 
 the Alfred and the upper part of the river, and stretching north-east 
 towards the sources of the Glenroy and Matakitaki Rivers, there is 
 a continuation of the schist rocks, described as lying to the south- 
 east of the granite belt in the Grey Valley. On the plain opposite 
 the junction of the Alfred there is an isolated mountain of marble, 
 or crystalline limestone, and the same calcareous beds stretch north- 
 east along the- right bank of the Alfred River. 
 
 This limestone appears to rest upon gneissic granite. Granite 
 rock towards the source of the Glenroy has but a limited develop- 
 ment ; but, on the left side of the valley, it forms the mountains to 
 and round the sources of the Inangahua River and the Victoria and 
 Brunner Mountains, stretching along the west side of the Maruia 
 Valley to the Buller Gorge above the Lyell Township. From the 
 Alfred junction to the junction of the Warbeek* seven miles below 
 Walker's Homestead, a distance of twenty-one miles, the Upper 
 Maruia Plains stretch, principally, at first, on the west bank of the 
 river, as far as th^e Home Station, and finally, for the last seven miles, 
 the greatest breadth of level land is on the east bank of the river. 
 Generally, these plains are open lands, grass-covered, with a species 
 of tussock ; but large areas are covered with a stunted manuka scrub, 
 the area covered by which is said during late years to have been 
 greatly increased. 
 
 The soil of these plains, that embrace a total of about 22,000 
 acres, is at some places of fair quality, but the bulk of it is very 
 poor, and all vegetation, owing to the severity of the climate, is at a 
 standstill from the middle of April to the middle or end of October. 
 
 A little above the junction of the Warbeck, a line of moraine hills 
 stretches across the valley from the east slopes of the Victoria Moun- 
 tains on the west side to the hills bounding the opposite side of the 
 valley which forms the water-parting between this part of the Maruia 
 and the Glenroy Valley. This line of terminal moraine is well 
 marked, and explains the character of the terraces along the upper 
 valley of the river to the Alfred junction. This part of the valley, 
 on the disappearance of the glacier that once filled it, was for a long 
 period a lake, which was gradually filled with shingle to the level of 
 the highest terrace or moraine, and subsequently, by the action of 
 the river, the deposits accumulated in this manner were cut down to 
 form the lower terraces and bottom flats along the margin of the 
 river. 
 
 Between Station Creek and the Warbeck the mountains on the 
 east side of the valley are mainly composed of Cretaceous strata, con- 
 sisting of conglomerates and sandstones, constituting the lower part 
 of the coal-bearing series. Below the Warbeck, gneissic granite
 
 McKAY. Sonth-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 11 
 
 appears on both sides of the valley ; and, from the Upper Warbeck, 
 this rock constitutes a range of mountains on the right bank of the 
 river to within twelve miles of its junction with the Buller. The 
 lower part of the valley is, for the most part, narrow, deep, and 
 gorgy, the only extent of level land being on the left bank, from 
 twelve to fifteen miles above the confluence with the Buller. About 
 eight miles above the junction the granite or gneiss gives place to 
 coal-measures belonging to the Cretaceous or Cretaceo-tertiary series. 
 These form the mountains on the right bank, and, crossing the river 
 to the westward, extend some distance in that direction amongst the 
 granite peaks of the Brunner Mountains. 
 
 The Matakitaki, like the Maruia, takes its rise in the Spencer 
 Mountains, and for the first fifteen miles flows in a northerly course 
 through or across a succession of sandstone and shale, schist, or 
 granite mountains, as has been shown the Maruia does. Below the 
 point indicated the Matakitaki has a west course for about twelve 
 miles. This part of its course is across granite and coal-measures, 
 while there are also considerable developments of superficial gravels 
 that are of importance, they being auriferous. Below the junction 
 of the Glenroy the Matakitaki resumes its north-and-south course, 
 and flows along the west side of its valley to its junction with the 
 Buller. On both sides of this lower part of the Matakitaki Valley the 
 rocks are of Cretaceous or Cretaceo-tertiary age, and consist of lime- 
 stones, marly strata, and beds of sandstone or quartz conglomerates 
 and shales, with coal seams of greater or lesser thickness and value. 
 The lower terrace lands and the bed and immediate banks of 
 the river show the presence of a shingle largely derived from the 
 harder rocks towards the source of the river, but also in a great 
 measure from beds of conglomerate occurring as part of the Creta- 
 ceous formation. This conglomerate, it has been ascertained, is 
 gold-bearing to such an extent that it becomes of great importance 
 in considering the immediate whence of the gold found in the 
 Matakitaki and Mangles Rivers, and also, to some extent, that found 
 iu the Maruia and its tributaries. 
 
 Glenroy River. This takes its rise between and near the sources 
 of the Maruia and the Matakitaki, and flows north-west and north to 
 its junction with the Matakitaki. Its source is in schist, its middle 
 course in the conglomerates and sandstones of the coal-bearing series, 
 and its lower course for about two miles through granite, and finally 
 for a short distance across coal-measures to its junction with the 
 Matakitaki. All the gold-workings in this part of the Buller water- 
 shed are, with the exception of those on the Alfred, either upon a 
 granite bottom or upon different members of the Cretaceous forma- 
 tion ; and it is a remarkable fact that generally, except on the
 
 12 GEOLOGICAL KEPORTS. 
 
 Alfred River, to the eastward of the Cretaceous formation, no payable 
 gold has been found. 
 
 Upper Buller to the Inangahua Junction. This part of the district 
 includes the narrow valley of the Buller below the Maruia, including 
 Lyell Creek and New Creek areas, and the river-valley below the 
 latter to the Inangahua Junction. The gorge above the Lyell passes 
 through frequent alterations of granite and comparatively unaltered 
 rocks. Near the junction of the Newton River a rib of Cretaceo- 
 tertiary limestone and associated marly beds are deeply involved as 
 vertical strata between granite. The same thing happens between 
 the bridge over the Buller, one and a half miles below Lyell, and 
 the lower part of New Creek, where a representative development of 
 the Cape Foulwind limestone, underlain by coal-measures, occurs, 
 standing at very high angles between the auriferous slates of New 
 Creek and the granite of the lower part of Lyell Creek. Below the 
 bridge Cretaceo-tertiary and coal-bearing rocks, overlain by terrace 
 gravels, extend along the banks of the river for some two miles, 
 beyond which granite again appears in the hills on the left bank and 
 along the road-line. The granite further down the valley is followed 
 by a narrow rib of slate, then, near Junker's Hotel, by grits, &c., 
 of the lower coal-measures, followed by limestone and dark-coloured 
 marly strata, which, dipping west underneath the recent alluvial 
 gravel-beds, reach to the Inangahua Junction. The granitoid rocks 
 on the north side of the Lyell Gorge do not extend more than a few 
 hundred yards up Lyell Creek, and in the New Creek area they 
 appear to be absent altogether. 
 
 Inangahua Valley. The Inangahua River and its principal 
 tributary, the Waitahu or North Branch, both take their rise in, and 
 draw most of their waters from, the southern end of the chain of 
 granite mountains that forms the water-parting between the Maruia 
 and Inangahua Valleys. About fourteen miles above Reefton, slate 
 succeeds the granite on the south side of the Inangahua ; but no 
 slate appears on the north bank in contact with the crystalline rocks, 
 a development of coal rocks taking place between the Devonian rocks 
 and the granite on this side of the valley. The junction of the two 
 older series is thus obscured. A narrow belt of Devonian rocks 
 extends from the lower part of Lankey's Gully south across the 
 Inangahua to near the source of Rainy Creek. In the direction of 
 Deep Creek the rocks show evidences of having been subjected to 
 metamorphic alteration. Thev differ indeed from the tvpical rocks 
 of the auriferous series, but it has not been definitely proved that 
 they are other than the gold-bearing series of Reefton, or of an age 
 greater than that of the Carboniferous period. There are some areas 
 of flat laud in the valley of the Inangahua above Reefton, but these
 
 . South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 13 
 
 do not appear to have at any time been prospected for gold. These 
 alluvial flats are now occupied in part as freehold lands. A very 
 considerable area of the range east of Lankey's Gully, lying between 
 the two branches of the Inangahua, has its higher part formed of 
 grits and conglomerates, constituting part (the lower part) of the coal- 
 bearing series. These are gold-bearing in Murray Creek and in 
 Lankey's Creek, and probably in other parts where they are present. 
 The Devonian rocks form the lower part of the range to the east of 
 Murray Creek and Lankey's Gully, but after a time they sink to 
 lower levels. Along the line of Garvie's Creek the coal rocks fill a 
 deep syncline, and thus it is not seen what Palaeozoic rocks underlie 
 the coal-measures, nor in what manner these make junction with the 
 granite. 
 
 West of the Devonian rocks these are overlain by the Maitai 
 series, the auriferous rocks of this district and the neighbouring 
 mining districts of Boatman's to the north and of Merrijigs and Big 
 River to the south. The district to the south, including the Big 
 River area, has already in this connection been dealt with. Boat- 
 man's and Larry's to the northward are in the same line of country- 
 rock which, on the disappearance of the Devonian strata, is continued 
 along this side of the valley to the Buller River. The syncline filled 
 with coal rocks, which has been described as extending along Garvie's 
 Creek from the south to the north branch of the Inangahua, is 
 continued further to the north, and has a remarkable development in 
 the upper part of Boatman's Creek. It does not appear to cross or 
 reach as far as Larry's Creek. The Devonian rocks also are not 
 traceable as far as Boatman's Creek, they in this direction being 
 overlain and surrounded on three sides by the auriferous series. 
 Near the Town of Reefton the auriferous series are succeeded by a 
 considerable development of the coal-bearing rocks, but the junction 
 between the two is often obscured by terraces of river-gravel that are 
 now at a considerable elevation above the lower levels of the opposite 
 plain. 
 
 The coal rocks are seen to extend along the lower flanks of the 
 range between the north branch of the Inangahua and Boatman's 
 Creek, near Capleston. The coal rocks are well exposed in the 
 valley of Boatman's Creek, at the Township of Capleston, and along 
 Little Boatman's Creek to the foot of Specimen Hill. They are 
 followed by a massive development of Pliocene gravels (" Old-man 
 bottom"), which, forming high terraces or broken hilly country, 
 continue past Boatman's to and beyond Larry's Creek, and in the 
 same direction across Landing and Coal Creeks to within a short 
 distance of the Buller River. Boatman's, Larry's, Landing, and 
 Coal Creeks, of which Larry's Creek carries considerably the greater
 
 14 GEOLOGICAL RBPOKTS. 
 
 volume of water, are mountain-streams, all of them taking their rise 
 in the granite mountains to the east of the Inangahua Valley, and 
 all of them traverse the low grounds of the valley to reach the 
 Inanaugahua River, which has its course along the foot of the 
 mountains on the west side of the valley. 
 
 A considerable breadth of the low-lying recent alluvial ground is 
 found between the " old-man " formation on the east side of the 
 valley and the river towards the southern end of the plain. This 
 area of lower and more recent alluvial land gets narrower as the 
 valley is followed to the north, and this for a time terminates at half 
 a mile to the south of the Landing. Terrace fiats are developed to 
 a considerable extent on the east side of the lower part of the valley, 
 between the Landing and the Junction. Below Reef ton, Devil's 
 Creek makes junction from the south. In the valley of this stream 
 the fundamental rocks are the auriferous series of slates and sand- 
 stones, in the rocks of which a considerable number of quartz-mines 
 are being worked. Coal rocks are also developed to a moderate 
 extent on the higher lands towards Merrijigs. Deposits of gravel 
 belonging to " Old-man bottom " also occupy the higher ground 
 between the Sir Francis Drake Mine and Merrijigs, and also along 
 some parts of Maori Creek. Coal rocks are to a limited extent 
 present in the lower part of Devil's Creek, while towards the Midland 
 Railway-line and the saddle leading to Squaretown there is a great 
 development of Pliocene gravels or " Old-man bottom." These 
 Pliocene gravels form high cliffs on the left bank of the river in its 
 passage from the east to the west side of the valley. On reaching 
 the furthest west, the river turns to the north and closely follows the 
 lower spurs of the Paparoa Range to its junction with the Buller. 
 
 Lower Buller Gorge. From the lanaugahua Junction to the ferry 
 at the foot of the gorge, six miles from Westport, the Buller River, 
 breaking through the Paparoa Papahua chain of mountains, has, for 
 the greater part of the distance (twenty-two miles), its course through 
 a tortuous and deep mountain-gorge, presenting at places scenes 
 of rare magnificence and savage grandeur. One mile and a half 
 below the Inangahua Junction the river breaks through a formation 
 of cretaceous limestone, and has formed high cliffs on both its banks. 
 The limestone forms on the southern side of the valley a sort of 
 table-land between the Lower Inangahua and the Buller, below the 
 junction. This at one time has received a deposit of river-shingle, 
 probably by the action of the Buller before it had commenced to 
 cut down the limestone part of the gorge. These gravels what 
 remains of them are necessarily but a remnant of what they once 
 were, and to some extent their removal has been effected along 
 underground channels in the limestone. Some of these under-
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 15 
 
 ground channels have been explored,, and the concentrated gravels 
 of the surface-wash found to be rich in gold at least, gold-bearing 
 to such an extent that a rush set in, and for a considerable time 
 workings were carried on in these underground channels. Below 
 the limestone cliffs the valley opens out, and between the Lime- 
 stone Range and the river lies the Big Swamp, extending to the 
 junction of Coal Creek and to Grainger's Point, where the river 
 is again enclosed between the precipitous cliffs or steep slopes of a 
 gorge. From the north the Mackley River joins the Buller opposite 
 the middle of the Big Swamp. The Maokley flows in a transverse 
 valley, which lies between the Mount Glasgow Range and the Lyell 
 Mountains to the eastward. This transverse valley is continued across 
 the Buller and along the course of Coal Creek on the south side of 
 the main valley, the limestone hills between Coal Creek and the 
 Inangahua forming one side of the transverse valley, the hills be- 
 tween the upper part of Coal Creek and the lower part of the 
 Blackwater the other side of the valley. At Berlin's, for a short 
 distance the hills on the south side of the gorge are low, and a 
 greater breadth of alluvial gravel deposit occurs here than elsewhere 
 in the middle and lower parts of the gorge, and it is here that the 
 chief " diggings " in the Buller Gorge have been ever since the 
 commencement of mining in the district. At Lovell's Point the 
 river is again confined between precipitous rocks or steep banks, 
 although some alluvial banks are formed between the latter point 
 and the mouth of the Blackwater. 
 
 Between the Blackwater and Hawk's Crag, immediately beyond 
 the Crag and near the " Twelve-mile," there are also small areas of 
 gravel-formed alluvial banks on the south side of the river, and there 
 is a like small area on the north bank of the river, opposite Powell's 
 accomrnodatiou-house, at the Twelve-mile. These small areas of 
 alluvial deposit, in favourable situations, and the bed of the river 
 when low, are worked for gold. Below the Twelve-mile there is an 
 area of gravel deposit at the junction of the Big Ohika ; but the 
 gravels of this have been brought down the Ohika, and, being mostly 
 OE wholly granite, they are either non-auriferous or have not been 
 prospected for gold. Below this point the gorge is cut through 
 granite mountains, and so steep are the slopes to the water's edge 
 that few opportunities are afforded for the accumulation of shingle, 
 even between high-flood mark and what the river marks when of 
 medium volume. 
 
 From the Inangahua Junction to a few chains. west of the Little 
 Ohika all the rocks on the south side of the Buller Gorge belong to 
 different members of the Cretaceo-tertiarv or Cretaceous formation. 
 The higher beds are limestones and dark mudstone marls, often, but
 
 16 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 not always, underlain by the Cape Foulwind limestone, beneath which, 
 associated with sandstones and shales, is the upper or brown-coal 
 series. These coal-measures rest on the breccias of Grainger's Point, 
 and they so rest with some appearance of unconformity. The breccias 
 of Grainger's Point are amongst the lowest beds of the sequence, and 
 in the lower beds are very obscure in their stratification. Towards 
 the west they alternate with beds of sandstone and sandy shales, 
 which are followed by pebbly conglomerates, which again are followed 
 by sandstones, the whole forming a syncline the east side of which is 
 repeated in Lovell's Bluff, between which and the Blackwater the 
 beds form an anticline, exposing, as the lowest rocks of the series, 
 light-grey, thin-bedded siliceous shales, much indurated, and having 
 at places the general aspect of the Cobden limestone at Greymouth. 
 These latter rocks are followed by the higher beds described, and 
 they constitute the west wing of the anticline to within 300 yards of 
 Hawk's Crag, where they are followed by the enormous develop- 
 ment of breccias that continue without intermission and without 
 material change in their characters till they are terminated along the 
 west side of the Little Ohika Valley. These Hawk's Crag breccias 
 extend six or seven miles up the Blackwater, and constitute, between 
 that stream and the Little Ohika, perhaps, or, rather, without doubt, 
 the most rugged and inaccessible country in the whole of the Paparoa 
 district. The same rocks form exceedingly rough country east of 
 Mount William Ridge to Hawk's Crag ; and this part of the country 
 is unexplored, its geology being explained and mapped from what is 
 known of the Buller Gorge and that of the Waimangaroa watershed. 
 
 Lower Buller and Coast-line north to Waimangaroa. From the 
 lower end of the Buller Gorge the outer slopes of the ranges are 
 granite till, passing Mount Rochfort, the steep slope west from the 
 plateau shows coal-measures tilted to high angles and resting on the 
 granites. The coal-measures here dip to the westward. Along the 
 foot of the range high-level terraces extend from the Buller Gorge 
 to Fairburn, and below these, gradually sloping to the coast-line, are 
 the lower flat lands, which may be regarded as partly due to the 
 action of the river and partly as a littoral marine formation. Large 
 areas of these lower plains are swampy and devoid of forest, and are 
 hence called " pakihis." The Waimangaroa crosses this coastal 
 plain where it is about two miles wide, east of which the river- 
 valley gradually narrows till it becomes a deep mountain-gorge. 
 Gold is found and worked on the beaches at the mouth of the river, 
 and also along its banks from the point where the narrower part of 
 the valley begins to the source of the river. 
 
 Coastal Track, Lower Buller to the Fox River. From Cape Foul- 
 wind to the mouth of the Nile the coast (near the Cape) for the
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 17 
 
 first two miles is bold, and formed of gneissic granite, followed inland 
 and to the south by coal-bearing rocks. Towards the mouth of the 
 Okari and Totara Rivers it is low and sandy. East to the Buller 
 River and the slopes of the Paparoa Range the country north of the 
 Totara River rises gradually, and forms a gently-sloping plain to the 
 foot of the high terrace extending between the Buller and Totara 
 Rivers. Along the butt of this terrace, from Bald Hill to the Sham- 
 rock Claim, lie the main gold-workings of Addison's Flat, although 
 there are at least three other lines of gold-workings between the foot 
 of the high terrace and the coast-line. Deposits of black sand are 
 found in considerable areas over many parts of Addison's Flat and the 
 slope thence to the mouth of the Totara River. Generally, however, 
 the superficial rock deposit is a granity beach-wash. Along the 
 course of the Totara River the marine deposits have been carried 
 away by the river, and a large shingle fan of river material takes their 
 place. On the south side of the Buller the marine sands cap the 
 brink of the highest terrace, and the succession of terraces to the 
 river-level show by how much the land has been raised since the sea 
 washed the foot of the Big Terrace between Bald Hill and the Sham- 
 rock Lead. The high terrace east of Addison's Fiat, some 300ft. 
 above the level of the flat, has a width of from one mile and a half to 
 two miles before the foot of the granite range is reached. Black-sand 
 deposits, evidencing the presence of the sea, are also to be met with on 
 the higher terrace, but no important gold-workings have been carried 
 on at this higher level. 
 
 South of the Little Totara the country from the western base of 
 the granite mountains is hilly to the sea. The Nile, the Four-mile, 
 and the Fox River drain this area. A range of limestone hills, com- 
 mencing on the coast-line near the mouth of the Totara, sweeps 
 inland in a semicircle from this point to St. Kilda and Brighton. 
 The limestone (its western boundary) is furthest from the coast-line 
 between Candlelight and the Four-mile, south of Charleston. A 
 valley depression lies between the limestone hills and the foot of the 
 Paparoa Range. This part is either not gold-bearing or has not been 
 sufficiently prospected. Coal is found along this line, and outcrops 
 on the banks of the Fox River, and marine Tertiary (Miocene) beds 
 are also present. It is between the limestone range and the sea that 
 the greatest interest attaches to this part of the district. Over this 
 are black-sand deposits that have been accumulated at all heights up 
 to fully 500ft. above sea-level. These black-sand deposits have been 
 the mainstay of gold-mining in the Charleston district. The auriferous 
 character is not confined to the purely black-sand beds, but the beds 
 of granite wash (beach-gravels) widely spread over the area between 
 the limestone and the sea are also gold-bearing. It is here that black 
 2
 
 18 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 sand deposited by the action of the sea reaches the highest level 
 along the coast-line between Ross and the Mohikinui River. The 
 Fox River has cut part of its course through the limestone, and in 
 this part the river-channel is through a remarkable gorge, which is 
 only a few feet in width, but 300 ft. or more in depth. 
 
 Coast-line, Fox River to Barrytown. Gold-mining in the north 
 part of this district is limited to the beaches on the coast-line and 
 one or two patches of high-level gravels in the vicinity of Razorback. 
 South of Razorback and the Punakaiki River continuous beach- 
 workings are to be had as far as the Fourteen-mile Bluff, while 
 inland of the present coast an old high-level terrace-working extends 
 along the foot of the ranges, from Doubtful River to Baker's Creek. 
 There are also creek-workings in some of the various streams drain- 
 ing this part and taking their rise from the southern continuation of 
 the Paparoa Mountains. Canoe Creek and Fagin's Creek are the 
 most important of these gold-bearing streams. 
 
 Barrytown to the Grey Valley, This part of the district has a 
 bold coast-line, and the inland district is mountainous. Gold- 
 workings are chiefly confined to the beach and the sea-terraces 
 immediately at the back thereof. The conglomerates of the Ten- 
 mile Creek are thought to be stanniferous, and probably also are 
 gold-bearing. From the Seven-mile to the Nine-mile, and again 
 between the Nine-mile and the Ten-mile, a back lead is at the 
 present time being worked, and at higher levels, 60ft. or 100ft., 
 there is a high-level line of auriferous gravels that corresponds with 
 the higher levels of Darkies' Terrace, between Point Elizabeth and 
 Cobden, west of the Limestone Range. 
 
 WESTLAND DISTRICT. 
 
 This has been fully described in the Goldfields and Mining 
 Reports for 1893,* so that a few remarks on the general character of 
 the country will suffice in this place. 
 
 Grey River to Marsden and the Valley of New River. The coast- 
 line of this part is formed of a slightly elevated beach, ranging from 
 half a mile to less than a quarter of a mile in width. Behind this, 
 near Greymouth, are hills of Tertiary clays, or, further back, and 
 forming a range of higher hills, the southern continuation of the 
 Cobden limestone. The valiey of Salt-water Creek and the vicinity 
 of Rutherglen shows clearly that the New River at one time had its 
 course to the sea in this direction, the old high-level beaches being 
 destroyed in the middle parts of the valley, and only attesting their 
 
 * Geological Explorations of the Northern Part of Westland, Mining Reports, 1893, 
 C.-3, p. 132.
 
 . McKAY. South- West Nelson and Northern Westland. 19 
 
 former continuity By appearing us disjointed fragments on the ridges 
 that are between the Salt-water and New River, and the first- 
 mentioned and lesser streams to the north. 
 
 The valley of New River, as elsewhere described,* is due to the 
 action of the main stream and its various tributaries on a tableland 
 formed near its surface by gravels of the " Old-man bottom/' which 
 are present also in the adjoining hills overlain by glacier debris 
 brought on to this region by the action of a branch of the Teremakau 
 Glacier, \vhich, passing through the gap in the mountains at and 
 below Jackson's, filled the Lake Brunner basin and thence over- 
 flowed the country to the west and south-west. By this means (the 
 action of the New River itself) gold widely dispersed was collected 
 and greatly concentrated along the beds of the several streams within 
 the watersheds of New River and Salt-water Creek; and these accu- 
 mulations of auriferous material, together with the beach deposits, 
 modern, and of older date at high levels, formed a source of gold 
 that has maintained a large mining population from the early days of 
 the Coast till within very recently. 
 
 Teremakau Valley. The Greenstone or Hohonu River is the 
 principal gold-bearing tributary of the Teremakau. The source of 
 the gold is the same as that of the New River, and the physical 
 circumstances under which the river-valley has been excavated differs 
 only in this, that the Greenstone takes its rise among mountains of 
 gninite and gneiss, which may have hastened somewhat the rate at 
 which the middle and lower valley was cut down. The granite belt 
 which, from the south of Lake Brunner, extends through the Green- 
 stone Mountains to the south side of the Teremakau Valley, limits, 
 with the exception of the Seven-mile Creek and some other creeks in 
 the Taipo watershed, the eastern extension of payable gold in the 
 Teremakau Valley. In the neighbourhood of Kumara the gold has 
 its origin in part from the morainic hills of Dillmanstown, and those 
 that thence extend south-west to the granite belt at the western base 
 of Turiwhate Mountain. The river-plain that extends from Kumara 
 to the sea, and is limited to the south by Aker's Creek, either con- 
 tains, comparatively intact but covered over, a northern extension of 
 the old high-level marine-drifts of the Houhou, Blue Spur, Ballarat 
 Hill, and Lamplough Lead, or, if destroyed by the action of the 
 river, its gold has gone to enrich the black-sand leads of the present 
 beach-line and Drake's Terrace on the southern bank of the Tere- 
 makau. 
 
 The sequence of the rocks in the Teremakau Valley east of the 
 granite belt is the same as farther to the north, the granite being 
 
 * See report already cited above, page 137.
 
 20 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. 
 
 succeeded by the mica-schist formation, and this by but slightly altered 
 or unaltered formations of Devonian and Carboniferous age. On 
 the boundary-line between the last two named formations quartz veins 
 occur, and it is in this horizon that the reef on Jackson's Hill 
 has been found. The same line of reef runs over the range 
 south-west into the valley of the Seven-mile Creek. On the 
 northern bank of the Teremakau, opposite Jackson's, the rocks are 
 mica-schist, and on this side of the river it is not till passing to the 
 eastward of the junction of the Otira that the corresponding rocks to 
 those at Jackson's are met with. 
 
 Arahura Valley and District. As formerly the Arahura occupied 
 or wandered over the greater part of the Kapitea basin, and also at 
 one time had outlet from the same by way of Waimea Creek, the 
 principal features of the Arahura, Kapitea, and Waimea may be 
 described together as of one district. As in other parts of northern 
 Westland, the coast-line is backed by a low raised beach. Behind 
 this at most places there is a steep face leading on to a high-level 
 terrace. This is the region of the fine black-sand deposits con- 
 taining gold equally fine. Next to the south-east rise the Tertiary 
 hills, the valleys between which are .filled with wash, either of a 
 granity or a sandstone type, according to its source namely, of the 
 first, the old moraines of the Arahura, or, of the second, the gravels 
 of the " Old-man bottom," which are present, the first to a large 
 extent in the Kapitea basin, and the last forming the highest beds of 
 the Tertiary sequence, and is generally found on the top of the rocks 
 which belong to that period . 
 
 Between the Teremakau and the Arahura, eastward of the 
 Waimea Hills, there is a very considerable development of glacier 
 drifts that occupy the upper basin of Kapitea Creek and the lower 
 and middle parts of the Kawhaka watershed back to the western 
 boundary of the granite belt. The low grounds of the Arahura 
 Valley from Humphrey's Gully to the sea contain some considerable 
 areas of river alluvium, more recent than the glacier deposits men- 
 tioned. Between Humphrey's Gully and the junction of the Kawaka 
 these are confined to the southern side of the valley ; but from half a 
 mile above the crossing of the river, on the Christchurch-Hokitika 
 Road, the alluvial flats are on both sides of the valley, and towards 
 the mouth of the river the breadth of these increases till they join 
 with those of the Three-mile to the south, and to the north leave 
 but a narrow ridge between them and the lower Waimea Valley. 
 South-east of Island Hill there is another considerable area of 
 river alluvium, between the first and second gorges of the Arahura, 
 while on the south side of the river, from the Christchurch Hokitika 
 Road to nearly abreast of the lower end of Kanieri Lake, there \f a
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 21 
 
 large development of gravels of the age of the " Old-man bottom " 
 (Older Pliocene), overlain in parts by glacier deposits. These, with 
 the underlying Tertiary clay, form the Humphrey's Gully Range, in- 
 terposed between the Arahura Valley and that of the Kanieri River. 
 East of the granite belt, the limits of which are along a line crossing 
 the Arahura at the foot of the Second gorge, the rocks consist of a 
 triple series of mica-schists, the middle and upper of which are 
 divided by a band of magnesian rocks, mainly olivine. The crystal- 
 line rocks terminate near the upper end of the Second gorge, and thence 
 to the crest of the Southern Alps the rocks are unaltered Palaeozoic 
 sediments. Gold is found in the Arahura Valley almost to the source 
 of the river, and has afforded payable results to the foot of the Second 
 gorge. At the present time there are no workings above the foot of 
 the First gorge cut through the great moraine between Island Hill and 
 the east end of the Humphrey's Gully Range. Recent developments 
 at the opposite end of this range, on the Arahura slope from the Blue 
 Spur, show that the auriferous deposits of this district are far from 
 being exhausted. 
 
 Hokitika Valley and Valley of the Three-mile Creek. The Three- 
 mile creek drains but a small watershed ; but this is important as 
 having yielded a large quantity of gold, and it would appear that its 
 resources are as yet far from being exhausted. Near the sea the 
 stream is sluggish, and on the north side its banks are low and covered 
 by a heavy growth of forest-trees. On the south side the Houhou 
 Terrace lies between it and the lower part of the Hokitika Valley. 
 Below the line of the Houhou Lead, which crosses the creek at the 
 Blue Spur Township, there is a moderately-sized flat bounded by 
 terraces on each side. This the gravels of it enriched by the 
 destruction of the upper part of the Houhou Lead, proved very rich 
 in gold. The upper valley has been encroached upon by an offshoot 
 of the Kanieri Glacier (rather that of the Browning Valley passing 
 through Lake Kanieri), and the result has been the deposit of 
 moraines of considerable magnitude, which, with the creek-gravels, 
 are being worked for gold at the present time. 
 
 The lower Hokitika Valley forms a triangular flat between high 
 terrace-lands to the north and south. These low grounds are partly 
 due to river-action ; but near the seaboard the deposits in and west of 
 Craig's freehold must be regarded as formed by the sea. Between Wood- 
 stock and the Lower Kanieri, at Kanieri Township, moraines stretch 
 across the valley, also up the Kanieri River to the Forks, and, with 
 the hilly country between Rimu and Ross, bound thus on the south- 
 western and north-western sides the low alluvial flats of the Hokitika 
 Valley above the Kanieri Junction, that include the Kokatahi Plain. 
 The Kokatahi Plain is of considerable extent. It stretches north.
 
 22 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 south, and east to the limits of the mountains. The Kokatahi Plain 
 proper lies on the north bank of the Hokitika, but here the term is 
 used as applicable to the whole of the low grounds of this part of the 
 valley. The Hokitika, in the middle of the plain, d hides into two 
 branches, the eastern of which is called the Kokatahi River, this again 
 dividing into three main streams, all coming from the east or south- 
 east. 
 
 On the east side of the Kokatahi Plain granite again forsns the 
 outer western slopes of the higher mountains, and this is followed by 
 the same sequence of rocks that have been mentioned in describing 
 the middle and upper parts of the Arahura Valley. 
 
 On the south-west side of the Hokitika Valley, below the Gorge, 
 lies Constitution Hill, which is in part composed of slate. Between 
 this and the hilly country along the road-line from Rimu to Ross 
 lies the Big Swamp, from which in times of flood a portion of the 
 surplus waters of the Hokitika finds its way into Lake Mahinapua. 
 
 The hilly country between Rimu and Ross is densely covered 
 with forest growth, and the details of the surface are for the most 
 part unknown, or known only to a few explorers. Its general 
 character is, however, quite evident from what can be seen along the 
 ordinary route of travel, and it is warrantable to say that the whole is 
 overspread with morainic heaps, that towards the Totara River only 
 have been modified by the action of running water. Old river- 
 gravels underlie these morainic heaps, as seen at Back Creek and 
 Seddou Terrace, and towards the margins they may have been acted 
 on by streams from, or the whole body of, the Hokitika, as in the 
 case of the Rimu Flat. 
 
 Totara Watershed Ross and Mount Greenland. The Totara 
 River takes its rise from Mount Fraser and the Cedar Creek Saddle, 
 leading into the Mikonui watershed. The upper and middle parts 
 of its course are along a mountain -valley between Mount Green- 
 land and Constitution Hill, and the river is so confined till reaching 
 and passing the outer spurs of Mount Greenland. Seaward of this 
 the Totara receives Donnelly's Creek and flows along the north side 
 of Ross Flat to the Totara Lagoon. 
 
 Between the hills and the sea from the Mikonui to the Totara 
 extends a tract of low, level country, having its greatest breadth to 
 the north. From the lower slopes of the spurs of Mount Greenland 
 gold has been traced into this flat, and the portion known as Ross 
 Fiat has in past time yielded a great amount of gold, and it is known 
 that considerable areas of very rich ground await working, capital 
 and machinery being required to do this. 
 
 East of the alluvial plain the ridge of front hills are composed of 
 Pliocene gravels (" Old-man bottom "), and behind or on top of
 
 McKAY. Smith-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 23 
 
 these, in Mont (TOr, there is a development of what appears to be 
 a glacier deposit. Mount Greenland, like the bulk of Constitution 
 Hill, is formed of sandstone and slates belonging to the Maitai series 
 of the New Zealand Geological Survey classification, and thus corre- 
 sponds in age with the auriferous rocks of Reefton. The Cedar 
 Creek rocks are of the same age. Quartz reefs occur on both the 
 east and west slopes of Mount Greenland, but though a considerable 
 amount of prospecting has been done on the Cedar Creek line, the 
 prospects have not been such as were anticipated, and " reefing " as a 
 form of gold-mining is developing but slowly in this part of the 
 district. 
 
 TABLE OP FOKMATIONS. 
 
 Sedimentary. 
 I. Recent. 
 
 Glacier, River alluvia, Littoral. 
 IA. Pleistocene. 
 
 High-level old river-channels and terraces. 
 II. Pleistocene and Younger Pliocene. 
 
 Extended glacier deposits outside the limits of the mountains. 
 River-deposits formed prior to the advance of the glaciers. 
 Marine gravels, &c., containing black-sand leads. 
 
 III. Older Pliocene and Upper Miocene. 
 
 Humphrey's Gully beds, " Old- man bottom," Brown sands. 
 
 IV. Lower Miocene (Marine Tertiary beds). 
 
 Blue fossiliferous sands and marly clays. 
 VI. Cretaceo-tertiary and Cretaceous. 
 
 Upper, Middle, and Lower series. 
 X. Triassic (?). 
 
 Beds in the Upper Teremakau Valley, resembling the jas- 
 peroid and diabasic beds of the Selwyn Gorge, Canter- 
 bury. 
 XII. Carboniferous. 
 
 Maitai series Westland formation of Haast. 
 XIII. Devonian. 
 
 (a.) Reefton series. 
 
 (b.) Slightly altered sub-metamorphic rocks. 
 
 Metamorphic. 
 Mica-schists. 
 
 Upper, Middle, and Lower mica-schists. 
 Gneissic schists. 
 
 Crystalline schists and metamorphic granite. 
 
 Plutonic. 
 Massive and intrusive granites, &c. 
 
 I. RECENT. 
 
 Northern Part of Westland. 
 
 (a.) Glacier Deposits. Glacier deposits in course of formation are 
 found only around the sources of the Hokitika River, and, as a factor
 
 24 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 in the liberation of gold liable to be carried to the coast-line, are of 
 little importance. Neither are they of much consequence as afford- 
 ing gold directly from the morainic heaps, as these accumulate. The 
 rocks concerned in the production of these morainic accumulations 
 are, it would appear, not highly impregnated with. auriferous quartz 
 reefs, and, besides, the moraines themselves are accumulated in such 
 distant and inaccessible parts of the country that they would require 
 to be very rich in gold to tempt the miner to explore and work them. 
 
 (b.) River Alluvia. In the Mikonui and the upper part of the 
 Totara River gold-workings have been carried on in the beds and 
 immediate banks of these streams ; but in this southern part of the 
 district it is Donnelly's Creek, Jones's Creek, and a number of small 
 streams draining from the western part of the Mount Greenland 
 block of mountains, that yielded gold in such quantities as made the 
 Ross district famous in the early davs of gold-mining on the West 
 Coast. Some part of this gold was undoubtedly directly derived from 
 the auriferous Maitai rocks of Mount Greenland, but there can be no 
 question that the greater part, found in the recent wash of the beds 
 and banks of the various streams draining from the western slopes of 
 the range, was derived from gravels of older dates present in the creek 
 valleys, or resting on or forming the lower slopes of the outer hills. 
 
 In the Hokitika Valley, above Kanieri, there have been but few, 
 and these unimportant, workings along the bed and banks of the main 
 stream, or of its largest tributary, the Kbkatahi River, and its various 
 affluents. Recently it has been reported that payable gold has been 
 got on the banks of the Hokitika, at or just below 'the junction of the 
 Kokatahi. But if the Hokitika is to be regarded as an at-present- 
 gold-bearing river, the gold-workings at Woodstock and the Kauieri 
 Townships must be regarded as recent deposits due to the action of 
 the Hokitika, and the geological evidence does not bear this assump- 
 tion out. At Woodstock the gold-workings are in gravels that 
 underlie glacier accumulations, and consequently are to be excluded 
 from deposits coming under this head. On the opposite side of the 
 river, at the Kanieri Township and Commissioner's Flat, the relation 
 of the auriferous wash to the moraine-heaps is, in certain cases, that 
 it passes under them, and in others that the gold of the superficial 
 deposits should properly be considered as having been brought down 
 the Kanieri River. Yet it is true that at the Kanieri Township the 
 gold-bearing gravels on the immediate banks of the river and on the 
 seaward side of the morainic hills may, without doing violence to the 
 truth, be considered as being due to the action of the Hokitika. 
 
 Along the Kanieri River a considerable amount of gold-working 
 has been carried on in beds of this age at, above, and below the Porks, 
 and in several tributary streams, such as Coal Creek, Butcher's Creek,
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 25 
 
 &c., but all of these streams derive their gold not from the rock 
 matrices direct, but from older alluvial or glacier deposits than are to 
 be found in that neighbourhood. 
 
 In the Three-mile Creek the recent alluvial auriferous deposits are 
 wholly derived from alluvial or glacier detritus brought from a dis : 
 tance and deposited prior to the action of the present stream upon 
 them. These older gravels being auriferous, and in certain cases 
 very richly so, the result has been that the gravels of the bed of the 
 Three-mile Creek and lower flats along the banks have yielded large 
 quantities of gold, the Blue Spur Flat having maintained a large 
 population for many years. 
 
 In the Arahura Valley gold has been worked along the bed' of the 
 stream and over parts of the low flats on its banks from below the 
 Christchurch Hokitika Road to the foot of the Second gorge, and for 
 a long time maintained a considerable population. Tributary streams 
 joining the Arahura from the south have also yielded gold to a con- 
 siderable extent from their modern alluvia. These are the several 
 creeks between the Christchurch Road and Humphrey's Gully, 
 Humphrey's Gully itself, and Macdonald's and German Gullies, and 
 others of lesser consequence farther up the valley as far as Caledonian 
 Creek ; all of these being auriferous, do but indicate a prior existence 
 of alluvial auriferous deposits, from which the gold in the creek beds 
 and on their banks has been derived, and this as a consequence, since 
 none of these creeks contain within their watersheds any solid rocks 
 of a character likely to carry auriferous reefs or afford other than 
 alluvial gold. On the north side of the Arahura Valley there is a 
 considerable extent of alluvial land, stretching from the river-bank to 
 the foot of the southern Waimea Hills, over which gold may be found. 
 The higher part of this terrace-plain may, however, be more properly 
 treated of under another heading. 
 
 Along the Kawhaka River, and in the flatter low grounds of Fox's 
 Creek, beds and deposits of this age are known to be auriferous, but 
 along the Kawhaka River thev have never to any extent paid for work- 
 ing, and in Fox's Flat the ground is too wet and deep to be readily 
 worked, or at least worked profitably, so says report in general. It 
 is, however, an opinion strongly expressed by miners whose opinions 
 are entitled to respect, that Fox's Flat must contain rich deposits, 
 seeing the creek where workable, and Fox's Hill, were very rich 
 diggings. 
 
 In the Waimea Valley the great bulk of the gold-workings are to 
 be regarded as being in gravel deposits of this age, for though it is 
 quite true that the present stream passing along the valley could not 
 and did not bring the auriferous wash into the watershed of the 
 Waimea after the Arahura abandoned this valley as its course to the
 
 26 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 sea, without question a considerable reassortrnent of the alluvia it left 
 was effected by the waters of the present Waimea and its different 
 tributaries. Yet such heavy deposits as are found in Tunnel Terrace 
 and at other places in the valley must be referred to the action of the 
 Arahura, and not to that of the Waimea, which is an inconsiderable 
 and wholly modern river. Liverpool Bill's Gully and the Right- and 
 Left-hand branches of the Waimea not having at any time been 
 former channels of the Arahura, their alluvial gravels must be re- 
 garded as derived from glacier deposits, or from the gravels of the 
 " Old-man bottom/' rearranged and concentrated by the action of the 
 present streams in immediately modern times. 
 
 In Greek's and Duffer's Creeks the auriferous wash being worked 
 is, for the most part, such as might be considered under this head ; 
 but not wholly so, for there are workings at high levels on the side of 
 the range towards Stony Creek and Fox's that show the " Old-man 
 bottom " is being worked in that direction. 
 
 In the Kapitea watershed the upper portions towards the Loop- 
 line Road on the one hand, and the track from Whiskey Creek, on 
 the Kawaka, to Greek's on the other, have been but little explored, 
 and certainly not sufficiently prospected ; and it is not till nearing the 
 Greenstone Hokitika Road that distinct alluvia, due to the present 
 action of the^ stream, begin to be met with in the main stream or in 
 Little Kapitea Creek. At Italian Gully and Callaghan's Hill the gold- 
 workings, whatever they may have been, are not now in modern creek 
 gravels. Following down Kapitea Creek considerable areas of worked 
 ground are met with, showing the former importance of mining in the 
 modern gravels and bed of this stream. 
 
 On the south side of the Teremakau Valley, regard must be had 
 to the workings in the Seven-mile Creek, Scot's Creek, and some other 
 creeks within the Taipo Valley, a tributary of the Teremakau. Neither 
 the Little nor the Big Wahinuinui proved gold-bearing at least, not 
 sufficiently so as to attract a mining population and this may be 
 said also of all the recent alluvial deposits in the Teremakau Valley 
 above the Taipo Junction. 
 
 In Donegal Creek, a quarter of a mile on the Kumara side of the 
 junction of the road from Kumara with the Christchurch Hokitika 
 Road, gold-workings were for a considerable time carried on in creek- 
 wash derived from glacier debris and "Old-man bottom" showing in 
 the banks of the stream. These workings were not in gravels brought 
 down by the Teremakau itself, the gravels of which apparently remain 
 barren of gold till passing opposite Dillmanstowu, and at the junction 
 of the Greenstone. 
 
 On the south-western bank of the Teremakau, between Kumara 
 and the mouth of the river, there is a considerable extent of bush-clad
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern WesUand. 27 
 
 plain, gradually sloping towards the sea. As the Teremakau has cut 
 its way to the sea at a considerably lower level than this plain, though 
 the surface of it may be recent gravels, the high level prevents them 
 being considered under this head, except it be some reconstructions 
 of the gravels along the banks of the lower part of Hughie's Creek. 
 On the northern side of the Teremakau Valley there are no gold- 
 workings east of the west margin of the granite mountains at the 
 source of the Big Hohonu or Greenstone River. In the Greenstone 
 Valley (a quarter to half a mile wide) the low banks have been worked 
 for gold from the junction with the Teremakau to Maori Point and 
 Harrison's Terrace, and in some of its tributaries gold workings have 
 been as, for instance, Little Fuchsia Creek. Workings are now 
 carried on for the most part at higher levels. 
 
 In the New River watershed the recent alluvia of almost every 
 creek have been worked for gold, and of the Rutherglen district, 
 within the watershed of Saltwater Creek, the same thing may be said. 
 The various lesser streams and gully-creeks need not, therefore, be 
 here more closely described. 
 
 In the Grey Valley, below Brunnerton, there are no gold-workings 
 in the low grounds along the river- banks. At the upper end of the 
 Brnnner Gorge there are workings on the banks of the river, and 
 again at intervals gold has been obtained up to the junction of Ford's 
 Creek and the Blackball Creek with the Grey River. At one place 
 a considerable amount of plant has been erected for the working of 
 the low-level river-gravels close under the terrace. In Langdon's, 
 Ruby, and Nugget Creeks, and the beds of several other streams 
 draining from the eastern slopes of the Mount Davy Range, the 
 modern alluvia have been worked for gold since the earlier discoveries 
 made in the Grey Valley, and, by a limited population of miners, are 
 still being worked. In all these creeks the wash and gold is in part 
 derived from cements at the base of the coal-measures, but in greater 
 part from the denudation of a narrow belt of gold-bearing slate and 
 sandstone country, which, in a wedge-shaped area, is prolonged along 
 the middle lower slope of the Mount Davy Range nearly to the right- 
 hand branch of Ford's Creek. 
 
 In Ford's Creek, gold-workings have been carried on in both 
 branches, and a large area on the south-west bank of the left branch 
 has been worked, chiefly by Chinamen. No part of Ford's Creek 
 drains from slate country, and none of its gravels are due to the 
 action of the Grey River. Its gold is of such a quality that it 
 cannot have had the same source as that found in the Blackball, and 
 it remains, therefore, but to infer that the gold of Ford's Creek has 
 been derived from the conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing 
 series, which, as a coarse breccia conglomerate, has a large develop-
 
 28 GEOLOGICAL EEPOETS. 
 
 ment within the watershed, and of which much detritus is mixed up 
 with the slaty portion of the gold-bearing wash. 
 
 In Blackball Creek all the wash of the valley may be considered 
 recent. It is wholly derived from the slates and sandstones of the 
 Maitai series, that form the neighbouring part of the Paparoa Range, 
 and which within this watershed are impregnated with quartz-reefs, 
 some of which are of considerable dimensions. The inference usually 
 made, that the gold comes from these rocks, is thus evidently correct, 
 as there are no other than auriferous Maitai rocks in that part of 
 the valley where the chief workings are carried on. 
 
 In the valley of the Roaring Mey there is an alluvial flat near 
 the source of the stream which is known to be gold-bearing ; but in 
 this very little work has been done up to the present 'time, it being 
 thought necessary to bottom the alluvial deposits in the flat, where 
 the ground is likely to be deep and wet. From a study of this 
 during the past year, it appears that this upper basin of the Roaring 
 Meg has at one time been a lake, which, filled in to the level of 
 the outlet, had then laid over the lacustrine deposit a stratum of 
 coarse river-shingle, which, resting on the false bottom of the lacus- 
 trine series, are the only gravels that are likely to be worth prospect- 
 ing. As this area of unworked ground lies directly in the line of 
 the Upper Blackball and Moonlight Diggings, and has derived its 
 gravels from the same rocks (the Maitai series, impregnated with 
 quartz-reefs), it is fairly reasonable to expect within this, workable 
 deposits of gold. After the Meg leaves the ranges it flows over an 
 alluvial flat to its junction with the lower Moonlight. Healy's Gully 
 owes its modern auriferous deposits probably to the action of the 
 Meg before the stream assumed its present course to join the Moon- 
 light. 
 
 In the Moonlight Valley the auriferous gravels are mainly derived 
 from the destruction of the surrounding Maitai slates and sandstones. 
 To a small extent gold may have been derived from a development of 
 breccia conglomerate at the base of the coal-bearing series that, from 
 the north-east, reaches into the bed of the creek opposite the town- 
 ship. The valley of this stream, also the valleys of some lesser neigh- 
 bouring creeks, has been famous for the coarse and nuggetty character 
 of the gold found in their alluvial deposits. But in the mode of its 
 occurrence the gold is very patchy, and for long periods the miners 
 work without any return or sufficient reward for their labour. On 
 the whole, however, they are well satisfied with the results, and most 
 of the miners have worked in the near vicinity of where they now are 
 since the first of the rush, or since their arrival at Moonlight. 
 
 In Garden Gully a great collection of small nuggets and coarse 
 pieces of gold was found at the junction of a small creek coming from
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 29 
 
 the west and joining the main stream below the township. This 
 tributary creek scoured out its upper course and projected the detritus 
 over a precipice, where, over a coal-seam, a waterfall was formed ; 
 and, at the foot of the cliff, a shingle-fan, or talus, accumulated. In 
 this modern deposit a mixture of gravel, tree-roots, and vegetable 
 mud a very large quantity of gold was found. This happened some 
 years ago. More recently, a systematic working of the same area 
 has been undertaken, but, up to the present time, without any satis- 
 factory result. Gold-workings are carried on in the valley of Moon- 
 light Creek to and below B.A. Creek; but further down, though there 
 are considerable areas of comparatively promising river-flats, that so 
 far seem to have been very little prospected. Next to Moonlight, 
 following the Grey Valley upwards, is Barker's and Caledonian Creeks. 
 In the first of these the recent alluvial auriferous deposits are derived 
 mainly from high-level terraces and from a development of "Old -man 
 bottom," which from Blackball Creek extends along this side of the 
 Grey Valley as far as the eastern side of Caledonian Creek. The 
 gold-workings in Barker's Creek are not at the present time of great 
 importance. In Caledonian Creek and its tributary, Shellback Creek, 
 a large area of recent alluvium has been turned over, and there is still 
 a considerable population, chiefly Chinamen, engaged in gold-mining 
 within the watershed. The gold in the modern wash is partly derived 
 from " Old-man bottom " forming hills in the middle part of the 
 valley, partly from Maitai slates crossing Shellback Creek near its 
 source, and partly from the breccia conglomerate at the base of the 
 coal-bearing series, which, having a great development farther to the 
 eastward, reaches west, as has been said, into the Moonlight Creek 
 at the township. 
 
 In Slaty Creek the recent alluvial gold obtained from the bed of 
 the stream has mainly been derived from the conglomerates under 
 the coal, which within this watershed has a very great development. 
 
 In Black-sand Creek, a tributary branch of Big River, the recent 
 alluvia are confined to a narrow and deep valley among mountains of 
 breccia conglomerate ; and, as the creek does not reach through or 
 beyond these breccia conglomerates, it is evident that the gold in the 
 modern creek-wash has its source in these. 
 
 Beyond the watershed of Slaty or Big River, the recent alluvial 
 deposits of the Grey Valley and the valley of the Little Grey are not 
 auriferous, or not sufficiently so as to have induced the working of 
 them. The surface shingle of this part is mainly derived from 
 granite and gneiss forming the greater part of the adjoining Paparoa 
 Range ; and it is owing, apparently, to the non-auriferous character 
 of these rocks that on this side of the valley no gold-workings extend 
 beyond the valley of Slaty Creek or Big River.
 
 30 GEOLOGICAL REFOKTK. 
 
 On the south-east side of the Grey Valley the recent gold-bearing 
 deposits in the valley of Still water Creek and Maori Gully are 
 partly derived from " Old-man bottom " or from glacier deposits, of 
 which ample evidence is furnished by the large erratic boulders 
 found in the gold-workings. 
 
 Over the Arnold Flat, from Lake Brunner to the Grey River, there 
 is a broad extent of modern river-shingle, but g^ld-working over this 
 is confined to a limited distance along the banks of tht Arnold. The 
 northern side of the Arnold Flat, towards the No Town Hills, is 
 supposed to be gold-bearing in the deep ground ; and the several 
 creeks draining from the hills on to the flat, by the denudation of the 
 gravels of the " Old-man bottom," must have carried forward auri- 
 ferous material now lodged in the beds and lower valleys of those 
 streams, or by such carried forward to the north-eastern margin of the 
 Arnold Flat. From the southern slopes of the No Town Hills to the 
 Big Grey the recent alluvial deposits of every stream, large or small, 
 are gold-bearing, and for the most part have been worked, yielding a 
 rich return to the miner. By far the greater amount of such gold 
 has been derived from the gravels of Pliocene date, which arc here 
 spoken of as " Old-man bottom." A portion of the gold found on 
 the banks of the Ahaura River may, indeed, have been brought from 
 the back-country beyond the area covered by the " Old-man bottom," 
 or washed out of old high-level river- gravels, or directly from 
 auriferous reefs in the schists or unaltered rocks of that part of the 
 district. The amount so carried forward from the back-country can, 
 however, be but small, as the gold-workings along the Ahaura almost 
 cease on passing the south-east boundary of the deposits of " Old- 
 man gravels." The many creeks which owe their gold to deposits of 
 auriferous strata in the Pliocene gravel formation will be mentioned 
 and described in detail in another part of this report. 
 
 Ill the Valley of the Biff Grey the gravels of the river-bed and the 
 lower river-flats are at the present time being worked for gold, and 
 would be to a greater extent than they are were it not that there are 
 difficulties in bringing water on to the ground where the richer 
 deposits are known to be. This is due to objections raised by owners 
 of freehold sections to the passing of water-races through their lands. 
 Higher up the river-valley that is, above the junction of the 
 Alexander River, and thence through the granite gorge to and along 
 some parts of the Brown Grey, gold has been obtained from the 
 modern gravels of the river-bed, but no continuous workings of 
 consequence have taken place. This is imputed to the difficulty 
 of prospecting, and the distance of the auriferous localities from 
 settlement ; but this may be doubted, as in many other parts of the 
 Coast far greater difficulties in the way of getting forward provisions
 
 McKAY. South- West Nelson and Northern Westland. 31 
 
 have been overcome; and the failure to prove the Upper Grey Valley 
 a rich goldfield has rather been the lack of payable gold in the 
 alluvial deposits than the impossibility of working these, or the trans- 
 port of provisions to where the gold is said to occur. The above 
 remarks apply also to the Upper Ahaura, and in this latter case even 
 with greater force, since the Upper Ahaura has been from the early 
 days of settlement on the Coast a route of travel to the East Coast, 
 whence sheep and cattle were driven from the pastoral districts of 
 south-east Nelson and northern Canterbury. 
 
 Little Grey Valley. 
 
 In Snowy Creek there is a large extent ^f ground, chiefly on the 
 south side of the stream, that comes under this head, and has been 
 worked for gold. Tiie gold-workings extend nearly three miles up 
 from the junction of the creek with the Blackwater. The gold has 
 wholly been derived from the high-level terraces of the Big Grey, 
 formed at a time when this ran at a high level, and when its junction 
 with the Little Grey was where the junction of the Blackwater with 
 the latter stream now is. 
 
 In the Blackwater the recently-formed and low-lying flats are 
 auriferous for about seven miles above the Greymouth Reef ton Road. 
 The principal workings are confined within the distance to which the 
 " Old-man bottom " extends up the valley, and these beds are there- 
 fore the great source of the gold found in the Blackwater Valley. 
 Above where the gravels of the " Old-man bottom " cease and slate- 
 rock makes its appearance, there is a sudden and marked decrease in 
 the area of the gold-workings, though these yet continue along the 
 banks of the creek to the distance stated. 
 
 In the Biff River, a tributary of the Blackwater, the alluvial 
 workings have been carried almost to the source of the stream, at 
 and near the Big River Quartz-mine. The source of the gold in 
 these up-stream workings is evidently the Maitai slates, which appear 
 at the surface over this part of the country. 
 
 In Adamstown Creek the alluvial wash along the bottom of the 
 valley has been almost wholly derived from the gravels of the " Old- 
 man bottom," which form the hills bounding the valley as far as this 
 has yielded payable gold. 
 
 In the Valley of Antonio's Creek the recent alluvial deposits of 
 the low grounds along tne main streams have been derived principally 
 from the gravels of the "Old-man bottom," but also to a consider- 
 able extent from the slate country towards the source of the creek. 
 The Pliocene gravels do not reach further up the main stream than 
 four miles from the Little Grey Valley ; but above this point there 
 have been extensive gold-workings on the slate bottom, where also
 
 32 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 the hills bounding this upper part of the valley are composed of 
 Maitai slate and sandstone. In the smaller tributary streams, more 
 especially those draining from the south, the narrow gully-bottoms 
 have been worked for gold a mile or more distant from the main 
 valley, and in some cases almost to the watershed leading into Adams- 
 town Creek. 
 
 In Slab Hut Creek there has been a large amount of ground 
 turned over, both above and below the gorge. Above the gorge some 
 of the lesser creeks have been worked to their very sources. The 
 beds of these show the presence of Maitai slates, but on the tops of 
 the hills towards Antonio's Flat the " Old-man bottom " is present, 
 so that both these formations may be a source of gold to the recent 
 alluvial gravels along the course of Slab-hut Creek. 
 
 East Side of Inangahua Valley. 
 
 In Devil's Creek and Maori Gully the alluvial gold of the recent 
 gravel deposits is derived partly from the Maitai slates and partly 
 from the " Old-man bottom," also partly from a series of high-level 
 gravels that cap the hills in the vicinity of Merrijigs, and thence 
 extend along the plateau-like ranges towards the source of Big Biver. 
 Extensive mining in these beds has taken place in the creeks men- 
 tioned and their various tributaries. 
 
 In Soldier's Gully also the recent auriferous gravels of the creek- 
 bed have had their source partly from the Maitai slates and partly 
 from a development of " Old-man bottom " Iving at the source of 
 the creek, on the water-divide between this, Liverpool Bill's Creek, 
 and a tributary of the Devil's Creek. 
 
 In Rainy Creek, in Lankey's Gully, and along Murray Creek the 
 recent alluvial auriferous deposits have derived their gold partly from 
 the auriferous Maitai slates that occur within the watersheds of these 
 creeks, or and this to a considerable extent from quartzose cements 
 lying at the base of the coal-bearing series. 
 
 In Painkiller Creek the source of the gold is the same as in the 
 case of Rainy Creek, &c. 
 
 In Burke's Creek the tailings swept down by the stream from the 
 battery-sites near the source of the creek are being treated for gold. 
 
 In the Inangahua Valley, below the junction of the two main 
 branches, the gold found in the bed of the river necessarily may have 
 been derived from all or any of the older auriferous rocks occurring 
 in the valley. A few men from time to time work on the beaches 
 above the junction of Boatman's Creek, but no important digging has 
 ever been done on the immediate banks of the Inangahua River. 
 
 North Branch of the Inangahua. There are two or three creeks 
 that, taking their rise on the front range between the Waitahu
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 33 
 
 or north branch of the Inangahua and Boatman's Creek, below 
 Capleston, have along their courses alluvial deposits that have 
 been worked for gold. The high terraces, downs, and hill-slopes 
 drained by these lesser creeks, of which Fryingpau Creek is perhaps 
 the most important, are formed of old high-level deposits, " Old- 
 man bottom," quartz drifts, and conglomerates, under the coal 
 formation or auriferous Maitai slates, and each and all of these 
 different gold-bearing formations probably have yielded auriferous 
 material to the modern gravels along the different creek-beds of 
 this part. 
 
 In Boatman's Creek, where the area of recent alluvial deposit is 
 even more considerable, all the sources immediately above mentioned 
 have contributed to the auriferous character of the gravels in the 
 creek-bed below Capleston. Unfortunately, below the point where 
 the valley widens, the low grounds along the banks of the creek are 
 likely to prove wet, and the sinking to bottom on the " Old-man 
 gravels " on which the recent deposits rest will be, as a consequence, 
 difficult. In the upper part of Boatman's the gold is derived from 
 Cretaceo-tertiary conglomerates and gueissic rocks. 
 
 In Little Boatman's Creek the gold is derived from Maitai slates 
 in Specimen Hill, from conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing 
 series, and from gravels of the " Old-man bottom," all these sources 
 contributing material towards the formation of the recent gravels in 
 the bed of the creek. 
 
 In Italian Gully and its different branches the main source of the 
 auriferous wash is the slate belt extending along the front ranges 
 between Boatman's and Larry's Creeks. In the lower part of the 
 creek, however, the gravels of the " Old-man bottom" are also a 
 source of supply. 
 
 In Larry's Creek the main source of the recent gravels in and 
 along the river-bed is the gneissic and mica-schist rocks of the Brunner 
 Mountains, but to a considerable extent gold must have been supplied 
 from hills and plateau table-lands formed of Pliocene gravels, that are 
 present on both sides of the lower valley before the creek enters upon 
 the lower plain formed by the Inangahua River. In. the upper part 
 of Larry's Creek, gold and gold-workings are found right into the 
 heart of the mountain chain in which the several sources of the creek 
 take their rise. 
 
 In Landing Creek and its several tributaries in the lower part, 
 where gold-workings are first met with, the recent deposits are a mix- 
 ture of the gravels of the " Old-man bottom " and slate rubble from 
 the western slopes of the Brunner Mountains. Further up Little 
 Landing Creek the bottom is " Old-man gravels," and the wash 
 largely composed of the same material. This stream also reaches 
 3
 
 34 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 back to the slopes of the mountain range, where the auriferous slates 
 are found. 
 
 Between Landing Creek and Coal Creek there are high grounds 
 covered with auriferous wash, which will have to be considered under 
 another head ; but there are also numerous creeks in this direction 
 the beds of which have been worked for gold. These, and the several 
 creeks that take their rise beyond Coal Creek and fall into the Buller 
 River, have not been particularly examined, but it is well known that 
 the more important of them have been worked for gold, 
 
 West Side of the Inangahua Valley. 
 
 At the mouth of Stony Creek, which joins the Inangahua opposite 
 the mouth of Boatman's Creek, there are heavy terraces of gravel in 
 which a little gold has been found. To make this ground pay, 
 hydraulic sluicing must be the means employed. 
 
 In Fletcher's Creek and some other creeks on this side of the 
 valley gold is found in the recent wash along the beds of the streams, 
 but it does not appear that systematic and remunerative workings 
 have at any time been carried on on this side of the valley of the 
 Inaugahua. 
 
 From what has been stated it will be apparent that, in most 
 instances, the source of the gold in the beds and alluvial banks of all 
 but the great rivers has been the gravels of the " Old-man bottom," 
 which, it has been shown, is either present in or never far distant 
 from the localities where important workings have been carried on. 
 
 Coast-line between Greymouth and Westport. 
 
 Neither in the Seven-mile nor in the Nine-mile Creek can there 
 be said to be any gold-workings in gravels that rightly have to be 
 considered under this head. 
 
 In the valley of the Ten-mile Creek there have been gold-workings 
 up to the first branch going to the south, while in the north or main 
 branch of the stream prospecting has been carried almost to the 
 source of the creek. The gold found in the Ten-mile Creek is of a 
 coarse description. Part of it is undoubtedly derived from the slates 
 and sandstones in which the upper part of the valley is excavated. 
 Part of it also is undoubtedly derived from the conglomerates at 
 the base of the coal-bearing series, of which more in the proper 
 place. 
 
 In Baker's Creek, at the southern end of the Seventeen-mile 
 Beach, gold is found, and workings, though to a limited extent, have 
 been carried on near the lower part of the creek. The gold in this 
 stream has, as in the case of the Upper Ten-mile Creek, been derived 
 solely from reefs occurring in the Maitai slate formation.
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson ami Northern Westland. 
 
 In Fagin's Creek gold is got along the bed of the stream to the 
 foot of the high range iti which the creek takes its rise, nearly oppo- 
 site the source of the Ten-mile Creek. A considerable amount of 
 work has been done along the bed of this creek, but more in the way 
 of prospecting than of systematic working. The gold appears to be 
 patchy, as in Moonlight, and is of such character as indicates the 
 near presence of reefs. Near the point where the creek leaves the 
 hills it has broken through the Barrytown Lead, and here the greater 
 part of the gold must be considered to have been derived from that 
 part of the lead which the action of the creek has carried away. 
 
 In Granity Creek no gold has yet been found above the point 
 where it is crossed by the Barrytown Lead, and a number of smaller 
 creeks crossed before reaching Canoe Creek are auriferous only be- 
 cause they also have broken through and carried away part of the 
 lead. 
 
 In Canoe Creek a very considerable amount of gold-workings 
 have been carried on, and most of the gold was obtained from the 
 recent low-level terraces and gravels of the creek-bed. Like the 
 other streams flowing from this part of the Paparoa Range west to 
 the seaboard, it has cut through and in part destroyed the Barrytown 
 Lead. 
 
 Lawson's and Scott's Creeks, rising on the slopes of Hawera 
 Mountain in like manner, after eroding gold-bearing slates, break 
 through the northern continuation of the Barrytown Lead, and, thus 
 enriched, have no doubt carried a portion of the finer gold to the 
 lower ground and the sea-beach of the present day. 
 
 Talus formed by Partial Destruction of Barrytown Lead. The 
 Barrytown Lead, between Fagin's Creek and Canoe Creek, partly by 
 the action of the creeks breaking through it and partly by the forma- 
 tion of a talus at the foot of the terrace cliff, has yielded up a con- 
 siderable percentage of its gold, and this now lies buried in or under 
 the more recent accumulations formed as just described, or that have 
 been brought down by the different creeks that intersect the lead. 
 
 Canoe Creek to Buller River. It is somewhat remarkable that 
 scarcely any of the small rivers between Canoe Creek and the Buller 
 River have yielded payable gold from the recent gravels of their 
 present beds, and this in the face of the fact that many of the high- 
 level terraces have yielded handsomely. 
 
 Lower Buller Valley. rin the 'Lower Buller itself little or, no 
 gold has been obtained till its sands came within the action of the 
 tide. 
 
 In the Wftimanyaroa River, above the township, most of the gold- 
 workings are beiug carried on in the recent gravels of the beds and 
 banks of the streams. 'The gold is of a coarse description, and
 
 36 GEOLOGICAL KEPOKTS. 
 
 probably has been derived from the auriferous Maitai slates that, 
 east of the granite belt, are developed throughout the watershed as 
 the fundamental rock, on which rest the Cretaceo-tertiary or Cre- 
 taceous coal-measures. 
 
 Butler Valley, from the foot of the Gorge to the Inangahua 
 Junction. Below the junction of the Little Ohika the shingle of the 
 river-bed and of the terrace-banks, where any such are formed, are 
 mainly granite detritus brought down by the Big Ohika or by lesser 
 streams, or mere falls of granite rock from the precipitous mountains 
 on each side of this part of the gorge. There are 110 gold-workings 
 on the beaches of this part of the gorge. At and opposite the 
 Twelve-mile, gold-workings have been and still to some extent are 
 carried on. Above this point, to the " Old Diggings " at Berlin's, 
 a few miners are scattered along the banks of the river, working 
 portions of the banks, but preferably washing on the beaches when 
 the river is low. At and near Berlin's a number of claims are still 
 being worked, all of them situated on what must be regarded as 
 recent deposits by the river. 
 
 Above Berlin's to the Inangahua Junction there are, at the 
 present time, no workings on the bed or in the immediate banks of 
 the river; but at Grainger's Point, near Coal Creek, one or two 
 claims are being worked on the point, at an elevation considerably 
 above the river, so that properly this has to be considered under a 
 following heading. 
 
 Butter River, from the Inangahua Junction to the Lyell. Within 
 the past twelve months beach-workings were in operation on the river- 
 beaches opposite the Inangahua Junction. Further up the river a 
 number of river-claims are being worked, and here also is situated 
 the Cock-sparrow dredge. Alluvial flats of moderate width con- 
 tinue up the river to the bridge, a mile and a half from the Lyell Town- 
 ship, and on the northern bank of the river there are also bush-clad 
 terraces reported to be gold-bearing that must be considered as coming 
 under this head. 
 
 In New Creek, making junction with the Buller below Lyell Bridge, 
 the alluvial deposits of the bed of the creek are mainly derived from 
 the auriferous slates that form the neighbouiing ranges arid hills, but 
 they do not seem to carry much gold. 
 
 Upper Buller Valley. 
 
 Buller Gorge, from Lyell Creek to Fern Flat. From the bridge 
 below the Lyell to the mouth of Lyell Creek there are a number of 
 claims working on the east bank of the river, but the water-supply 
 being limited, the present workings are less extensive than the ground 
 available might warrant, though this at best is but a narrow strip
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 37 
 
 along the brow of the deeper part of the gorge through which the 
 river flows. Above the junction of Lyell Creek the same character 
 of deposit prevails namely, a ledge on the slope of the range on 
 one or other side of the gorge (usually on the north side), below 
 which, in a narrow channel, the river makes its way. These deposits 
 are mostly worked for gold, but with appliances and such a water- 
 supply, as makes it evident that with improved means far greater 
 returns might be obtained. These deposits, though generally above 
 high flood-mark, are, nevertheless, to be regarded as having been 
 deposited by the river during the modern period. 
 
 In Lyell Creek the recent alluvial deposits are mostly confined to 
 the bed and immediate banks of the creek, where small flats lie upon 
 one or other side of it. Lyell Creek and some of its tributaries 
 were rich in gold, the greater part of which has been directly liberated 
 to the shingle of the creek from the auriferous slate ranges, along 
 which it finds its way to its junction with the Buller. Part of its 
 gold, however, and certainly that of some of its tributaries, has been 
 derived from older gravel deposits, a remnant of which is preserved 
 on Manuka Flat, a high-level deposit situated between Lyell Creek, 
 the Eight-mile Creek, aud the Buller River. 
 
 In the Maruia Valley all the narrow flats that lie along each or 
 either bank of the river must be considered as belonging to the series 
 of deposits under consideration. That at and above Castleana's is 
 the largest in extent, and also the highest above the present channel 
 of the river ; but, having regard to the volume and power of the 
 stream, these river-flats are as much due to recent action as are 
 others along the valleys of lesser streams that, holding the same pro- 
 portionate relationship, are undoubtedly regarded as due to the action 
 of the stream, in such times and manner that they are correctly treated 
 of under this head. To the junction of the Warbeck all the deposits 
 along each bank of the Maruia come under this head. Wherever 
 along the banks of the river there are gravels they are gold-bearing. 
 In the Middle Valley, extending from the junction of the Warbeck 
 to the junction of the Alfred River, at the foot of the Cannibal 
 Gorge, the recent deposits of the valley lie along the lower grounds 
 as narrow river-flats as far as Walker's Homestead. Above the junc- 
 tion of Station Creek the low river-flats expand, and at places have a 
 width of two miles. Gold is found on the banks of the river in the 
 lower part of this division of the Maruia Valley, but it does not 
 appear to be present in paying quantities above the junction of 
 Station Creek. 
 
 In the Warbeck, and a tributary of the Warbeck (the Rappa- 
 hanock), there is some extent of alluvial lands, and notably in the 
 Rappahanock these are gold-bearing, the gold present being derived
 
 38 GEOLOGICAL REPOBTS. 
 
 from conglomerates belonging to the lower division of the Cretaceo- 
 tertiary rocks., which have a very considerable development in this 
 past of the district. 
 
 In Station Creek the auriferous alluvia have been worked for gold 
 to a considerable extent, these are in great part derived from gravels 
 of older date, brought down the Maruia Valley by the agency of ice, 
 or by rivers, when this part of the valley formed the basin of an 
 extensive lake; but the gold, it would appear, has been for the most 
 part derived from the conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing 
 series. 
 
 In the Alfred River the recent alluvial deposits are the results of 
 the degradation of the schist ranges to the eastward surrounding the 
 sources of the river; the gold is therefore most probably derived from 
 reefs in these rocks. 
 
 Buller,from Fern Flat to Junction of Mataira. At Fern Flat the 
 banks of the river have been worked for gold, and the Buller dredge 
 is at present placed on a portion of the river-bed immediately opposite 
 the accommodation-house. Higher up the river valley the chief 
 extent of the alluvial flat land lies on the opposite or south side of 
 the river, on both sides of the lower Matakitaki, and constitutes the 
 farming district of Hampden. 
 
 In Doughboy Creek the outer and lower alluvial area is a part of 
 that already described as due to the action of the Buller above and 
 below the junction of the Matakitaki ; but in the upper valley leading 
 to the Glencairn Saddle, by which the Maruia Valley is reached, the 
 auriferous alluvial gravels are of local origin, probably derived from 
 the conglomerates of coal-bearing series. 
 
 In the Matakitaki Valley, up to the junction of the Gienroy 
 River, all the gold-workings are situated in the low grounds along the 
 banks of the river, and are consequently in river alluvia of recent 
 date. The river keeps close under the range of hills on the western 
 side of the valley, and the high-level terraces are all on the eastern 
 side, but whether these should, in the lower part of the valley, be 
 separated from the recent deposits may be doubted. All the gold of 
 this part of the Matakitaki Valley must be considered as having been 
 derived from either older gravels above the Gienroy junction, or from 
 the conglomerates of the coal-bearing series. 
 
 In the Upper Matakitaki the river has cut through very heavy 
 deposits of shingle, that now form high banks on each side of the 
 river. Narrow flats lie along the river-banks at the lower level, and 
 these alone have to be considered at the present time. In the deeper 
 terraces the bottom gravels appear to have been deposited in a 
 lake, the outlet of which has been cut away by the action of the 
 river, In this respect, therefore, the Upper Matakitaki deposits
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 3$ 
 
 resemble those of the Maruia Valley above the junction of the 
 Warbeck. 
 
 In the Glenroy Valley there are a number of terrace flats 
 which may be' considered under this head, while along other parts of 
 its course the stream has cut its way through the conglomerates 
 of the coal-bearing series, forming thus a narrow channel not favour- 
 able for the retention of gravels. Further towards the source of 
 the stream the valley \videns, and the alluvial flats along the river 
 are of considerable extent. There are a variety of rocks present 
 in the upper part of the Glenroy watershed, and from the Maitai 
 slates and the schist rocks present some part of the gold found 
 in the valley has without doubt been derived ; but, from the great 
 development of the conglomerates at the base of the Cretaceo-tertiary 
 series, it is presumed that these have yielded the greatest proportion 
 of the gold obtained and yet to be obtained from the alluvial deposits 
 of the valley. 
 
 (c.) Littoral. These deposits consist of the moving sands and 
 shingle of the tide-way between high- and low-water mark, and the 
 series of but slightly raised beaches that generally lie at the foot 
 of a higher terrace, or bold rocky land, and which do not exceed 
 25 ft. above sea-level. Such deposits are found along the coast-line 
 from the mouth of the Mikonui to the Hokitika River, and along 
 this part the gold is generally obtained from within, at or near 
 high-water mark ; but towards the mouth of the Hokitika, black- 
 sand deposits, rich in gold, lie at a considerable distance inland 
 from the coast-line ; those on Craig's freehold, on the south side 
 of the river, have yielded during the past three years a large 
 amount of gold. On the North Beach, and thence to the mouth of 
 the Arahura, the. same character of deposit generally prevails 
 viz., lavers of black sand, containing gold, overlain or underlain bv 
 grey sand, the overlying grey sands being often drifted on to the 
 black-sand layer by the action of the winds, which drives inland 
 from the tide-way the lighter sand-grains. Qf such character are 
 the deposits along the coast-line between the Three-mile, north of 
 Hokitika, and the mouth of the Arahura. North of the Arahura 
 the back leads usually rest on or are contained in shingle, as may 
 be seen in the ground worked along the foot of the higher terrace 
 between the Kumara Railway-station and the beach opposite that 
 place. 
 
 North of the Teremakau to the mouth of the Grey River this 
 is also the general character of the deposits immediately inland 
 of the tide-way. South of Greymouth, as far as the mouth of the 
 New River, these workings are very extensive, and sometimes the 
 amount of gravel removed to reach the gold-bearing stratum ha^
 
 40 GEOLOGICAL EEPOETS. 
 
 been considerable. Like conditions prevail north of the Grey 
 River to Point Elizabeth, and on the Seven-mile and Nine-mile 
 Benches. Away from the vicinity of the mouths of the larger 
 rivers, and from an abrupt coast-line, the shingle passes into sands 
 on the low sloping beaches, and the black-sand auriferous deposit 
 under the action of the tide separates into distinct beds. This is 
 the condition of the auriferous deposits on the Seventeen-mile 
 Beach, abreast of Barry town, and of all the beaches up to the 
 Fox River. Nor is it greatly different between the Fox River and 
 Cape Foulwind. North of the Buller the shingly type of beach 
 again makes its appearance, and continues to the Waimangaroa, 
 beyond which for the present it is not necessary to trace this 
 series of deposits. 
 
 The amount of gold raised from these littoral deposits has been 
 very great, and although "beach-combing " must gradually become 
 less and less remunerative, and the black-sand leads not so easy to 
 work, and possibly also, what are left of them, not so rich in gold ; 
 yet from these deposits there has yet to be won, perhaps, more gold 
 than has hitherto been obtained from them. Dredging of the back 
 leads between the beach and the high ground at the back thereof 
 has not been attended hitherto with a very marked degree of success ; 
 but it is not to be thought of that the ground will remain unworked 
 when the proper machinery for, and the correct methods of, working 
 the ground has been ascertained. At some places these back leads 
 should prove very rich, generally where the accumulation has taken 
 place on the protected side of a bluff or projecting point of land. 
 
 IA. PLEISTOCKNE. 
 
 (a.) High-level Old River-channels and Terraces. In the southern 
 part of the district, between Ross and Rimu, it is doubtful whether 
 gravel appearing on and near the road-line between Limestone Creek 
 and the Half-way House, should be regarded as above or below the 
 moraines that form the hilly country between the Totara and Rimu. 
 Rimu Flat is, however, clearly an old channel of the Hokitika River, 
 as has already been stated in another report.* Tunnel Terrace in 
 the Waimea, possibly also Quinn's Terrace opposite Stafford town, and 
 part of Kelly's Terrace, should be referred to the action of the Ara- 
 hura within the Waimea Valley. These, at most places, are possibly 
 rearranged glacier deposits. Along the edge of the Upper Kapitea 
 basin, near Italian Gully and Callaghan's, there are auriferous 
 deposits that should be referred to this period. A large part of the 
 plain, from Kumara to the beach, has been due to the action of the 
 
 * Report on the Northern Part of Westland : Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, 
 p. 162 :
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 41 
 
 Teremakau, though immediately under the Dillmanstowu hills the 
 surface may be due to more recent action. 
 
 In the Greenstone Valley, the old channel of the Teremakau, 
 starting from abreast of the special settlement in the Teremakau 
 Valley and running north to the Duke of Edinburgh Terrace, opposite 
 the Greenstone Township, thence passes again to the east side of the 
 Greenstone Valley, and continues on this side to near the present 
 junction of the Greenstone with the Teremakau, has left along this 
 line a considerable area of high-level river-gravels that, at the present 
 time, are being largely worked for gold. Before the Teremakau 
 River-channel or the Greenstone Valley had been cut down to their 
 present levels, the Teremakau must have wandered over the plains 
 between Kumara and the sea, and at the same time deposited the 
 high-level gravels on its northern bank which are now being worked 
 for gold, from the mouth of the Greenstone and Cape Terrace to and 
 beyond Westbrook, in the direction of Candlelight. A large area of 
 high-level river-gravels extends from the foot of the granite moun- 
 tains to the eastern foot of the high lands surrounding the sources 
 of New River, between the Greenstone Valley and the Big Hohonu 
 River (falling into Lake Brunner). These, however, do not appear 
 to be gold-bearing, being for the most part reasserted glacier 
 moraines, the material of which has been brought here by the Upper 
 Teremakau glacier, which, passing through the gap in the granite 
 mountains, filled the basin of Lake Brunner, and formed a series of 
 moraines on its west and south-west sides. 
 
 In the Grey Valley, old high-level river-terraces occur on the 
 right bank of the river near to the Brunner Mine and Taylorville, 
 and are at the present time being worked for gold in Sulky Gully. 
 West of Taylorville these grounds reach a height of 440 ft. above sea- 
 level. 
 
 Above the Brunner Gorge, on the right bank of the river and 
 west side of the valley, gravels of this description occur only as 
 patches, till reaching the valley of Blackball Creek. In Blackball 
 Creek the principal deposit of this description lies between the lower 
 parts of Blackball and Ford's Creek, and extends over the area on 
 which the township is built, and that south-east of Kiusella's, near 
 the point where these streams enter upon the Grey River bed. 
 
 To the right of the track from Blackball to Moonlight, the Meg 
 Stream has deposited high-level gravels between the upper end of 
 German Gully and Healy's Gully, near the point where the Meg 
 leaves the ranges. 
 
 In the valley of Moonlight Creek, high-level gravels are present 
 from the terraces at the back of the township, across the head of 
 Garden Gully, and thence extend along the foot of the range in the
 
 4-2 GEOLOGICAL EEPOETS. 
 
 direction of the mouth of the Meg Gorge. Between the lower part 
 of Slaty Creek and the Grey, below the junction of the Little Grey, 
 it may be inferred that a considerable area of high terrace country 
 should be considered under this head ; but the country has not been 
 explored, for the reason that there are no tracks through it except 
 along the banks of Slaty Creek to Blacksand Creek, and the bare 
 country on the Paparoa Range. The same may be said of a good 
 deal of country lying between the Little Grey and the Paparoa 
 Range. 
 
 On the opposite south-east side of the Little Grey Valley there 
 are no deposits that may be referred to under this head till passing the 
 Blackwater ; the eastern side of the low grounds of the Little Grey 
 Valley is bounded by high terraces formed by the action of the Big Grey. 
 These terraces are of great area and altitude. They stretch back 
 from the banks of the present river-channel a distance of between 
 four and five miles. The first formed and highest terrace lies to the 
 north-east of the Snowy River, and between Snowy River and the 
 Blackwater; the terrace-gravels rests on "Old-man bottom." They 
 show their distinctness in comparison with the "Old-man bottom " in 
 that they have not vet been denuded and sculptured into sharp ridges 
 and deep gullies, as almost everywhere is the case with the " Old- 
 man gravels." It is true that the Snowy River Valley has been 
 excavated along the line between the fourth and third terrace, and 
 that its tributaries form shingle gulches and gullies extending a short 
 distance into the terrace on each hand ; and on the end of the 
 terraces, fronting the Little Grey Valley, gullies have also been cut 
 into the third terrace. The second and first terraces are much as 
 when first formed. Gold is generally distributed through the material 
 of these terraces, and, as already stated, all the gold obtained from 
 Snowy River has undoubtedly been derived from the third and fourth 
 terraces. 
 
 On the opposite side of the Big Grey, from Mackley's station 
 and Noble's Township to the Clark River and the foot of the Granite 
 Ranges, gravels of like age and mode of formation stretch between the 
 Big Grey and the Ahaura Rivers. On the south-east side of the 
 Grey Valley a high-level terrace stretches along the foot of the hills 
 formed of " Old-man bottom." This fringing high terrace extends 
 up the main gullies running into the hills formed of " Old-man 
 bottom," as, for instance, along the valley of Duffer's Creek ; further 
 to the south-west these terraces fuse with the broader expanse of the 
 Ahaura Plain that lies between. Orwell Creek and the Ahaura River, 
 and which extends some eight miles back from the Grey River. 
 
 Between Lake Hochstetter and Bell Hill there is a considerable 
 extent of alluvial ground, which is of younger date than the Pliocene
 
 McKAY. South- West Nelson and Northern Westland. 43 
 
 gravels of the " Old-man bottom/' yet scarcely due to the action of 
 rivers following their present direction ; these, therefore, must be 
 considered as high-level gravels. The greater part of the Arnold Flat 
 must be considered recent, but on the ridge between Maori Gully and 
 the low grounds along the Arnold there are terraces of gravel that, 
 clearly of river origin, have to be dealt with at this time and under 
 this head. 
 
 Along the coast, from the- mouth of the Grey to Cape Foulwind, 
 there are no deposits that can be rightly considered or described as 
 " Old high-level river-gravels." On its western side the Buller has 
 cut a series of terraces from the level of Addison's Flat to that of the 
 river at the present time. These are terraces of erosion, not of 
 deposit. Higher up the river, on the same side and on the opposite 
 east side, massive high-level terraces stretch north along the foot of 
 the granite ranges. These high-level terraces extend north along 
 the range to Fairdown. 
 
 In the Inangahua Valley such terraces are to be met with on the 
 right bank of the Inangahua, near Reef ton, and again between the 
 Waitahu River and Boatman's Creek ; and in the lower valley they 
 form a high terrace between the lower Inangahua and the Buller, 
 below the junction of the Inangahua. It is from the gravels of this 
 high terrace that the gold came that was obtained from the caves and 
 fissures of the limestone. 
 
 In the Upper Buller, high-level gravels are present on Manuka 
 Flat, between Lyell Creek and the Buller, between the Lyell Township 
 and the Eight-mile. These gravels are at a considerable elevation 
 above the present drainage channels. They appear to be river-gravels, 
 though it has been suggested that they are deposits in the bed of a 
 lake, and this on account of the presence of beds of fine granite sand 
 interbedded with the coarser bouldery wash. The gravels are gold- 
 bearing, but have not proved payable. They should be prospected. 
 Between the Newton and the mouth of the Maruia there are high 
 terraces on the right bank of the Buller which, if water was brought 
 on to them, are likely to develop into profitable workings of consider- 
 aole extent. 
 
 In the Upper Maruia Valley the high-level terraces south of the 
 moraine stretching across the valley, above the junction of the War- 
 beck, perhaps partly lake deposits, are yet in some sense to be re- 
 garded as river-gravels, and have to be dealt with in this place. They 
 stretch up the valley to the mouth of Station Creek. The gravels of 
 the Bog Saddle have also to be considered. These have been de- 
 posited by the Maruia when it was an affluent of, rather the true 
 source, of the Grey River. In the Matakitaki Valley heavy deposits 
 of auriferous gravel on both sides of the river, above the Glenroy
 
 44 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 junction, may be dealt with under this head, though for the matter 
 of that they might be regarded as recent,, seeing that under a con- 
 siderable thickness of these gravels an underlying and evidently un- 
 conformable series is seen, which are yet younger than the gravels 
 of the " Old-man bottom." 
 
 II. PLEISTOCENE AND YOUNGER PLIOCENE. 
 
 (a.) Extended Glacier Deposits outside the Limits of the Moun- 
 tains. The hilly country between the lower course of the Hokitika 
 River and the Totara River, west of the Big Swamp and Con- 
 stitution Hill, forms the most extensive, continuous, and connected 
 area of these deposits. Here and generally they consist mainly of 
 angular morainic material, mostly brought from the unaltered Palaeozoic 
 rocks of the higher part of the Southern Alps, but schist to a limited 
 extent, and a fair proportion of granite rocks, are also present, and at 
 some places predominate. Although the general character of these de- 
 posits is angular and subangular pieces of rock of all sizes, rolled gravels 
 do also occur in association with the less rounded material. In this 
 area they have been encroached on by the action of the Totara River, 
 and reduced, over a considerable breadth of flat country on the north 
 side of the river, to the condition of well-rolled gravels. At other 
 places, along the road from Ross to Rimu, gravels appear, but it 
 cannot always be said whether such gravels overlie, are associated 
 with, or underlie the more angular glacier material. Gold-prospecting 
 has been carried on in these beds to a limited extent only, and it 
 must be said that they have been prospected less than they should 
 have been. The great difficulty in developing the field is the lack 
 of an abundant high-pressure water-supply, such as is available for 
 the Kumara field, and there are almost insuperable difficulties in the 
 way of bringing such a supply from any proposed source on to the 
 ground. At Woodstock, on the west side of the Hokitika River, 
 opposite Kanieri Township, at the Kanieri Township, and along the 
 foot of the Mount Misery Range, glacier moraines lie in the low 
 grounds, and near the Kanieri Township these have been worked to 
 some extent after the manner followed at Kumara. At the Kauieri, 
 however, the deposit occurs at too low a level for the successful 
 working and treating of the auriferous material by the processes 
 hitherto in vogue in the district. 
 
 Below the Kanieri Porks the glacier deposits bend to the eastward, 
 and run along the lower southern slopes of the hills between Kauieri 
 Lake and the Kokatahi Plain. Between the left or main branch of 
 the Kanieri River and the Humphrey's Gully Range glacier moraines 
 are found at a considerable altitude, and thence pass across a saddle 
 in the range into the watershed of the Three-mile Creek, These
 
 McKAY. South- West Nelson and Northern Westland. 45 
 
 deposits are worked for gold at the Kanieri Forks and in the upper 
 part of the Three-mile Creek. 
 
 In the Arahura Valley great accumulations of glacier matter lie 
 along the east side of the valley in the second gorge ; and between 
 Island Hill and the eastern end of the Humphrey's Gully Range a 
 vast moraine has accumulated that at one time stretched across the 
 valley, but now this is cut through to a depth of 500 ft. Along the 
 northern side of the Humphrey's Gully Range moraine deposits 
 extend, at a high level, to Humphrey's Gully Claim, and similar 
 deposits can be traced along the range yet further to the north-west. 
 
 On the north-eastern side of the Arahura, glacier deposits can be 
 traced over almost the whole of the Kawaka Watershed, and round 
 the eastern slopes of the Waimea South Hills, by way of Stony Hill, 
 Duffer's, and Greek's, to Callaghan's, all within the Kapitea water- 
 shed. 
 
 In the upper basin of the Kapitea and Little Kapitea Creeks 
 almost the entire area of drainage by these streams is occupied by 
 morainic matter, slightly modified over particular areas, or by beds 
 of silt deposited in lakes fed by glacier streams. These moraines 
 and other glacier deposits were, within the Kawaka and Kapitea 
 watersheds, mainly, if not wholly, due to the Arahura glacier, 
 which, finding little or no relief to the south and south-west, pressed 
 with great force to the north-west and north, and in the latter 
 direction came in collision with a portion of the Teremakau glacier. 
 These phenomena of the action of ice in the northern part of West- 
 land during the glacier period have been fully described elsewhere ;* 
 and more than a rapid sketch of the areas covered by these deposits 
 need not be given in this place. The Arahura glacier, driven to the 
 north, was met by one great branch of the Teremakau glacier, and 
 thus the Loop-line Hills are on one side formed of materials brought 
 forward by the Arahura glacier, while on the other, the northern side, 
 the material is due to the action of the Teremakau glacier. Yet the 
 Arahura glacier reached forward into the watershed of the Tere- 
 makau River, a little to the seaward of where was the terminal moraine 
 of the Teremakau glacier. As regards the gold-bearing character of 
 the Arahura moraines there can be little doubt, as otherwise it would 
 be required in some other way to explain the presence of the gold over 
 the entire watersheds of the Arahura River and Kapitea Creek, and 
 part of the Teremakau watershed near Dillmanstown. Perhaps such 
 alternative explanation would be the more reasonable if it considered 
 the gold as being derived from the Pliocene gravels, where 
 they occur in this part of the district, since if gold be denied 
 
 * Mines Reports, 1893, pp. 163, 164.
 
 46 GEOLOGICAL REPOKTS. 
 
 to the glacier-drifts, it must also be considered absent from the 
 river-gravels that, having the same source, simply by a little time 
 preceded the deposit of the moraines, such river-gravels being in 
 great part merely glacier matter rounded and carried forward from 
 terminal moraines that in course of time were overridden by the 
 further advance of the glaciers. 
 
 On the northern side of the Teremakau Valley no moraines 
 appear to have reached further to the westward than within the 
 limits of a line drawn from the mouth of the Greenstone Valley 
 across Fuchsia Creek, where that is crossed by the Greymouth 
 Greenstone Road, and thence by way of Maori Creek (in the New 
 River watershed) to Stillwater and Maori Gully, within the Grey 
 watershed. At all of the places mentioned there is unmistakable 
 evidence of the presence of morainic matter, but slightly if at all 
 modified by the action of running water. How far glaciers reached 
 down the Arnold Valley is not easily determined, but probably to 
 abreast of, or even further west than, the points reached in Stillwater 
 Creek and Maori Gully. 
 
 No clear evidence of the presence of ice has been detected on 
 the No Town Hills, and it is only to be inferred that the line 
 of furthest ice extension crosses Nelson Creek somewhere above 
 Hatter's Terrace ; nor has the line of limit been clearly made out 
 further to the north till reaching Orweli Creek. Here the 
 presence of ice is unmistakably made clear by the occurrence of 
 vast angular blocks of rock scattered over the tops of the hills 
 between Napoleon Hill and the saddle leading from the left branch 
 of Noble's into the head of Duffers Creek. More to the north every 
 trace of morainic matter in the low ground has been destroyed by 
 the action of the Big Grey, in the formation of the succession 
 of terraces described under the previous heading. Yet, in the 
 different gullies cut into the " Old-man bottom," in Adamstown 
 and Antonio's Creeks, large boulders are found suggestive of the 
 agency of ice as a means of transport from their original matrices 
 and localities to the hill tops, whence they have rolled into the gully 
 bottoms. 
 
 No modern ice-action appears ever to have taken place in any 
 part of the Paparoa Range, otherwise the morainic material has been 
 carried completely forward into the Grey Valley, so as to come under 
 a reconstructive process by means of running water, or, on the west 
 or coastward side, bodily into the sea. As far as this latter assumption 
 is concerned, as older deposits of a loose or incoherent character are 
 preserved in many places that must have been passed over by ice in 
 its passage to the coast-line, we may assume that no such ice-sheet 
 ever existed. In the Upper Buller Valley the only evidence of
 
 . South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 47 
 
 glacier action is the moraine stretched across the Manila, seven miles 
 below Walker's Home Station. This is unmistakable in its character 
 the general character of the material, the hummocky outline of the 
 surface, and the large far-transported blocks of rock, still perfectly 
 angular, amply testify to the fact. 
 
 (b.) River Deposits formed prior to the Advance of the Glaciers. 
 At Ross the deposits in the flat are partly reconstructed glacier 
 material, and partly river-gravels that were deposited prior to the 
 advance of the glaciers. The various alternations of these beds are 
 well seen in the workings of the Ross United Company's Claim, 
 and there can be no doubt that the greater area of the Ross Flat 
 towards the sea contains the like deposits. 
 
 In the country between the Totara and Rimu it is uncertain 
 if any of the gravels seen along the road-line do underlie the 
 glacier deposits, but along Back Creek, and in the face of the 
 terrace overlooking the low grounds of the Hokitika, it is abundantly 
 demonstrated that river gravels underlie the glacier deposits. These 
 old river gravels are auriferous, and form what is now the principal 
 source of gold in the immediate district. 
 
 River gravels under the morainic hills are probably present at the 
 western margin of Commissioner's Flat, Kanieri. In the glacier 
 deposits of the Kanieri Forks there are considerable developments 
 of gravel at places ; in other places almost none. In the Arahura, 
 Kawaka, and Kapitea Valleys very little has been done to prove 
 the existence of gravels under the glacier drifts, or, where gravels 
 have been observed, to prove them gold-bearing. It is at Kumara 
 where the river gravels under the moraiuic deposits of the Dill- 
 manstown Hills occur fully displayed, and where they have most 
 extensively been worked. It would appear that these gravels on the 
 Kumara field arc the great source of the gold. They in the various 
 workings pass under the rnorainic hills of Dillmanstown. Over 
 Kumara and Larrikin's Flats these gravels were overlain by others of 
 a similar nature, derived from the denudation of the adjoining glacier 
 deposits, and it was a matter of difficulty to distinguish between the 
 two in vertical section. The distinction was only made clear when it 
 was seen that on the western edge of the morainic hills the 
 glacier material wedged in between the two gravel deposits. 
 
 The same deposits should be present under the morainic heaps of 
 Hayes Terrace ; and in the Greenstone Valley they appear to be 
 present at Maori Point. Elsewhere in the Greenstone Valley, and 
 over the district south of the Arnold, these gravels have not been 
 noticed. 
 
 (c.) Marine Gravels containing Black-sand Leads. Like the lit- 
 toral deposits already described, these beds are developed parallel, or
 
 48 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 approximately parallel, to the coast-line. They are not clearly indi- 
 cated as present in the district south-west of the Hokitika River. 
 They are first distinctly met with at the eastern edge of the Big Pad- 
 dock, in the Houhou Lead, at the bottom of the series of gravel;! 
 forming the terrace-flat to the westward. 
 
 The Houhou Lead yielded a very great amount of gold, but was 
 lost at the southern edge of the Blue Spur Flat, being, in fact, cut 
 away by the action of the Three-mile Creek, as has already been 
 indicated. 
 
 On the opposite side of the valley it was traced in Scotty's Tor- 
 race, but not by the miners recognised as a continuation of the Houhou 
 Lead, from the fact that the original deposit was much disturbed, or 
 destroyed altogether ; and the gold in and under a thin deposit of 
 gravel was left clinging to the steep slope of Tertiary clays that form 
 Blue Spur. A little further west, where the blue-reef bottom dips 
 rapidly to the seaward, the line of lead remains intact ; and in Simp- 
 son's Claim, opposite the Blue Spur Township, the nature of the material 
 forming the wash can be studied to advantage, there being here heavy 
 beds of black sand mixed with flat beach-stones, and overlain by gravels 
 evidently of marine origin. In Simpson's Claim the golden bands 
 were not remarkably rich; and, for this cause again, it was not gene- 
 ally supposed that this was a continuation of the Houhou Lead, which, 
 nevertheless, undoubtedly it is. The lead was therefore, despite these 
 evidences, considered to stop short on the southern side of the Blue 
 Spur Flat ; but within the past few years it has been traced to the 
 Arahura slope of the Blue Spur, and recent developments in that 
 quarter show that it is very rich in gold, probably richer than at any 
 other point of the line to the southward. 
 
 The history of what has been done, leading up to and ending in 
 the discoveries recently made, and which have lately been the cause 
 of not a little excitement in mining circles on the West Coast, is as 
 follows : 
 
 On the north-east side of the Humphrey's Gully Range, south-east 
 of the road from the Arahura crossing to Blue Spur, rich diggings 
 were found on the lower slope of the range, which, east and west of 
 the road-line, were traced into and under the level terrace-lands at 
 the foot of the range. In the extreme west of this line the slope of 
 the ridge does not appear to have been as rich as to the east of the 
 road, and in explanation of this it has been noted that the Houhou 
 Lead was comparatively poor on the point of the Blue Spur, in Simp- 
 son's Claim. Be this as it may, the gold was found rich along the 
 edge of the terrace flat, up to what is now known as Dwyer's freehold, 
 but the auriferous wash dipped rapidly into deep and wet ground, and 
 it was found impossible to follow it further than a vertical depth of
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 49 
 
 30 ft. from the surface of the flat. For a number of years the ground 
 was abandoned, and no mining was carried on on the north-east side 
 of the Blue Spur, or along the south-west extremity of the Humphrey's 
 Gully Range. East of the road-line some areas of freehold were 
 acquired between the Blue Spur and what is known as the " Black 
 Bridge/' and latterly Mr. Dwyer acquired a residence area of one acre 
 at the extreme western end of the gold workings on the flat, and 
 subsequently negotiated with the Midland Railway Company for the 
 purchase of forty acres adjoining, on the west and north-west sides of 
 his residence area. In the meantime Mr. Boys, of Blue Spur, from 
 a conviction that rich deposits of gold were still to be found on the 
 terrace flat, commenced putting in an adit from the foot of the lower 
 terrace, near the level of the Arahura, and one mile distant from the 
 ground he intended to prove. Through successive years this work 
 was continued, and in 1892 the face of the drive was stiil fully 300ft. 
 from the point where it was hoped to catch the lead, that could not 
 be followed into the flat on account of water. This adit, which for 
 the greater part of the distance driven was through river gravels, it 
 was hoped, would strike gold other than that to reach which it was 
 started ; but throughout 4,000 ft. of driving the gravels were barren 
 of gold, and at one time it seemed that the work must be abandoned. 
 However, in 1893 the Mines Department granted Mr. Boys a subsidy, 
 which enabled him to continue the work. 
 
 The same year the writer, who examined the district with reference 
 to its geology, and more particularly with regard to the distribution 
 of the different alluvial gold deposits, expressed the opinion that the 
 ground sought to be proved by Mr. Boys would turn out to be the 
 northern continuation of the Houhou Lead. Meanwhile, throughout 
 the time of its being driven, the adit put in by Mr. Boys gradually 
 drained the ground, and, shortly after the time the tunnel was driven 
 into the lease held by Mr. Boys, shafts could be sunk over the flat to 
 a much greater depth than formerly, and in some cases bottomed, 
 without meeting with water. 
 
 Mr. William Harcourt, when living at the Arahura Crossing, at 
 times prospected in the small creek crossing the Christchurch Hoki- 
 tika Road at Black Bridge, and obtained a fine sample of gold, cor- 
 responding with that from the lead on the north-east side of the Blue 
 Spur. This clearly had been washed out of an eastern continuation 
 of the lead, probably by the cutting action of the creek at or near 
 the foot of the hill. As soon, therefore, as Mr. Boys drove his tunnel 
 through the ridge of Tertiary clay, and reached the auriferous gravels 
 to the south-east of that, the Harcourt Brothers applied for and were 
 granted extended claims, and at a distance of about 10 chains to the 
 east of Boys' shaft sank and bottomed on gold. A rush then took 
 
 4
 
 50 GEOLOGICAL KEPOKTS. 
 
 place, and several shafts were put down, and, due to the water being 
 drained away by Boys' tunnel, the ground was now comparatively dry. 
 Most of the trial shafts, however, did not find gold to pay, and, for 
 a time, things again became quiet. Finally, Boys struck very rich 
 gold-bearing wash, and R. A. Harcourt negotiated for the privilege of 
 mining under Dwyer's residence area, which right he acquired, and 
 sank a shaft just outside the area, within Boys' claim. This bottomed 
 through washdirt very rich in gold, Mr. Harcourt estimating that 
 the area of the shaft alone yielded 8 oz. of gold. There was now 
 considerable excitement with respect to the 40 acres held by Mr. 
 Dwyer, and the whole of the ground was pegged off under the belief 
 that the land had not been alienated, and was still open for mining 
 purposes. It is understood that the land is to be resumed by the 
 Government shortly. 
 
 There is little doubt that the lead extends east to or beyond the 
 Black Bridge, and thence dips to the westward, and in this direction 
 is covered up by the more modern gravels of the Arahura Valley. 
 Over the low grounds of the Arahura Valley the lead has been carried 
 away by the river, and it is not likely to be again met with till pass- 
 ing to the north-east of Flowery Creek, where it should again be 
 oresent in and for some distance into the flat west of Ballarat Hill, 
 which is the line of its continuation to the north-east, at or near the 
 level of the Houhou and Blue Spur portions of the lead. 
 
 On Ballarat Hill the lead was fully developed, but the richer part 
 of this area has now been worked. North-east of this the Waimea 
 has broken through and destroyed the lead, and it is not met 
 with till Scandinavian Hill is reached, although the terraces at the 
 back of Stafford town should afford some indication of it, as being 
 formed of the same marine gravels, which are gold-bearing on the 
 south-west side of the Waimea. As far back as workings have been 
 carried to the eastward, on Ballarat Hill, beds of black sand, partly 
 oxidized and cemented, are found interbedded with the coarser gravels, 
 thns indicating the marine character of the beds. 
 
 On the continuation north-east of the line of this old raised beach, 
 between German Gully and Sandy Creek, there are a series of ter- 
 races, denominated Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Terrace. These 
 appear to be the line of lead, cut down to various levels by the action 
 of the different streams that are tributaries of German Gully Creek 
 or Sandy Creek. 
 
 The Lamplough Lead, within the Kapitea watershed, lies on the 
 same line, and is distinctly on a continuation of the Houhou Lead 
 thus far. 
 
 Further to the north-east, between the Kapitea Creek and the 
 Teremakau River, the line of black-sand old beach deposit has at one
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 51 
 
 time been continuous, but in times more recent the action of the 
 Teremakau has either destroyed or covered up the marine beds. 
 Workings along the high terrace banks of the river, and in Drake's 
 Terrace and Hughes's Creek, indicate that here portions of the lead 
 yet remain. 
 
 Between the Teremakau and Ruthergleu, in the watershed of 
 Saltwater Creek, there seem to be two lines of black-sand leads, 
 either of which may be considered as the direct continuation of the 
 Houhou Lead. Practically, both are continuations of the same lead, 
 which may be said to be of greater breadth here than farther to the 
 south. New River and Saltwater Creek have broken through and 
 almost destroyed the lead, scattering its gold in the more recent 
 gravels now occupying the low grounds of their valleys. 
 
 Towards Greymouth this line of black-sand deposits is not so well 
 marked, possibly through the action of the Grey River ; but towards 
 Point Elizabeth it is again distinctly and characteristically present on 
 Darkies' Terrace. 
 
 On the northern side of Point Elizabeth the action of the Seven- 
 mile Creek has destroyed the continuity of the lead, but between the 
 Seven-mile and Nine-mile Creeks it is present as a high terrace of 
 marine gravels which are known to be gold-bearing, and which would 
 ere this have been extensively worked had there been facilities for 
 bringing water on to the ground at a moderate cost. 
 
 The coast-line is now abrupt and high; consequently, the 200ft. 
 to 300 ft. line is much nearer the tide-way than farther to the south, 
 hence this lead approaches the coast as it is followed towards the 
 north. Between the Ten-mile and the Twelve-mile Creeks (north of 
 Greymcuth) it simply rests on the brow of the cliffs overlooking the 
 sea, or stretches as a narrow terrace at the foot of the steeply rising 
 hills. 
 
 Between the Twelve-mile Creek and the Fourteen-mile Bluff, since 
 its deposit, this line of black-sand leads has been completely destroyed 
 by the action of the sea in cutting back the coast-line. 
 
 At Barrytown the lead runs along the lower slopes of the slate 
 ranges between the coast-line and the Grey Valley, and from Baker's 
 Creek to the northern slopes of Hawera, it has been cut through by 
 numerous small streams, so that the auriferous gravels are found only 
 on the points of the spurs intermediate between the different creeks 
 and larger gullies. The average height of the lead at Barrytown is a 
 little over 200 ft. above the sea. It appears to be thoroughly broken, 
 in fact, destroyed altogether, between the Punakaiki River and the 
 mouth of the Fox River. This has been owing to the action of the 
 numerous small streams that find their way from the higher part of 
 the Paparoa Range to the coast-line. Where the rivers are larger, as
 
 52 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 in the case of the Fox, Nile, and Totara, a greater distance lies between 
 the streams, and thus there is a greater chance of the marine-beds 
 being preserved on the bluffs and high lands intervening. There is, 
 even thus, a probability of areas being between the Punakaiki and the 
 Fox Rivers where these deposits are preserved. One such is said to 
 be on the high ground near Eazorback. 
 
 North of Brighton and St. Kilda the elevation above the sea of 
 the black-sand leads rapidly increases, till before reaching the Foui\- 
 mile Creek these deposits reach to between 500ft. and 600ft. above 
 the sea. Between the Four-mile and Candlelight the highest point 
 reached by the black-sand deposits is somewhat less, some 450 ft., and 
 this height is practically maintained to Bald Hill, overlooking the 
 Lower Buller Valley. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Charleston these deposits are of great 
 extent, and occur at all levels up to that stated, and from them an 
 enormous quantity of gold has been obtained. The " Back Lead" 
 at Charleston lies along the foot of the limestone range between the 
 Nile River and the Four-mile Creek. Along this line the ironsands 
 have oxidized to some extent, and cements have thus formed, necessi- 
 tating the use of crushing machinery to again liberate the gold. But 
 the gold is not thus completely set free, and a considerable percentage 
 finds its way with the tailings into the creeks, where, as it progresses 
 along the different tail-race channels, it is gradually liberated from 
 contact with the ironsands, and, as free gold, is caught on tables called 
 " fly-catchers," placed in the channel to intercept the gold. 
 
 There are large areas of black-sand and gravel deposits in the 
 Charleston district that are as yet untouched, but all of them lie to 
 the west of the limestone range. 
 
 East of the limestone range, between that and the foot of the 
 Paparoa Mountains, lies a depression lower than the country to the 
 west, yet over this there are no black-sand deposits. This fact may 
 be explained by supposing that the marine sands have been removed 
 by the more energetic denudation of the eastern low-lying lands, or 
 by the inequality of elevation affecting the areas east and west of the 
 limestone. The first of these suggestions, from the evidence met with 
 north of the Totara River, would seem to be the correct one, since 
 on the high terrace at the back (east) of Addison's Flat the black-sand 
 deposits are yet preserved. To the north of the Buller the higher 
 level of the terraces between the granite range and the coastal plain 
 is also to be considered a continuation of the high-level black-sand 
 lead. This series of old raised beach deposits in the beginning has 
 been spoken of as the Houhou Lead ; but it will now be evident that 
 such local designation fails entirely to indicate the true character and 
 the great importance of the deposit ; and in future it will be best
 
 McKAY. Smith-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 53 
 
 to speak of this as " Marine beds of Pliocene age," the different 
 auriferous parts of which might still retain their local designation, as 
 " Houhou Lead/' " Lamplough Lead/' "Darkies' Terrace/' &c. 
 
 So far as this report is concerned, the deposits under consideration 
 may be said to terminate at Fairdown, on the lower slopes of Mount 
 Rochfort, where extensive works are at present being carried on for 
 the proper development of these deposits, the success of which will 
 probably lead to future and even more extensive undertakings. 
 
 III. LOWER PLIOCENE AND UPPER MIOCENE. 
 
 Formerly the higher and lower parts of these beds were considered 
 as distinct from each other; but it must be confessed that it is not 
 always easy to distinguish between the gravels referred to under one 
 or other heads. In some localities there appears evidence that the 
 conditions under which the higher beds were deposited approached 
 those of a glacier period, there being in some localities large erratic 
 boulders, and sometimes heavy deposits of what appears as angular 
 morainic material of large size ; and at places such evidences of glacier 
 action appear at the top of a local development of the beds, at others 
 as the lowest member of such local development. The lower part of 
 this great series of gravels does not exhibit brecciated or angular 
 tnaterial of great size. Angular material of any size is present to a 
 very limited extent only. With these differences it has to be con- 
 sidered how far the upper arid lower parts of these gravels are uncon- 
 formable to each other. The evidence of unconformity is strongest 
 in the district between the Big Grey and the Ahaura, and especially 
 in the neighbourhood of Napoleon Hill. In Napoleon Hill the un- 
 conformity is by many miners declared to be very marked, and the 
 upper gravels are said to lie in what resembles an old river-bed, exca- 
 vated in the underlying " Old-man bottom." Some facts thus 
 favouring the division of the beds, and it being the opinion of many 
 that there is a distinct and very marked separation between the 
 higher and lower parts, they will be here described accordingly that 
 is, as a double series. 
 
 (a.) Humphrey's Gully Reds. In the higher part of Mont d'Or, 
 at Ross, there is, at the head of Sailor's Gully, clear evidence of 
 glacier drift occurring in the higher part of the " Old-man bottom," 
 as developed at that place ; the same thing is seen on the north-west 
 and south-west faces of the hill, which has been cut into on three 
 sides by gold-workings. These glacier drifts are thought not to be 
 gold-bearing, but this has yet to be definitely ascertained. 
 
 In Humphrey's Gully Range, near the Humphrey's Sluicing 
 Claim, angular brecciated material lies at the bottom of the gravel 
 series, and to some extent is interbedded with the underlying sandy
 
 54 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 clays. The same glacier-looking deposit is largely developed beyond 
 German Gully in the steep bluff that there overlooks the Arahura 
 River. At this point the whole bluff is composed of a species of 
 "till" or less clayey brecciated material. There may also in 
 Humphrey's Gully Range be the presence of the lower beds of this 
 series ; but, as the upper series is very thick, and the lower not dis- 
 criminated, it has been considered that only the upper or Humphrey's 
 Gully beds are present. In Donegal Creek, six miles from Kumara, 
 on the road to Christchurch, there is a considerable thickness of 
 coarse well-washed gravels that have been referred to this upper part 
 of the series, and the same gravels again appear one mile and a half 
 nearer Kumara, there showing in the road -cuttings. North of the 
 Teremakau this higher part of the series has not, apart from the 
 lower beds, been discriminated. 
 
 Within the northern part of "Westland these beds, at Ross, are 
 important as gold-bearing gravels both in Mont d'Or and in the Ross 
 'United Claim, because it can hardly be doubted that some of the 
 many gold-bearing strata in the latter claim represent this upper 
 series of Older Pliocene or Upper Miocene gravels, seeing that gold- 
 bearing layers rest directly on the " Old-man bottom " in the com- 
 pany's ground, and probably throughout the greater extent of Ross 
 Flat. In the Humphrey's Gully Company's Claim, and probably 
 throughout the extent of the same gravels in the Humphrey's 
 Gully Range, these gravels are gold-bearing, and, on account of 
 the facilities for getting away large quantities of the wash, 
 are likely to reward enterprise for a long series of years to 
 come. 
 
 In the Grey Valley the higher beds of these, the higher beds of 
 the series, are developed on the tops of the hills on the northern side 
 of Nelson Creek, opposite Hatter's Terrace, and thence it is likely that 
 a line of the same gravels will be found to have extended, with a 
 breadth of from one to one and a half miles, across the various creeks 
 and larger streams flowing north-west to the Grey, for the whole 
 length of this particular block of hilly country formed of Older 
 Pliocene or Upper Miocene gravels. The younger and richly auri- 
 ferous part of the series is found on the ridge of hills on the left or 
 south-west side of Orwell Creek, and, crossing this, occurs to the 
 north-east, forming the whole area of the higher part of Napoleon 
 Hill. North of Napoleon Hill, the main or south branch of Noble's 
 Creek has cut these gravels away, and laid bare, along its valley and 
 lower slopes of the adjoining hills, the underlying and less auriferous 
 series. Also, the hill-tops to the north-west and north of Napoleon 
 Hill retain areas of the same rich gravels ; but the beds since deposit 
 have been more elevated towards the north-east than in the south-
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 55 
 
 west part, and thus towards the Big Grey the areas of the remaining 
 patches of the higher beds are less. 
 
 In the Little Grey and Inangahua Valleys these higher beds of 
 the Older Pliocene or Upper Miocene gravels appear to be absent 
 at least have not been discriminated. Possibly the gravels capping 
 the higher part of Merrijigs Hill may be properly regarded as 
 belonging to this part of the series. 
 
 (b.) " Old-man Bottom." These beds have a wider area of dis- 
 tribution than the Humphrey's Gully gravels. They extend from the 
 Township of Ross along the front hills, forming the lower western 
 slopes of the mass of Mount Greenland, and, at the same time, cap 
 the auriferous slates forming the higher part of that mountain. 
 They are not elsewhere seen on the southern side of the Hokitika 
 Valley, but appear in the eastern tributaries of the Kanieri River, 
 and form the lower or south-eastern part of the gravel portion of 
 the Humphrey's Gully Range. They appear at Fox's and Stony 
 Hill, at Duffer's and Greek's Creeks, and generally over the higher 
 parts of the Waimea Hills to the heads of German Gully, Maori Gully, 
 and the right-hand branches of the Waimea, south-west of Callaghan's 
 Hill. The lower beds appear along both banks of the Greenstone 
 below the township ; and at Maori Point they form an isolated 
 conical hill, that on account of its greater elevation has never been 
 overspread by glacier detritus or river-gravels of more modern date. 
 They are largely developed from Cameron's Terrace across Fuchsia 
 Creek, and along the range of which Marsden Hill forms the western 
 part. They are or have been spread over almost the whole of the 
 New River area, and between the south continuation of the Cobden 
 limestone and the sea they have, between the Saltwater Creek and 
 Greymouth, a very considerable development. 
 
 These gravels constitute the fundamental rocks that underlie the 
 younger and more superficial deposits in the No Town Hills, and the 
 broad belt of country thence stretching to the Big Grey shows these 
 gravels bounded by younger rocks to the north-west and the south- 
 east. 
 
 Along the south-east side of the Little Grey Valley they form a 
 strip of country, from three to four miles wide, that, commencing 
 within the Blackwater and Big River watershed, thence extends to 
 Slab-hut Creek. Beyond this, the same beds are largely developed 
 on the watershed between the source of the Little Grey and the 
 Inangahua, below Reefton, and in the valley of Devil's Creek, and 
 along the east side of the Inangahua Valley, from the upper part of 
 Fryingpan Creek to and beyond Landing Creek and Coal Creek, on 
 the same line, extended in the direction of the Buller above the 
 Inangahua Junction.
 
 56 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 At one or two places in the Inangahua Valley gold-workings 
 are carried on in these rocks, but though their auriferous character 
 cannot be denied, they are not rich enough to have afforded hitherto 
 payable workings at many places. The concentrates of these gravels 
 have made a great number of creek and valley bottoms famous for 
 the amount of gold found in them, and there are hopes that when 
 large supplies of water can be brought to operate upon these gravels 
 they will pay to work at many places, and at some places pay well. 
 
 (c.) Brown Sands. These beds are seen on the southern banks of 
 the Hokitika, below the bridge at Kanieri Township and in the 
 Greenstone Valley, in the Twelve-mile Creek (No Town Creek), and 
 in the banks of the Ahaura, at and above the township. Elsewhere 
 they appear to be absent. These sands sometimes contain scattered 
 pebbles and bands of pebbly conglomerates, and in the Greenstone 
 Valley thick beds of rather coarse granite conglomerate. Near 
 Maori Point they have a considerable thickness. 
 
 IV.-LowER MIOCENE. 
 
 (a.) Blue Fossiliferous Sands and Marhj Clays. These beds are 
 found in the southern part of the district, along the western slope of 
 Mount Greenland, from the Mikonui to the Totara Rivers, and 
 between Donnelly's Creek and the Totara form a range about 1,000ft. 
 above sea-level. They are to a considerable extent developed along 
 the northern side of the Kanieri Valley, and the south-eastern slopes 
 of the Humphrey's Gully Range and Mount McKay. Throughout 
 the Waimea district they are developed from Fox's to Staffordtown, 
 and from Ballarat Hill to Kapitea Creek. They, at Kumara, show 
 as the bottom on which rests the lower gravels that underlie the river 
 gravels under the glacier deposits. And they appear in Donegal 
 Creek, six miles to the eastward, and generally on the southern bank 
 of the Teremakau, between the Greenstone Bridge and the sea. 
 From the mouth of Teremakau to the sources of New River, and 
 from Maori Point on the Greenstone to Stillwater Creek in the Grey 
 Valley, these beds form the floor on which rests the various gravels 
 and glacier deposits that appear on the surface. 
 
 Between the limestone ranges and the coast-line they stretch 
 north to the mouth of the Grey River, and in the Grey Valley are 
 met with under the " Old-man gravels " of the No Town Hills. 
 Further to the north-east, in the Grey and Inangahua Valleys, they 
 are not known. On the coast between the Grey and the Buller they 
 lie as a long narrow strip between the limestone range or plateau and 
 the foot of the Paparoa Mountains, till passing to the northward of 
 Charleston and the Nile River they reach close to the coast-line, and 
 at the mouth of the Totara River they underlie the black-sand beds
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 57 
 
 and other gravel deposits to the foot of the granite mountains seven 
 miles distant. 
 
 Between Cape Foulwind and the end of the cliffs towards West- 
 port they show in section, and exhibit strata in some places aboimding 
 in fossils. North of the Buller the same beds are not clearly dis- 
 played, except it may be in one particular creek on the Buller Road, 
 between the foot of the gorge and Westport. 
 
 VI. CRETACEO-TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS. 
 
 (a.) Upper Beds. Usually the upper beds of the Cretaceo-tertiary 
 series have been described as embracing the Grey Marls, Weka Pass 
 limestone, and Amuri limestone, including also the marly strata that 
 underlie the horizon of the Amuri limestone, and rest upon the Concre- 
 tionary Greensands or the saurian beds. On the West Coast the upper- 
 most member of the series is absent, and the Weka Pass stone also is 
 not characteristically represented, the Cobden limestone showing more 
 of the lithological character of the Amuri limestone, while at the same 
 time its more abundant fossil fauna may indicate more the period of 
 the W~eka Pass stone. The dark foraminiferous marly clays that 
 underlie the Cobden limestone must, with the limestone, be regarded as 
 representing on the West Coast the upper part of the series. Lime- 
 stones of this age and character are said to occur on the left bank of 
 Donnelly's Creek, at Ross. Limestone also is present at Camelback 
 Hill, on the Kokatahi Plain, and the line of limestone south of 
 Greymouth is continued across the New River below Marsden, 
 almost to the banks of the Teremakau. 
 
 North of the Grey River the Cobden limestone underlain by 
 the black marls, extends to Point Elizabeth and the Seven-mile 
 Creek. Beyond this no limestone or underlying marls are present 
 till reaching the north end of the Seventeen-mile Beach, where, 
 in the hills of Razorback, the limestone begins and is continuous 
 along the coast, with a depth of a few miles inland, to the Fox 
 and Nile Rivers, and the Little Totara River. In the Buller 
 and Inangahua Valleys this limestone is developed to a large ex- 
 tent along the west side of the Inangahua Valley, from one mile 
 and a half below the junction to a point between Fletcher's and 
 Stony Creek, opposite the junction of Boatman's with the Inangahua. 
 On the opposite eastern side of the Inangahua a small area of lime- 
 stone of the same character and age is met with between Little 
 Boatman's Creek and Italian Gully. Limestone of the same age and 
 character is found in the Upper Buller Valley, as deeply involved 
 strata, between the Newton River and Fern Flat, and an extensive 
 area of limestone occupies the higher part of the range between the 
 -Maruia and the Matakitaki Rivers.
 
 58 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 (b.) Middle Beds. These consist of greensands, soft yellow or 
 brown sandstones, limestones, sandstones, &c., below which are 
 are grits, with shales and coal-seams, that constitute the more 
 important part of the formation. In the southern part of the 
 district there is a small area of these rocks in Camelback Hill, 
 near the banks of the Hokitika River, and again in the Valley 
 of Coal Creek, a tributary of the Kanieri River. On the southern 
 side of the Lower Grey Valley the axis of the range between 
 the Brunner Gorge and the northern sources of New River has 
 on each side of it a development of coal-bearing rocks, but these 
 as yet have been but imperfectly explored for coal-seams. The coal- 
 field north of the Grey is an important development of these rocks. 
 The higher part and west slopes of the Mount Davy Range is th& 
 most important coal-bearing district in the region of the Grey Valley. 
 The workable seams vary from 5 ft. to 16 ft. in thickness on the Mount 
 Davy Range, and dip west at moderate angles. In the Seven-mile 
 Creek the dips in the more important outcrops is inward toward the 
 mountain range. Towards the sources of the Nine-mile, and of the 
 south branch of the Ten-mile, the coal and beds associated are very 
 much disturbed, and often are seen standing at high angles. Between 
 the northern end of Mount Davy and the conical peak at the sources 
 of the south branch of the Ten-mile, and of the right-hand branch of 
 Ford's Creek, the coal-measures form the mountain range, and are 
 continuous from the coast-line to the Grey Valley, at the mouth of 
 Blackball Creek. In the Grey Valley, above the Brunner Gorge, a 
 narrow strip of coal-bearing rocks runs along the north-west side of 
 the valley and the lower slopes of the Mount Davy Range to the 
 right-hand branch of Ford's Creek. This is separated from the coal 
 rocks on the higher part of Mount Davy Range by a belt of slate, 
 that gradually gets narrower as it is followed to the north-east, till in 
 the watershed of Ford's Creek it wedges out altogether. The Black- 
 ball Coalfield embraces in part the watersheds of Ford's Creek, and of 
 Coal Creek, a tributary of the Blackball, and, as stated above, is con- 
 nected with the coal-bearing area on the coast, through the saddle 
 between Mount Davy and Ford's Peak. 
 
 There is in the Moonlight Valley, in Garden Gully, a thick deposit 
 of brown coal which rests upon auriferous slates, while the section does 
 not show what the overlying rocks are. At the crossing of Moon- 
 light Creek, on the way to the township, the associated rocks are seen, 
 and consist of soft grey sandstones dipping at a considerable angle 
 up-stream, or to the north-east. The same rocks are also well de- 
 veloped further down the Moonlight Valley. They are quite uncon- 
 formable to the gravels on the high terraces, and the " Old-man 
 bottom " with which these soft sandstones come in contact ; but at
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Nortliern Westland. 59 
 
 the same time neither the strata associated nor the coal itself agrees 
 well with the rocks and coal-seams of the other parts of the coal-field. 
 Brown coal is found as thin seams in Slaty Creek, and again in the 
 upper part of the Little Grey Valley, on the lower slopes of the 
 Paparoa Range. 
 
 Along the sides of the Inangahua Valley coal-seams are found, 
 and are worked at many places on the east side of the valley from 
 Boatman's to Merrijigs. The coal-measures in the Inangahua Valley 
 are shales and quartz grits, passing upwards into sandstone. In the 
 Upper Buller Valley, coal-seams of considerable thickness are worked 
 in the vicinity of Longford and in the Upper Maruia. Above and 
 opposite Station Creek there is a 30 ft. seam of brown coal. 
 
 South of the Buller River a narrow coal-field runs along the foot 
 of the Paparoa Mountains, from the Nile Valley to Bullock Creek, 
 and on the coast-line in the same district are largely developed the 
 brown coals of Charleston, and of Brighton at the mouth of the Fox 
 River. In the valley of the Fox River, between the limestone range 
 and the foot of the higher mountains, anthracite of most excellent 
 quality is found. 
 
 (c.} Lower Beds. These consist mainly of conglomerates, or more 
 angular and larger-sized breccia conglomerates, which are of interest 
 and importance mainly on account of their being auriferous at many 
 places, and at some places stanniferous or tin-bearing. The tin found 
 at the Ten-mile, north of Greymouth, probably is derived from waste 
 of the conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing series. Con- 
 glomerates and breccia conglomerates stretch along the lower slope of 
 Mount Davy, and quartz conglomerates, present on the higher part of 
 the range more towards the north, have apparently yielded to the 
 watershed of Ford's Creek the greater amount of the gold found in 
 it. The lower of these beds, as developed between Moonlight and the 
 left-hand branch of Slaty Creek (Big River), are of great thickness, 
 and formed of exceedingly coarse material. They extend over a very 
 considerable area, and constitute strata reaching in places from 
 1,500 ft. to 2,000 ft. in thickness. From Slaty they stretch across 
 the water-divide into the head-waters of the Punakiki River. In 
 Black-sand Creek the concentrates from these breccia conglomerates 
 yield gold, and the bed and banks of the stream have been worked 
 for about one mile. The gold thus obtained does not appear to have 
 paid wages to the men engaged in the work, and at the present time 
 no one is working in Black-sand Creek. In Slaty Creek proper, a 
 considerable amount of gold-washing in the recent alluvial of the 
 creek-bed has been done. The source of the gold in this is either 
 gneissic granite or the breccia conglomerates at the base of the coal- 
 bearing series.
 
 60 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 Between the gorge of Slaty Creek and three miles farther up Big 
 River, a number of small creeks rise on the eastern slopes of the 
 conglomerate range, and in one or two gullies patches of rich gold- 
 bearing alluvial wash were found. Mr. Johnstone, of Slaty Creek, 
 obtained gold to a considerable amount from one of the smaller 
 gullies indicated. 
 
 It is doubtful how far these breccia conglomerates extend up the 
 Little Grey Valley, as beyond Rough River the recent Pleistocene 
 deposits derived from the higher and central parts of Paparoa Moun- 
 tains overlie and obscure them should they be present. 
 
 On the coast-line south of the Buller River they are met with at 
 Charleston and Brighton, and at the first mentioned place are seen 
 exposed along the shore-cliff in Constance Bay. Here the material of 
 which they are composed is largely of local origin. At Brighton they 
 form a remarkable pyramidal rock at the mouth of the Fox River, 
 but do not appear to be developed further inland, where the base of 
 the coal-bearing series rests against the granites forming the lower 
 slopes of the Paparoa Range. 
 
 In the Buller Valley, between the Ohikaiti (Little Ohika) and 
 Grainger's Point, near Coal Creek, they have a great development, 
 and form lofty ranges of mountains on each side of the valley. They 
 extend for six or seven miles up the Black water, and also a consider- 
 able distance back on the northern side of the gorge. In Hawk's 
 Crag they form a high vertical cliff, along the face of which the 
 Westport Reefton coach road has been cut. In this part they do 
 not appear to be generally gold-bearing, though what little gold has 
 been obtained from the Blackwater appears to have been derived from 
 them. Thin seams of bituminous coal appear in these rocks near 
 Hawk's Crag. On the west side of the Inangahua Valley a patch of 
 such conglomerate appears at the source of Fletcher's Creek. 
 
 On the east side of the Inangahua Valley these conglomerates and 
 breccia conglomerates are found nearly continuous from the Buller 
 River to the Inangahua River, opposite the junction of Rainy Creek. 
 
 In Boatman's Creek, at Capleston, well-rounded rather coarse 
 quartz gravels represent these beds, and, of the same character, like 
 deposits extend along the front range to the north branch of the 
 Inangahua River. 
 
 At Painkiller, and in the upper part of Murray Creek, and thence 
 covering the older rocks, and forming the higher part of the range 
 between the north and south branches of the Inangahua, these beds 
 extend back eastwards to the foot of the granite mountains. In the 
 upper part of Boatman's Creek there is a remarkable development of 
 these rocks, mainly consisting of granite, though other rocks are also 
 present. Here the material seems to be of glacier origin, a large
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 61 
 
 proportion of the granite masses exceeding 6 ft. in diameter, and 
 many reaching to 10 ft. and 12 ft. through. The general bulk of the 
 deposit at this place is completely angular, and, though transported 
 for some distance, not in the least water- worn. 
 
 In the upper part of Murray Creek, and in Lankey's Gully, these 
 beds are auriferous, so much so that, with the application of skill and 
 proper appliances, they should be made to pay for working. Some 
 attempts to work these cements, where they are known to be gold- 
 bearing, have, it is true, been discontinued, mainly owing to the great 
 hardness of the material to be dealt with; and, in the case of the 
 Lankey's Gully cement claim, on account of the gold being, for the 
 most part, confined to the first foot of cemeut resting on the under- 
 lying rock. 
 
 In the Upper Buller Valley, there is a great development of gravels 
 in connection with the lower division of the Cretaceo-tertiary series. 
 These gravels are found in the valley of the Mangles, up which they 
 extend to the Blue Duck Creek, to which point very coarse gold is got 
 in the alluvial deposits of the river-bed, and in those of Blue Duck 
 Creek itself. Beyond this point, i.e., higher up the Mangles Valley, 
 the gold is much finer in grain, and it is also much less in quantity. 
 
 In the Matakitaki Valley, there can be little doubt that the bulk 
 of the gold found in the bed of the river, and along its banks, has been 
 derived from the denudation of the gravel cements occurring towards 
 the base of the Cretaceo-tertiary series, or resting directly on the 
 gneissic granites. In the Glenroy and in the Upper Maruia, between 
 Thompson's and Station Creek, there is a great development of these 
 beds. They are known to be auriferous in Station Creek ; on the 
 Rappahannock Stream, and along the Glenroy River. There is a 
 probability of these beds being largely worked at no distant date. 
 
 X. TRIASSIC. 
 
 (a.) Beds in the Upper Teremakau Valley, resembling the jasper oid 
 and diabasic beds of the Selwyn Gorge, Canterbury. These beds lie 
 outside the district mapped to illustrate this report, and they have 
 already been sufficiently noticed in a previous report.* 
 
 XII. CARBONIFEROUS. 
 
 (a.) Maitai Series. Westland Formation of Haast. In the 
 southern part of the district this formation is found in Mount Green- 
 land, between the Mikonui and Totara Rivers, and in Constitution 
 Hill, between the Totara and Hokitika Rivers. A small area of the 
 same rocks also is said to occur in the Kanieri watershed. They 
 form also a broad belt of country and all the higher mountains along 
 
 * Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 171.
 
 GEOLOGICAL REPOBTS. 
 
 the east and west coasts of the 
 island ; and in the report immediately above referred to they have 
 been described with sufficient detail as far as the source of the Tere- 
 makau River. Further to the north-east they have not yet been 
 closely examined along the higher mountains of the main range. 
 These rocks form the central axis of the range, extending from Mount 
 Buckley, on the south side of the Brunner Gorge, to the western 
 sources of New River. In this part they have not been explored, 
 although liable to contain auriferous quartz-reefs and other metallic 
 minerals, as do the continuation of the same line of rocks on the 
 opposite side of the Grey Valley, along the middle slopes of the Mount 
 Davy Range. 
 
 This latter, or the Langdon's area of Maitai slates, extends from 
 the southern slopes of Bald Hill as a gradually narrowing exposure, 
 to the watershed of the right-hand branch of Ford's Creek, where it 
 is terminated. Within the watershed of Langdon's Creek an anti- 
 mony lode and a line of quartz-reef, with several parallel leaders of 
 quartz, have been discovered, and have been prospected more or less 
 continuously for the past twenty years. Recently fresh developments 
 have taken place, and rich discoveries have been made in the Victory 
 Claim, owned by Messrs. Curtis, they having touched upon a small 
 reef containing some very rich stone. 
 
 In the Lower Blackball, slate makes its appearance near the town- 
 ship, and the boundary-line between this and the coal-rocks follows 
 the right bank of the stream closely to Smoke- Ho Hill, and thence, 
 disregarding a broken area of coal-country, is projected more to the 
 north-east. Beyond this the boundary-line of the slates goes west to 
 the top of the range in Ford's Peak, and thence follows a sinuous 
 yet general direction to the coast-line near the Twelve-mile. 
 
 From Ford's Peak to the source of the Moonlight, the Paparoa 
 Range is composed of Maitai slates and sandstones, if a small granite 
 area at Barry town be excepted. 
 
 Throughout, the rocks are generally similar in the different locali- 
 ties, though at places sandstones predominate, as for instance between 
 the Twelve-mile Creek and the Fourteen-mile Bluff. In this southern 
 part of the Paparoa Range there are six or seven distinct lines of 
 quartz-reefs, with accompanying leaders or veins. All of them have 
 an east and west direction, and, as a rule, dip to the north. One 
 massive outcrop runs along the north-east side of the right-hand upper 
 branch of the Blackball Creek, and passes thence into the watershed 
 of the Ten-mile Creek ; but, though the rocks are clearly exposed, this 
 massive reef, 30 ft. to 40 ft. in width, does not, in this direction, 
 appear to " live down " to any great depth. In the contrary direc- 
 tion it can be traced across the different gullies a distance of from
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 63 
 
 -one mile and three-quarters to two miles. North-east of this, another 
 line of reef crosses the range between the Meg and southern branch 
 of the Moonlight, another in the line of Canoe Creek and the middle 
 branch of the Moonlight, and yet another in the left-hand branch of 
 the Moonlight, at the extremity of the slate area. The Minerva 
 Reef lies in the outer eastern range, that runs from the lower gorge 
 of the Blackball to the Moonlight Township. 
 
 Another, and considerably the largest, of the isolated areas of the 
 Maitai auriferous rocks begins on the south side of the upper part of 
 the Snowy River, and constitutes a very considerable area of out 
 cropping slates along the south-east side of the Little Grey Valley to 
 the Upper Inangahua. Towards the southern end of this area the 
 Big River Mine is situated, while more to the north clusters of quartz- 
 reefs and mines surround Merryjigs, and occur in the upper part of 
 the valley of Devil's Creek. 
 
 North of the Inangahua, between Reefton and the mouth of 
 Lankey's Gully, the breadth of the auriferous formation is con- 
 siderably lessened, and does not in this part exceed three miles, while 
 north of Larry's Creek the slate belt flanking the granite range is 
 inconsiderable in breadth, and on the banks of the Buller is less than 
 half a mile. 
 
 East of Reefton, and between the two branches of the Inangahua 
 River, a comparatively small area of these rocks contains a great 
 number of auriferous quartz-reefs, and lodes containing antimony 
 and other minerals. Second only to the Reefton area is that of 
 Boatman's Creek, while a third, that of Larry's, is in a less developed 
 condition. 
 
 North of the Buller River a small area of slates outcrop along 
 the gorge of the Waimangaroa River, the surface rocks immediately 
 to the south being coal-measures, but beneath the coal-measures the 
 Waimangaroa slates are evidently connected with the area forming 
 the bulk of Mount William, and thence extending south-west across 
 the Buller at the Little Ohika. 
 
 More to the eastward an extensive area of these rocks lies along 
 the north side of the Buller Valley, between the Inangahua Junction 
 and Lyell Creek. This extends north to and beyond the Mokihinui, 
 but in this direction the northern part of this slate area has not been 
 much explored. The Red Queen and other reefs further down the 
 Mohikinui occur in rocks of a schistose character, and are, therefore, 
 not to be considered in this connection. 
 
 In the south-eastern part of the area quartz-reefs occur in Mack- 
 ley's, or the Orikaka Creek, but these have as yet only been noted 
 by explorers, and no attempt has been made to ascertain if they are 
 auriferous, or to develop them. More to the east, in the vallev of
 
 64 GEOLOGICAL KEPOBTS. 
 
 New Creek, gold-bearing reefs occur in these beds, and are being 
 worked ; while within the watershed of Lyell Creek there has been 
 considerable mining on several reefs for many years. 
 
 A small area of these Maitai rocks appears on the south side of 
 the Buller, at and below the junction of the Inangahua, and here 
 also the rocks are impregnated with quartz-veins. At the very 
 junction, dykes of granite have been intruded into the slates, and in 
 the same manner, but on a much larger scale, granite intrusions are 
 seen in the lower part of Lyell Creek, and along the Buller Gorge 
 above the Lyell to the Eight-mile Creek. 
 
 Between the Glenroy and the Upper Matakitaki a small area of 
 rocks is referred by Mr. Cox to the Maitai series, but recently these 
 beds have not been examined. 
 
 XIII. DEVONIAN. 
 
 (a.) Reefton Series. These rocks occur between Boatman's, at 
 Capleston, and the source of Rainy Creek, and, generally speaking, 
 lie to the east of the auriferous belt in this part of the Inangahua 
 Valley. The formation consists of blue slates, limestones, and cherts, 
 and has its best and most characteristic exposures and sections in 
 Lankey's Gully, and along the south branch of the Inangahua to 
 Garvie's Creek. The limestones are also particularly finely displayed 
 along the right bank of the Waitahu, or north branch of the Ina- 
 ngahua. No quartz-reefs have yet been discovered in these rocks, and 
 they appear to be devoid of useful minerals, except limestone. 
 
 (b.) Te Anau Series. These rocks are confined to the Upper 
 Matakitaki and Glenroy Valleys. The rocks consist of coarsely 
 agglomerated red and green breccias, masses of which are to be met 
 with in the coarse alluvial gravels of the Horse Terrace, and else- 
 where in the Matakitaki Valley. Mr. Cox describes these beds as 
 being in the Upper Glenroy associated with serpentine. 
 
 METAMORPHIC. 
 Mica Schists. 
 
 Upper, Middle, and Lower Schists. From the Mikouui to the 
 northern slopes of Mount Alexander and Bell Hill, the triple series of 
 schists have been distinguished, traced, and described.* North-east 
 of the Ahaura the same rocks form a series of ranges, flanking the 
 higher mountains of the main ranges more to the east. They are 
 continued across the sources of the Big Grey into the Upper Buller, 
 and to the north-east they terminate within the Matakitaki water- 
 shed. Associated with the lower beds there is an extensive develop- 
 
 * Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 172.
 
 M.cK**.South'Wmt Nelson and Northern Wesiland. 65 
 
 merit of crystalline limestone, which forms an isolated moiintain on 
 the left bank of the Maruia, at the junction of the Alfred, and nearly 
 opposite the Bog Saddle leading into the valley of the Brown Grey. 
 These are overlain by dark mica-schists, which by Cox are called 
 " carbon schists," these being followed by " black calcareous mica- 
 schist." In the southern part of the district these beds pass upwards 
 into a dark-coloured semi-metamorphic slate, probably of Devonian 
 age. 
 
 Bands and belts of mica-schist occur amongst the gneissic and 
 granitic rocks of the Victoria and Brunner Mountains on the east side 
 of the Inangahua Valley, and of the Paparoa Mountains on the west 
 side of the valley. These, however, will be described as part of the 
 gneissic series with which they occur interbedded. Quartz reefs 
 occur in these beds, but none are being worked for gold within the 
 area dealt with in this report. 
 
 Gneissic Schists. 
 
 (a.) Crystalline Schists und Metamorphic Granite. This for- 
 mation, as developed and displayed within the northern district of 
 Westland, has already been described.* What are practically the 
 same rocks are continued to the north-east throughout the length 
 of the district presently under consideration. At the source of the 
 Inangahua the continuation of the larger connected area of these 
 rocks turns in direction to the north, and continues in a broad belt 
 along the Victoria and Brunner Mountains to th.e gorge of the 
 Buller, at the Lyell. The great bulk of the rocks in these moun- 
 tains is gneissic and granitic, but mica-schists are at places largely 
 developed, as, for instance, at the upper forks of Larry's Creek, and 
 at some places on the Maruia slope of the mountains, where it is 
 reported there are considerable areas of slate rock ; from which it is 
 to be inferred that the mica-schist is the rock meant, though not 
 indicated. 
 
 In the Paparoa Mountains these rocks, especially in the southern 
 part, are mostly gneissic even granitic gneiss being of rare occur- 
 rence. In the valley of Rough River there are some rather 
 important bands of mica-schist. Towards the central northern 
 higher part of the range the rocks are more granitic ; but north of 
 the Nile Valley to the Buller Gorge the western slopes of the range 
 are to a large extent schistose, a large percentage of these rocks in 
 the Totara Valley being of a schistose character and often charac- 
 teristic mica-schist. The isolated areas that appear on the coast-line 
 from Cape Foulwind to the Razorback have their chief developments 
 at Cape Foulwind, between the Nile and Fox Rivers, in the Charleston 
 
 * Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 173.
 
 66 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 District ; and there are one or two outcrops of less extent farther to 
 the south. At Cape Foul wind the bulk of the rock is porphyritic 
 granitoid gneiss, often a simple gneiss. At Charleston, the rocks are 
 gneiss and mica-schist, and further south of the same general 
 character. Although an extensive examination of these rocks was 
 made during the past season in the region of the Paparoa Mountains, 
 they do not appear to yield minerals of a valuable description, and, 
 in fact, appeared to be remarkably barren of metallic minerals, or of 
 vein stuff generally. 
 
 In the Victoria and Brunner Mountains there is possibly a 
 greater hope of finding metallic or mineral riches of some kind ; but, 
 even amongst these mountains, prospecting from Larry's, from Boat- 
 man's, and from Reefton has not resulted in the discovery of any- 
 thing particularly noteworthy.* 
 
 PLUTONIC. 
 
 Massive and Intrusive Granites. In northern Westland such 
 rocks are found along the western margin of the granite crystalline 
 rocks, while in the Paparoa Mountains they are confined to an 
 isolated patch at Barrytown, and a number of veins of coarse-grained 
 granite exposed in the Buller (Lower) Gorge. In the Victoria and 
 Brunner Mountains, especially on their eastern slopes, intrusive 
 granites extend along the range, and cross the Buller River between 
 the Lyell and Fern Flat. These are well shown in many sections 
 between the Lyell Township and the junction of the Maruia with the 
 Buller. 
 
 The granite rocks in the Upper Matakitaki were not closely 
 studied, nor those that lie on the east side of the Maruia Valley, and 
 form the basement-rocks of the range between the middle part of 
 that valley and that of the Matakitaki. 
 
 No minerals of value have been discovered in these rocks. Mas- 
 sive quartz-reefs are said to occur in the Greer stone Mountains, and 
 one is noted on the map of Westland as occurring on the higher 
 part of Turiwhate. This outcrop of quartz is said to be of great 
 
 * Recent discoveries on the Victoria Mountains confirm the view here taken as to 
 the greater mineral wealth of these compared with that of the Paparoa Mountains.
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 67 
 
 DESCEIPTION OF DIFFERENT BLOCKS OF LAND EESEEVED 
 FOB MINING PURPOSES.* 
 
 NELSON. 
 
 Block I. This embraces an area of 5,000 acres. It extends 
 along the coast-line from a point three miles east of the Buller River 
 at its mouth, to the Waimangaroa River, a distance of six miles. 
 The average width of the block is about one mile and a quarter. 
 The surface is a gentle slope from the ranges inland to the sea. 
 The reserve may be divided into the following areas : (1) The beach 
 within tide-mark, and as far inland as affected by great storms ; 
 (2) the low coastal plain and " pakihi " country ; (3) the Waimanga- 
 roa River-bed and its valley, for two miles back from the mouth of 
 the river ; and (4) the high-level terraces stretching along the foot of 
 the Mount Rochfort Range, and the south-east boundary of the 
 block. 
 
 (1.) Gold-mining, in the form known as "beach-combing," and 
 as workings in black-sand deposits at higher levels, has been carried 
 on along the whole sea- frontage of the reserve. As the gold-bearing 
 sands accumulate on different parts of the beach, there, as a conse- 
 quence, the gold- workings are for the time being located. During 
 April, May, and June, 1895, most of the miners within the block 
 were located on the beach, immediately south-west of the mouth of the 
 Waimangaroa River. The land is generally extremely poor, and over 
 the " pakihi" unfit for cultivation, and scarcely of any value for grazing 
 purposes. Along the banks of the Waimangaroa, and within a narrow 
 belt close to high-water mark, it is of better quality, and over these 
 areas settlement to some extent is possible. As a rule, however, what 
 land is capable of being utilised as farming- or grazing-lands has 
 already been alienated. The source of the gold is partly what is 
 carried into the sea by the Buller River and swept northward along 
 the coast-line, and partly what is washed out of the older deposits 
 in shore, the sea now encroaching upon deposits formerly laid down 
 by it. 
 
 (2.) The open swampy plain called " pakihi " has to be regarded 
 as formed by the action of the sea, and, along certain lines on this, 
 gold-bearing gravels or auriferous black- sand deposits may be ex- 
 pected to occur. Due to an impervious substratum of cemented 
 gravel, the water accumulating on the " pakihis " renders them 
 swampy, totally unfit for settlement, and difficult to prospect for gold. 
 As regards gold-mining, the conditions here are similar to what are 
 
 * From the joint report by Messrs. Gordon and McKay on the Mining Reserves 
 within the northern district of Westland and the Buller and Grey Valleys, Nelson. 
 Mines Reports, 1896. C.-9.
 
 68 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 met with on Addison's Flat, where gold-mining is extensively carried 
 on. 
 
 (3.) The Waimangaroa River-bed and valley yields gold-bearing 
 gravels that are at the present being worked with satisfactory results. 
 The most of the claims are perhaps higher up the valley than the 
 boundary of Block No. 1, but seaward of the Wellington Mine a con- 
 siderable number of miners are engaged in claims on the banks of the 
 river. 
 
 (4.) The high terrace flanking the western base of the Mount 
 Rochfort Range, if actually within it, may be considered as the most 
 valuable part of the reserve. Along this line runs the high-level 
 raised beach which further south has yielded very great quantities of 
 gold, and which here has been worked to a considerable extent ; but 
 to an extent much short of what might have been had better and more 
 abundant water-supplies been available. Extensive works are at 
 present in course of construction at Fairdown for the purpose of 
 obtaining the fall necessary to work a portion of the high terrace 
 where gold-mining has been carried on for a long series of years. 
 This company has fair prospects of success, and will probably be the 
 initiative of a series of such undertakings at various places along the 
 line of terraces to the Buller River. Over the " pakihis " mining 
 would have to be carried on by means of elevators. 
 
 Block II. This in outline forms a parallelogram, and has a 
 frontage on the coast-line, commencing at a point two miles and a 
 quarter south of Cape Foulwind. The frontage of the block extends 
 south along the coast-line two miles and a half, and in depth inland 
 for six miles, the back boundary reaching to Bald Hill, at the north- 
 eastern corner of Addison's Flat. The area comprises 10,000 acres. 
 Towards the coast-line the country is covered with bush, and east of 
 Wilson's Lead there is a low range also covered with forest ; but the 
 greater part of the area is swampy " pakihi " country that can main- 
 tain nothing but rushes and semi-aquatic plants, and is therefore 
 totally unfit for cultivation. The block may be divided into three 
 areas, the better to facilitate a description of it. There are : (1) the 
 coastward region ; (2) the open " pakihi," with bush along the low 
 ground of the north tributary of the Okari River ; (3) the succession 
 of terraces to the Buller River, two to four miles from its mouth. 
 
 (1.) Beyond the rocky coast immediately south of Cape Foulwind 
 the sandy beach, commencing within the boundaries of the block, 
 extends the whole frontage to and beyond the mouth of the Totara 
 River. Gold is obtained by " beach-combing " on the coast-line, but 
 immediately inland of that the thick and tangled character of the 
 bush prevents the efficient exploration of the different black-sand 
 leads and the continuation of the coarser auriferous deposits that are
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 69 
 
 known to be present in the next block to the south. This is the only 
 area within the block in which there are any patches of land that 
 could be cultivated, but these are totally unimportant, the better 
 lands of the limestone hills lying towards Cape Foulwind being out- 
 side the block. 
 
 (2.) The " pakihis " are generally swampy, and, where dry, the 
 surface is constituted of low elevations formed of black sand, which 
 form ridges and mounds, or low and broad but only slight elevations 
 above the general nearly dead flat of the plain. The " pakihi " plain 
 has a gentle slope to the south-west and south. The rocks present 
 are lines and isolated patches of auriferous black sand, and coarser 
 granity gravels that also contain payable deposits of gold. Along 
 the higher grounds of the east end of this area there are heavy and 
 extensive deposits of black sand, which would probably pay to work 
 were it possible, short of great expense, to bring a sufficient hydraulic- 
 head water-supply on to the ground. As matters are, a promising 
 field lies untouched ; the only workings on this area being Wilson's 
 Lead on the west side of the bush-clad ridge already mentioned. 
 This lead is continued to the north, and is worked in Bradshaw's 
 Terrace, within less than a mile of the beach between Cape Foulwind 
 and the mouth of the Buller. Could water under pressure be 
 brought on to this central part of the block there can be little doubt 
 that gold would be worked at many places now either abandoned or 
 unopened. 
 
 (3.) This comprises the eastern end of the block, and consists of 
 the two higher of the series of terraces that have been cut by the 
 Buller from the level of the north-eastern part of Addison's Flat. 
 
 On the hierher of these terraces there is clearly an old channel of 
 the Buller River, and at a lower level gold-workings (now abandoned) 
 have been carried on. The gold was said to be in the surface gravels 
 only, but with a powerful water-supply results would have been dif- 
 ferent, and the general body of the stuff to a moderate depth might 
 have been made to pay. Over this part the surface of the ground is 
 not so marshy, except towards the south-west side of the terrace flats; 
 but, for all that, the soils are exceedingly poor, the dry stony ground 
 growing only a stunted variety of manuka scrub. The miners located 
 on this block are on or in the neighbourhood of Wilson's Lead and 
 Bradshaw's Terrace, which should have been included in this or a 
 separate reserve. 
 
 One favourable feature, as furthering the interests of mining over 
 this and the adjoining blocks, is that the depth of wash, black sand, 
 or granite shingle, as the case may be, is not inordinately great, and 
 the bottom, consisting of blue Tertiary sands, or sandy clay, is easily 
 reached in all ordinarv workings.
 
 70 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 Block HI. This block lies immediately to the south of Block II., 
 and is of equal area viz., 10,000 acres. It has a frontage on the 
 coast-line of three miles, and extends back to the eastward a distance 
 ef six miles at the north and south extremities of the back line, but 
 in the middle of the block the distance from the beach to the boundary- 
 line is only four miles. This is due to the fact that a portion (the 
 north-western corner of the south-western extension) of the Buller 
 Coal Reserve occupies part of the rectangular area that would be in- 
 cluded inside the maximum measurements. This triangular area of coal 
 reserve extends west to the forks of the Okari River, near where that is 
 crossed by the Westport Charleston Road. The Okari River, with its 
 tributaries, Dirty Mary's Creek and Mountain Creek, drain the block, 
 and form convenient channels for the discharge of tailings into them 
 and the carrying away of silt and the fine tailings from the various 
 claims working within the boundaries of the block. The surface of 
 the block is a gently-sloping plain from the foot of the Big Terrace, 
 along a line between Bald Hill and the point of the terrace half a 
 mile south of the Shamrock Claim to the sea. The heights along this 
 line vary from 140 ft. to 100ft., and constitute the amount of fall 
 across Addison's Flat to the sea. The surface is totally barren, and, 
 from appearances at the present time, utterly irreclaimable. Despite 
 the drainage-channels cut across and into the "pakihi" by the Okari 
 River and its various tributaries, within a few chains of the brow of 
 the depressions within which these run, the ground becomes swampy, 
 and generally in wet weather so boggy as to be impassable on foot. 
 Even where comparative dry and hard ground is met with, the vege- 
 tation is akin to that found on the softer grounds, except where low 
 black-sand ridges rise a few feet above the general level. On these, 
 and along the banks of the different streams, moderate-sized forest 
 trees break the dull uniformity of the swampy plain. The character 
 of the vegetation over the forestless " pakihis " retains the rain-water, 
 and, acting like a sponge, prevents its escape down declivities over 
 which it could easily find its way into the water-channels; but, thus held 
 it encourages the growth of the semi-aquatic plants, which retain more 
 water, and the dead parts of the vegetation are prevented, partly by the 
 water, and partly by their own nature and constitution, from decom- 
 posing into humus capable of fostering the growth of plants of 
 a higher class. Even where drained and attempted to be cultivated 
 as gardens, &c., the soil appears wholly a tangled mass of tough fibrous 
 stems and roots, that nothing but fire seems capable of reducing to 
 powder. 
 
 Extensive gold-mining is carried on within this block. This may 
 be best described by taking the block in three areas : (1) The coast- 
 line ; (2) the " pakihis "; and (3) the lead along the foot of the high
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 71 
 
 terrace bounding Addison's Flat on the east side. The high terrace 
 east of Addison's Flat, extending from the Buller to the Totara 
 Valley, has not been reserved for mining purposes ; but it is desirable 
 that, if necessary, this should be done. Had this terrace afforded 
 good agricultural ground or pasturage it had probably have been 
 alienated, and difficulties with respect to the passage of water-races 
 across private lands would have resulted. 
 
 (1.) On the coast-line " beach-combing " is, even at the present 
 time, conducted so successfully that a considerable number, forming 
 a colony of Shetlanders, have settled down near the mouth of the 
 Totara River, and gain their living by gold-mining on and near the 
 beach. 
 
 (2.) Seaward of the principal lead 011 Addison's Flat, and east 
 of the Westport Charleston Road, there are at least three lines of 
 black-sand deposit, in which auriferous workings are being carried on, 
 and several large claims working the grey or granite shingle on the 
 main bottom of blue Miocene clay. The grey shingle appears to be 
 auriferous at points irregularly scattered over the flat, while the black- 
 sand deposits, except towards the north-east, take more a linear direc- 
 tion, and must be considered as marking a line of equal elevation in 
 relation to a rising coast-line and emergent land. A number of im- 
 portant claims are being worked by the owners or companies con- 
 cerned, and these but indicate what the possibilities in the future are. 
 All opinions are one on this subject viz., that the gold is there, and 
 awaits but the development of the means of its profitable extraction, 
 which is confidently anticipated. 
 
 (3.) The principal lead on Addison's Flat lies along the foot of the 
 terrace limiting the flat on its eastern side. It has been and is stil] 
 being worked continuously from Bald Hill, at the entrance into the 
 Buller watershed, to the end of the Shamrock Lease, where the Totara 
 watershed is entered upon. 
 
 Dirty Mary's Creek and Mountain Creek have broken through 
 and partly destroyed the lead where, in their present courses, they 
 cross its line at the surface ; bnit it may be safely anticipated that 
 where the " blue bottom " lies at a lower level than the scouring 
 action of these creeks have reached to, the deeper and more western 
 part of the lead yet remains under the modern surf ace- shingle or beds 
 of these creeks. This lead was formed during a depression of the 
 land, prior to which the high-level terrace at the back extended sea- 
 wards to the coast-line. The action of the sea gradually cut this 
 westward portion of the big terrace away, till from Bald Hill to Cro- 
 ninville was the shore-line, backed by a line of cliffs 300 ft. in height, 
 except where the Totara debouched into the sea towards the southern 
 end of the line. But a time came when the land emerged at a
 
 72 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 greater rate than the sea could cut down and remove material from 
 the face or foot of the great gravel cliff; and then the deposit of 
 Addison's Lead began. Piled at the foot of the high shingle-cliff were 
 massive boulders fallen from the face, and now resting on the " blue 
 bottom " which formed the lower part of the cliff, the action being 
 exactly similar to what is now going on between Cape Foulwind and 
 the mouth of the Buller River. A variable depth of material was 
 thus piled up at the foot of the terrace cliff, amongst which were 
 layers of sea-formed gravel, and beds, seldom far continued, of black 
 sand. Further out from the foot of the cliff, and over the greater 
 breadth of the " pakihi," a pavement of coarse shingle and large 
 boulders had been left during the encroachment of the sea upon the 
 land. The spaces between these, as by the retreat of the sea they 
 successively came to be on the shore-line, were filled in and covered 
 up by layers of finer gravel and black sand, and where for any con- 
 siderable time the land was stationary, there accumulated lines of 
 black sand on the surface. When emergence was more rapid the 
 black sand was deposited, interbedded with the finer shingle. To- 
 wards- the north end of the lead the black sands form thick beds, 
 covering up the coarser granite shingle and boulders underlying. 
 Near the Township of Addison's the black sands form thinner layers, 
 inclined to the horizon, and overlapping each other. 
 
 Most of the claims along this line have had to drive long 
 tunnels, usually exceeding 2,000 feet in length, in order to get 
 drainage, and fall for the finer tailings. In many of the claims 
 the coarser material is elevated and stacked by means of water- 
 balance arrangements, and vast quantities of the coarser shingle are 
 so disposed of. At the northern end of the line a hydraulic 
 (" blow-up ") elevating-plant was at one time in use, but this has 
 been discontinued, and of this class the Shamrock plant at the other 
 end of the line is the only one in use. On Piper's Flat a stamper- 
 battery is used for crushing the partly-cemented black sand, and over 
 the north-eastern part of the block such means will have to be gene- 
 rally adopted for the extraction of the' gold. There is a fair supply 
 of water on the field, brought from the main source of the Totara 
 River or from smaller streams rising in the granite range to the east, 
 or from dams on the higher terrace, or on Addison's Flat itself ; but, 
 evidently, much larger supplies of water could be utilised with profit, 
 and a scheme is mooted and strongly advocated at the present time, 
 in conformity with which it is proposed to bring a large supply of 
 water from the Big Ohika River. This would be a work of great 
 cost and no little difficulty, but the proposal and the advocacy of the 
 scheme shows unmistakably the confidence the miners have in the 
 extent and permanency of the field.
 
 McKAY, South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 73 
 
 Block IV. This lies immediately to the south of Block III., and 
 contains an area of 8,500 acres. It has a sea-frontage of about three 
 miles. The reserve extends up the Nile River to the Limestone Gorge 
 two miles and a half from the mouth of the river. The inland south- 
 east boundary has been determined by a line drawn from the eastern 
 end of the south boundary of Block III. to the point indicated on the 
 Nile River. The surface of this block is varied, both as regards the 
 physical features and the quality of the land. Towards the north it 
 has the character of Block III., and consists of open pakihi lands, which 
 towards the middle part are, if possible, more barren, unapproachable, 
 and uninviting than Block III. generally is. Towards the east and 
 along the south-east line the ground is harder, but equally as barren 
 as the other parts are. Towards the estuary of the Okari and Totara 
 Rivers there is a low bush-clad ridge, the higher levels of which are 
 formed of black sand. On the north side of the North or Big Totara 
 there are some terraces standing above the general level that have 
 been left during the cutting-down of the yet higher terrace on the 
 level of the east and northern parts of the block. 
 
 The valley of the Big Totara is fringed with bush, and towards 
 the mouth of the river, where it forms with the Okari a tidal estuary, 
 there are some better lands occupied as farms. Between the Totara 
 and the Little Totara there is a high terrace, having the level of the 
 southern part of Addison's Flat. Towards the sea this is bush-clad, 
 but eastward of the Westport Charleston Road it is again open rush- 
 covered " pakihi " to the foot of the highest terrace, which, corres- 
 ponding with the high terrace at the back of Addison's Flat, is 
 covered with bush. Croninville Diggings are situated on the lower 
 " pakihi " flat at the foot of this high wooded terrace. In the valley 
 of the Little Totara there are some good lands below the road-line to 
 Charleston, and towards the mouth of the river, but they are limited 
 in extent, and have been acquired as freeholds. 
 
 Between the Little Totara and the lower part of the Nile Valley, 
 in the north and south line, and between the limestone range and 
 the sea, lies Brown's Terrace. This is heavily covered with timber, 
 and the soil is of moderate quality, and but for the presence of heavy 
 beds of ironsand the influence of drainage and debris from the lime- 
 stone range at the back of it had insured soil of good quality. 
 
 From the mouth of the Nile to the mouth of the Totara and 
 Okari Rivers " beach-combing " is carried on by the Shetlanders, 
 and near the northern boundary a claim is being opened out in the 
 forest-clad ridge of black sand that has already been mentioned. 
 One party is also working west of the road-line, on the high terrace 
 between which the two Totaras run ; but the Shamrock Claim and 
 the Croninville Diggings are the most important in the parts of the
 
 74 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 block away from the coast-line. Brown's Terrace has not yet been 
 developed. On this are extensive deposits of black sand but there 
 will be considerable cost in bringing water on to the ground. Various 
 proposals have been made, but as yet nothing definite has been 
 undertaken. So far as prospected, the black-sand deposits, though 
 likely to pay if properly worked, are yet of rather low grades. 
 
 The works of the Shamrock Company, holding their claim at the 
 southern end of Addison's Lead, are the most complete and extensive 
 within the block. These include a hydraulic elevator, having in the 
 pipes a pressure of 350 ft. from the top of the high terrace to the 
 eastward. The material is elevated to a height of 54 ft. from the 
 bottom of the working-face. The coarser material is shot off on a 
 screen-table, and the lighter material, with the gold, is passed over 
 tables, from which the finer tailings escape into the sludge-channel. 
 The company at one time proposed driving a tunnel about a mile in 
 length, in order to drain from the main bottom in the claim, by 
 which it was hoped a considerable saving in water-power would be 
 effected, and the claim worked at a less cost than at present. This 
 scheme has, for the present, been laid aside, the present method 
 being considered equally effective at not greater cost. Between the 
 Shamrock Claim and Croninville the lead has, since its formation, 
 been buried underneath a great shingle-fan formed by the Totara 
 River. Afterwards, by the action of the same river, this has been 
 cut through, arid in part carried away, and a series of descending 
 terraces have been formed, which are three to the level of the river. 
 The lead between the Shamrock and Croninville was thus first 
 covered up and then destroyed by the action of the Totara. It is 
 likely, however, that the auriferous lead will be traced for some 
 distance under the fan of the Totara, where from the north it passes 
 under it. 
 
 Block V. This has from the mouth of the Nile a frontage along 
 the coast of eight miles, and an average width of two miles and a half. 
 The area of the block is 9,600 acres. The centre coast-line is bold, 
 and rocky highlands up to 700 ft. immediately overlook the sea in the 
 southern part, while the limestone range, fully 1,000 ft. above the 
 sea-level, runs along the back boundary throughout its entire length. 
 Between these two lines of higher land there is in the northern part 
 lower lands, forming terraces and flats along the left bank of the 
 Nile River ; and, by a succession of terraces, rising one above the 
 other, the ground towards the south, before entering the watershed of 
 the Four-mile Creek, has attained to a height of fully 400 ft. above 
 the sea, while to the south of the Four-mile, broken terraces, with 
 black-sand deposits, can be traced to a height of fully 600 ft. above 
 the sea. In Constance Bay, and at the mouth of the Candlelight
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 75 
 
 Creek, these deposits reach sea-level. Except, it may be, along the 
 foot of the limestone ranges the northern part is very poor as regards 
 the quality of the soils ; and, where the best soils are namely, along 
 the valley of the Four-mile Creek the areas are so limited that they 
 scarcely merit notice in considering the general quality of the land 
 within the reserves. Over the whole area west of the limestone mining 
 has been carried on, and the district included within this block was 
 at one time the most famous of all the West Coast goldfields. Large 
 quantities of gold were got from the black-sand and beach deposits of 
 Constance Bay. At the higher level, near the Township of Charleston, 
 black-sand deposits, underlain by granity wash, were also very rich in 
 gold, and have been worked over an extensive area towards Candlelight 
 Creek. The principal workings are now situated along the western 
 base of the limestone range, where there are heavy deposits of black 
 sand rich in gold, but for the most part oxidized, so as to form a 
 ferruginous or dark-purple cement that requires to be milled before 
 the gold can be set free ; but, however carefully the operation may be 
 conducted, it is at all times imperfectly accomplished, and the sand 
 tailings passing along the different channels liberate more gold, which 
 is recovered by ripples, blanket- tables, or other means placed so as to 
 intercept the gold. 
 
 There is still a considerable population engaged in mining at 
 Charleston; but, on the working-out of the richer ground, unless 
 parties were in possession of water-rights such as would enable them 
 to work poorer ground, they were forced to leave the district, and thus 
 the population has gradually diminished to what possesses, and is 
 sufficient to manage and apply the water that can be conserved on, or 
 is already brought on to the ground. 
 
 On the Back Lead there are at the present time nine milling- 
 plants for the reduction of black-sand cement. Many more might be 
 employed in different parts of the field. 
 
 Of late, prospecting for deep leads under the coal-measures has 
 been proposed, and the Mining Association of Charleston has taken 
 active steps for the furtherance of this laudable purpose. The gravels, 
 proposed to be tested, show in the face of the terrace inland of Con- 
 stance Bay, and could easily be proved at that place. There is thus 
 a possibility of a revival of mining at Charleston. 
 
 Auriferous quartz- reefs are liable to occur in the gneissic rocks 
 of the coast-line, but the quartz is of a type not generally considered 
 auriferous. The plateau between Candlelight and the Four-mile is 
 covered with deposits of black sand, but very little appears to have 
 been done in the way of prospecting there. The table-land affords 
 many favourable sites for the collection of water, and to this end it is 
 to a considerable extent utilised.
 
 76 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. 
 
 In the Four-mile Creek, and thence 011 the high lands to the 
 south boundary of the block, there is little mining going on at the 
 present time, principally owing to the difficulty of getting water 
 on to the ground ; the rich patches payable for cradling being 
 worked out. 
 
 Block VI. This extends from the southern boundary of Block V. 
 south-west along the coast, a distance of seven miles, and has at the 
 northern end a width of three miles and a quarter, while at the 
 southern extremity its width is less than a mile. The total area of 
 the block is 5,600 acres. Its surface, except a small area at the 
 mouth of the Fox River, and thence extending north as a narrow 
 strip to the rock beach at St. Kilda, is broken and rugged ; the 
 south end of the gneissic high lands of the coast being within the 
 northern limits of the block, while along the south-east boundary the 
 limestone range extends to the Fox River, south-west of which a 
 broken limestone plateau, interrupted by a single granitic boss, ex- 
 tends to the southern limit of the block. The gold obtained on this 
 block comes chiefly from black-sand and other sea-beach deposits, the 
 more important workings being from Welshman's Terrace, north to 
 the high-level black-sand leads of St. Kilda, and south to the Seal 
 Rocks, as " beach-combings," on the shore of Woodpecker Bay. 
 Further to the south gold-workings are confined to the moving sands 
 between low- and high-water mark, or to such more stable deposits as 
 have accumulated between the present high-water mark and the foot 
 of the cliffs. There are few important works as aids to mining on 
 this block. The land, where it is found level, is of better quality than 
 more to the north, but the area on which settlement is possible for 
 agricultural or pastoral purposes is either too small, or so covered 
 with dense and heavy bush that the clearing of it would prove very 
 costly. 
 
 Block VII. This is constituted by a parallel strip along each side 
 of the Buller River, from the junction of the Ohika-iti, or Little 
 Ohika, to and opposite to the Eight-mile Creek in the gorge of the 
 Buller, above the Lyell Township. The total area of the reserve is 
 8,900 acres. It contains some small areas of good arable or pastoral 
 lands, mostly on the south bank of the river; but these have already 
 been alienated from the Crown, and now for the most part are occu- 
 pied as grazing lands. The long narrow strip along the Buller River 
 that this reserve embraces, will for clearness and convenience be de- 
 scribed under the following heads : (1) Little Ohika to Granger's 
 Point ; (2) Grainger's Point to the junction of the Inangahua ; (3) 
 from the Inangahua Junction to the Lyell Township; and (4) from 
 the Lyell Township east, through the Buller Gorge to the boundaiy 
 of the block.
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 77 
 
 Little Ohika to Grainger's Point. Between the Little Ohika and 
 G-rainger's Point the Buller River runs through a deep gorge, the 
 sides of which are exceedingly rugged and abrupt. In this part, 
 therefore, there are but few localities where alluvial deposits can 
 accumulate or have accumulated above ordinary flood-mark, or where 
 shingle-beds are formed between high- and low- water mark, under 
 conditions favourable for mining for gold. At the Twelve-mile 
 (Powell's) there is a moderate-sized area of alluvial ground on the 
 south bank of the river, and the river-bed on this part might also be 
 dredged for gold. On the opposite or northern bank there is also 
 a thick accumulation of alluvial deposit, and evidences of considerable 
 workings, now discontinued. On the south side also a considerable 
 .extent of the alluvial banks of the river has been turned over ; but 
 in the bed of the river no evidences of work done have been 
 preserved. 
 
 The next point where gold-mining might be carried on is imme- 
 diately below Hawk's Crag, where a large beach is formed on the 
 south side of the stream. This has partly been supplied from 
 material brought down by a large-sized creek here making junction 
 with the Buller ; but to a very large extent the gravels are brought 
 down from higher lands up the valley by the Buller, and should 
 therefore be auriferous. Some old workings lie on the higher banks 
 at this place, but these are now overgrown by a fresh growth of 
 scrub. 
 
 Above Hawk's Crag there should be gold-workings on the banks 
 and south beaches of the river, and at the junction of the Blackwater 
 also ; but, in the latter locality, so great is the quantity of shingle 
 brought down the Blackwater that shingle from this source must for 
 a time predominate, and so far the Blackwater has not proved a 
 gold-bearing river. Here, therefore, conditions are not so favourable 
 for mining. Between the Blackwater and Lovell's Point there is 
 a considerable length, and more than an ordinary breadth, of alluvial 
 bank to the river on its south side, and here, both on the higher bank 
 and on the shingle banks of the river, are gold -workings. A miner 
 working 011 this part of the river stated that he could easily make 
 10s. per day when the river was moderately low. 
 
 Above Lovell's Point to Berlin's the south bank of the river has 
 an alluvial deposit of from 2 to 5 chains in width. Part of this is 
 occupied as garden cultivations or grass lands, and part of it is being 
 mined upon. On the opposite or north bank of the river there is 
 also a moderate extent of alluvial lands, and a number of claims that 
 from the early days of mining on the Buller River have been worked 
 on the bank of the river, and are still being worked. Some of the 
 reaches on the river between Lovell's Point and Grainger's Point are
 
 78 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 suitable and promising localities for the establishment of dredging 
 plants on the river. 
 
 At Grainger's Point the river is confined to a narrow gorge, and 
 consequently rushes through this with considerable force. Alluvial 
 deposits on the immediate banks of the river are here absent, but at 
 the upper end of the gorge high-level river-gravels have been formed, 
 resting against the range on the south side at fully 100 ft. above 
 ordinary flood-level. 
 
 Grainger's Point to the Junction of the Inangahua. Above 
 Grainger's Point the Buller Valley widens considerably, and be- 
 tween the road and the river lies a somewhat extensive area of flat 
 land partly swamp, to some extent drained and reclaimed, and 
 partly bush-covered lands along the immediate bank of the river. 
 The western end and middle part of this is known as Walker's 
 Swamp, or Farm (Rocklands). Above Mr. Walker's homestead the 
 breadth of the low grounds rapidly becomes less, till two miles and a 
 half from the Inangahua Junction the river runs close under the lime- 
 stone range, which here terminates in high cliffs, along the narrow 
 space between which and the river the Westport Reefton Nelson 
 Road has been formed. On the northern side of the river there 
 are also low grounds, forming partly the banks of the Buller River 
 and partly the lower valley of the Orikaka or Mackley's Creek. 
 
 No information respecting gold-mining on this section of the 
 Buller Valley was obtained, but it does seem probable that dredging 
 on the river between Grainger's Point and the Limestone Bluff, where 
 the river is again confined to a gorge, could be profitably carried on 
 at many places. From the limestone spur to the Inangahua Junction 
 but little gold-mining has been done on the south bank of the river, 
 but on the northern side a moderate-sized creek (Welshman's) here 
 makes junction, and from the valley of this a considerable quantity 
 of gold has been obtained. 
 
 From the Inangahua Junction to the Lyell Township. In this part 
 of the Buller Valley there is a moderate breadth of low alluvial lands 
 along the south bank of the river, part of which must be considered 
 as belonging to the Inangahua Valley, the Buller River in reality 
 breaking across the northern end of the depression along which the 
 Inangahua flows. Less than three miles from the Inangahua Junc- 
 tion the Buller Valley is distinctly marked, and the alluvial lands 
 along its banks are due to its action during times of high flood, or 
 when running at a higher level than at the present time. Gold- 
 workings are carried on on the banks of the river to some extent, 
 principally near Junker's Hotel ; but this part of the valley is im- 
 portant chiefly on account of the auriferous character of the bed of 
 the river. One dredge only, the " Cock-sparrow," is at present at
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 79 
 
 work on the river, and as of late this has been very successful there, 
 it is probable that shortly others will be built to exploit the gold 
 from other parts of the river-bed. On the northern bank of the 
 river there is a fringe of high terrace-lands over which gold is sup- 
 posed to be present, but at the present it is undeveloped. In the 
 upper part of this section, below the Buller Bridge, the alluvial flats 
 along the banks of the river are for the most part cultivated and 
 in English grasses. 
 
 From the bridge across the river to the junction of Lyell Creek 
 the south-west bank of the gorge, which here begins, is very abrupt, 
 and no gravels are retained. Such as are in this part of the valley 
 lie on the opposite or north-east bank. Here a number of claims 
 are at work, but the works are on a small scale, the water-supply 
 being limited. 
 
 From the Junction of Lyell Creek, East, through the Gorge to 
 Boundary of the Block. At many places in this gorge there are on 
 both banks of the river alluvial workings, which are at so consider- 
 able a height above the river that very little water is available for 
 mining purposes. Small catch-water races have, therefore, to be 
 brought on to the points, patches, or fringing terraces, from whatever 
 source is most convenient or where water can be obtained. The 
 result is that at most places mining is carried on with a totally in- 
 sufficient supply of water, and ground is thus worked, it is presumed, 
 so as to pay small wages, that otherwise should be made to pay hand- 
 somely. 
 
 Block VIII. This block extends to the eastern boundary of 
 Block VII., along both banks of the Buller River to the junction of 
 the Mataira and Matakitaki Rivers. Like the previous block, it 
 takes in but a narrow strip along each bank of the river, the alluvial 
 banks of which have been hitherto the great source of gold in this 
 part of the Buller district. The area of the block is 4,320 acres. 
 The gorge of the river continues to the lower end of Pern Flat, but 
 there are a few places at which there are small alluvial flats : as, for 
 instance, at Newton Hotel, the junction of the Maruia, &c. There 
 are also between the Newton River and Fern Flat some high-level 
 terraces, covered to a considerable depth with river-shingle, which are 
 known to be gold-bearing, but on to which no water-supply can be or 
 has yet been brought. 
 
 At the mouth of the Maruia the terraces on the south side of the 
 river have been worked extensively, and are still being worked, accord- 
 ing to the measure of the water-supply, for gold. At Fern Flat the 
 river-banks, on the northern side principally, have been worked, and 
 a dredge, the " Buller Dredge," moored to the bank, is here at work 
 in the bed of the river. From this point to the east limit of the
 
 80 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. 
 
 block there should be several localities offering facilities for dredging 
 the river-bed, but in the meantime little or no mining is being 
 carried on. On the north side of the valley the Buller flows under 
 high banks till the Mataira Valley opens out, and on the south side 
 the comparatively extensive alluvial plain, east and west of the 
 junction of the Matakitaki, stretches from Doughboy Creek to Long 
 Ford. 
 
 Block IX. This extends between New Creek and the Eight-mile 
 Creek, up the Buller Gorge from the Lyell Township. Its length 
 east and west is five miles, and its breadth irregular. The block 
 comprises an area of 9,800 acres. Within it lie the rich alluvial 
 diggings of Lyell Creek, famous for its " patches" and the coarse 
 character of its gold. The area west of Lyell Creek is rugged and 
 mountainous, utterly unfit for agricultural or for grazing purposes. 
 To the east of Lyell Creek, and lying between the middle part of 
 that, the Buller Gorge and the Eight-mile Creek, is a high alluvial 
 plateau known as Manuka Flat. This is covered with an alluvial 
 deposit which is known to be gold-bearing, and to some extent 
 payable. Gold has not yet been found so abundantly as to lead to 
 extensive workings, but all agree that the flat has not been 
 sufficiently prospected. The prospecting of this flat was stimulated 
 by the finding of rich gold high up on the slope from Lyell Creek 
 to the flat. This gold was supposed to have broken away from the 
 edge of the flat, and it must be confessed that this was probably the 
 case. How far it was concentrated in its passage down the slope 
 towards Lyell Creek is another matter, which future enterprise must 
 determine. In Lyell Creek itself the alluvial gold-workings are con- 
 fined within the limits of a very narrow valley, at many places 
 extremely gorgy, and practically a gorge throughout. 
 
 Quartz-mining is now and will be the most important form of 
 gold-mining. There are in the valley of Lyell Creek some old- 
 established mines notably the United Alpine and the Low-level 
 Extended Companies ; the former has been a prominent mine for the 
 past twenty years. The Low-level Tunnel must be mentioned in this 
 place, as a work of great importance to mining in the district. In 
 the New Creek district the different mines are not yet fully equipped, 
 and the initiatory prospecting stage has yet to be passed, but, as an 
 area for auriferous quartz-mining, its prospects are similar to those 
 of the Lyell Creek, the rocks being the same, and continuous between 
 these places. 
 
 Block XXV. This extends along both banks of the Maruia, a 
 distance of thirteen miles from the southern boundary of Block VIII. 
 The average width of the block is one mile, and the total area 8,320 
 acres. The surface is constituted by steep mountain slopes on each
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 81 
 
 side of a narrow valley. The whole area is heavily timbered, except 
 where there have been some clearings made by man. The level 
 lands in this part of the valley are very limited, and are confined to 
 the east or right-hand bank of the river. There are a few miners 
 scattered along the bank of the river, and probably their number 
 would be increased were freer communications to be had with the 
 more settled districts of the Buller Valley. Land fit for settlement 
 is of very limited extent, and it is just such lands the alluvial flat& 
 along the banks of the river that are required for mining purposes. 
 Where not too gorgy, dredging for gold might be carried on in the 
 bed of the river itself. Payable gold, but nothing remarkably rich, 
 seems to' be got along the river-banks at almost any point where 
 gravel or finer shingle has accumulated. 
 
 Block XXVI. This block also extends along the Maruia, a 
 distance of thirteen miles, and has the same average width as 
 Block XXV., and its area is the same namely, 8,320 acres. For 
 the first five miles, following the river upwards, the mountains are 
 close to the river on the east side of the valley, but on the west side 
 there are some flat lands between the river and the ranges which 
 towards the lower end of the block may be distant half- to three- 
 quarters of a mile. Between five miles and nine miles the river 
 valley is more confined and gorgy, and for about two miles is difficult 
 to pass even on foot. In this part of the valley a number of miners 
 are settled, and were the cost of provision less than it is, there can 
 be no doubt but that a considerable population would be engaged in 
 gold-mining along the banks of the river. A good track requires to 
 be made along the whole length of the valley, from the Buller to the 
 Maruia Plains, where it would join the track over the range to the 
 Matakitaki. Above the gorge the Maruia is joined by the Warbeck, 
 coming from the east. At the mouth of this small stream some 
 gold-mining is at present being carried on, and higher up along the 
 banks of the river to the gravel gorge of the old glacier moraine 
 stretched across the valley a mile above the junction of the Warbeck. 
 Above this the river runs along the foot of a high terrace on its left 
 bank, and it has some flats at a lower level, principally on the left 
 bank. 
 
 Block XXVII. This forms an area of about three miles square, 
 and contains 6,250 acres. It extends across the Maruia River from 
 a mile up Station Creek to the foot of the granite mountains, on 
 the opposite side of the river. At one time thirty to forty miners 
 were working in Station Creek, but at the present time no work is 
 being done on this stream. As part of the Maruia Plains, the land 
 within this block, although fully averaging in quality the whole 
 plain, cannot be classed as good grazing land. The climate is cold
 
 82 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 in winter, and vegetation is completely checked from April to 
 October. 
 
 Block XXVIII. This extends along the upper valley of the 
 Maruia from the boundary of Block XXVII., for a distance of 
 thirteen miles, with an average width of one mile and a quarter. 
 The area of the block is 8,320 acres. For the most part the land is 
 flat, river-bed, poor shingle-bed, or grassy flats of better quality 
 bordering the river, or bush-clad mountain slopes, where these con- 
 fine the valley and the river to a width of a few chains or a quarter 
 of a mile. The country away from the river-flats is bush-clad. 
 Some parts of the banks of the river are good grass lands, but the 
 bulk of the stony plain bears but a struggling grass vegetation of 
 tussock. Above the junction of the Alford the river valley becomes 
 a ravine between two mountain ranges of mica-schist. Gold is known 
 to exist on the hill-slopes on the left side of the valley, and a number 
 of miners are at present working on the Alford, but these are outside 
 the limits of the block. 
 
 Block XXIX. This extends along both banks, but principally 
 along the eastern bank, of the Matakitaki River to Horse Flat, one 
 mile above the junction of the Glenroy with the Matakitaki. The 
 total length is twenty-one miles, the average breadth half a mile, and 
 the area 3,400 acres. On the west side of the valley, to the junction 
 of the Glenroy, the range descends abruptly to the level of the river, 
 and there are thus no flat lands of any considerable extent on that 
 side of the valley. On the opposite or east side of the valley a 
 variable breadth of flat bush-covered land extends twelve miles up the 
 river. Beyond this the hills form high slopes, overlooking the river 
 on both sides of the valley, and to the junction of the Glenroy the 
 extent of flat terrace-land is much more limited. In the lower part 
 of the valley there is a considerable extent of flat terrace-land, but 
 this is mostly covered -with birch bush, an exclusive growth of which 
 indicates very poor land. These lands, wherever of any value, have 
 already been taken up, and are for the most part occupied. From 
 the ford and bend in the river below the junction of the Glenroy 
 River, to the south boundary of the block, the level lands of limited 
 extent form high terraces on both banks of the river. Their value as 
 agricultural lands is very little, and they are mostly being worked for 
 gold. 
 
 The gold-workings in the Matakitaki Valley are chiefly along the 
 banks of the river and on the lower river-flats. There is generally a 
 poor supply of water, and all the water that can readily be brought 
 from the range on the east side of the valley has already been 
 utilised. Were a more abundant supply of water available, there 
 would be an increase in the number of miners and a corresponding
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 83 
 
 increase of the gold production of the district. The miners state 
 that almost anywhere payable gold deposits can be found on the 
 banks of the Matakitaki, from Hampden to the junction of the 
 Glenroy. A dredge, the " Matakitaki Dredge/' is at work on the 
 river, and employs a number of hands in this form of gold-mining. 
 
 Block XXX. This block is of small extent; it is four miles in 
 length, and, extending along each side of the Doughboy Creek, con- 
 tains an area of 2,560 acres. Tbe lower part of it lies within the 
 Buller Valley, on the south side of the river, from the head of 
 Fern Flat to Long Ford. Beyond this the creek enters the hills, 
 and for a time the valley is narrow, but it soon again opens out 
 to a moderate width, and narrow flats extend along this upper 
 part, along which gold -mining has been carried on for some 
 considerable time. The lower lands outside the hills only are of 
 any value ; these have, however, been alienated, and are in the 
 possession of private individuals. The upper part of the valley is 
 surrounded by mountains formed of the rocks of the coal-bearing 
 series, and it is thus a matter of importance to determine the 
 immediate as well as the original or primary source of the gold 
 found in this part of Doughboy Creek. From the upper part of 
 the valley a low saddle gives access to the lower part of the Maruia 
 Valley, and from this direction or from the Upper Buller the 
 auriferous gravels may have come. There is, however, another 
 source whence the gold in this valley may have been derived namely, 
 the conglomerates at or near the bottom of the coal-bearing series. 
 This matter need not be dwelt on here, as some further reference 
 will have to be made to it in speaking generally of the source of 
 the gold in the Upper Buller Valley, more especially of the Mata- 
 kitaki, Mangles, and Maruia Valleys. At one time 200 miners were 
 located within the area of this block. 
 
 Block XXXI. This extends five miles and a half along the lower 
 part of the Glenroy River, and its area is 800 acres. For the last 
 one and a half or two miles the Glenroy River has its course in a 
 deep gorge excavated in granite, but on entering the Matakitaki 
 Valley rocks of the coal-bearing series are found near its junction 
 with the Matakitaki. Beyond the granite range the valley widens 
 somewhat, and here the river has cut a narrow channel in con- 
 glomerate rocks and sandstone belonging to the coal-bearing series. 
 Beyond this again the valley yet further expands, and open flat lands 
 are found along the banks of the stream. Yet higher up the river 
 the conglomerates of the coal -bearing series are repeated, and thence 
 extend into the Maruia watershed. Towards the source of the 
 river, and beyond the limits of the block, there are a variety of 
 rocks serpentines belonging to the Maitai series, and Devonian
 
 84 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 breccias and slates, and mica-schists. These latter may possibly be 
 the source of part of the gold found in the valley of the Glenroy, 
 but it is evident that the greater part has been derived from the 
 conglomerate, in connection with the coal-bearing series, as described 
 in the first part of this report. 
 
 The prospecting of these conglomerates is a matter that, in the 
 interest of mining in the Upper Buller district, should not be de- 
 layed ; for it is evident that not in the Glenroy River alone, but that 
 over the whole area drained by the Maruia, Matakitaki, Glenroy, and 
 the Mangles, they have been a great, if not the chief, source of gold 
 to the recent alluviums worked for gold in the lower grounds of these 
 valleys. It has been noted that in the Matakitaki, Glenroy, and the 
 Mangles, where these conglomerates cease and are not found higher 
 up the valley, there also is the finish of the coarser and richer deposits 
 of gold ; the gold found higher up the valleys being fine and by no 
 means as abundant as where, and below where, the conglomerates 
 begin. This is specially the case in the Mangles Valley, where the 
 conglomerates terminate at or near the junction of Blue Duck Creek ; 
 the coarse and richer gold deposits follow that for some distance, till 
 the conglomerates trending away to the westward ; in Blue Duck 
 Creek the gold is less or absent towards the source of the creek. 
 
 Block LI. This is the most northerly of the blocks of land re- 
 served for gold-mining purposes in the Inangahua Valley. It is of 
 irregular shape, but rudely a triangle in outline, the blunted apex of 
 which nearly reaches the Westport Reefton Road, between Larry's 
 and Landing Creeks. The boundary follows the right bank of Larry's 
 Creek to the heights overlooking the second or main forks of that 
 stream. Thence the south-east boundary is part of a line between 
 Trig. H H and Trig. G, the north-eastern trig, being the corner of 
 the block in that direction. From thence the line runs nearly due 
 west to where it crosses Landing Creek. It embraces an area of 
 9,900 acres, and has two principal streams Landing and Coal Creeks 
 running through it, each of which has many tributaries that are of 
 importance in connection with the gold-producing quality of the 
 gravels in -these or the larger streams. Little Landing Creek has 
 been extensively worked for gold, which appears to be derived from 
 two if not three different sources. Between Landing Creek and Coal 
 Creek there is a high plateau or table-land, over which a considerable 
 amount of working for gold has been carried on, and over all the 
 higher lands, where alluvial deposits are within this block, large 
 sluicing claims might be worked with profit. The back part of the 
 block reaches across the Cretaceo-tertiary coal-bearing belt on to the 
 auriferous slates of Carboniferous age, and within this part there is a 
 probability of reefs being found in continuation of those found on
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 85 
 
 Larry's Creek. Then there are the quartz cements at the base of the 
 coal-bearing series, which here have not been prospected, and which 
 should be prospected both here and elsewhere much more than has 
 been done. 
 
 In front of the coal-bearing series, that is, to the westward, lies a 
 very considerable development of older Pliocene gravels (" Old-man 
 bottom ") . These rocks extend to within a quarter of a mile of 
 the road-line, and form a plateau or table-land deeply cut into by 
 gullies, or sculptured into hills of a nearly uniform height. These 
 rocks are gold-bearing, and although within this block no claims are 
 being worked in them, there cannot be a doubt that, with a good 
 water-supply, they could at places be made to pay for working. 
 The Chinamen working in the bed of Little Landing Creek admitted 
 that perhaps more than a colour of gold could be found in these 
 older Pliocene gravels, that there form the bottom on which the 
 recent gravels of the creek-bed rest. More to the north, between 
 Landing Creek and Coal Creek, there is a table-land recently ex- 
 plored by Mr. Caples, of Reef ton. Over this there have been 
 workings of very considerable extent. These workings are now old, 
 the place having been abandoned by European miners for some time. 
 With a sufficient water-supply much of this ground might again be 
 worked, and also an extended area of ground too poor to work in the 
 first instance. At the present time Chinamen only are working on 
 the block. 
 
 The mountain slopes, and the areas over which the coal-rocks and 
 " Old-man bottom " are found, constitute land having poor soils, and 
 are not suitable for settlement. In the valleys of the main creeks, 
 and over a narrow belt east of the road-line, the land is of better 
 quality ; but settlement here and in many of the lesser valleys would 
 interfere with or bar mining operations that in the future are likely 
 to be carried on in the different formations and horizons, from the 
 slates of the mountain range to the most recent gravels of the creek- 
 beds. 
 
 Block LIII. This is of irregular outline, and towards the west 
 embraces, first, the country east of the main road between Larry's 
 Creek and Boatman's ; and, secondly, excluding an area of freehold 
 land extending along the south-west side of Boatman's, a consider- 
 able area lying between Boatman's Creek and the Waitahu or north 
 branch of the Inangahua River. The back boundary is formed by 
 part of the line Trig. H H to Trig. G, and part of the line from Trig. 
 G to Trig. N. The total area is 9,000 acres. Naturally the block 
 is divisible into two parts : first, that lying between Larry's and 
 Boatman's Creeks ; and, second, that between Boatman's Creek and 
 the north branch of the Inaugahua. Over that part between Larry's
 
 86 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 and Boatman's Creeks there are extensive gold-workings in Little 
 Boatman's Creek, Burke's Creek, Ryan's Creek, and Italian Gully, 
 more especially i n the latter. In Italian Gully the main area of 
 workings are continuous for about a mile along the valley, and are 
 workings in recent mountain wash brought down from the range to 
 the east, which consists of slates and sandstones of Carboniferous 
 age, referable to the Maitai series of the New Zealand Geological 
 Survey. Thus there is evidence that between Specimen Hill and the 
 different quartz-claims at Larry's the auriferous slates are continuous 
 on the range. They are seen to extend across Italian Gully to the 
 western part of the slate area at Larry's ; between which two places 
 the slates are seen to be directly overlain by the older Pliocene gravels 
 forming the " Old-man bottom." Below the junction of Burke's 
 Creek with that of Italian Gully the gold-workings are on " Old-man 
 bottom." 
 
 The rocks in Burke's Creek are partly limestones, sandstones, 
 coal-measures, and the conglomerates underlying the last-mentioned, 
 resting on the auriferous slates of Specimen Hill, and, with the next 
 succeeding member of the coal-bearing series, are overlain" by the 
 gravels of the " Old-man bottom." On the tops of the spurs between 
 Burke's Creek and Boatman's Creek, and the lower part of Italian 
 Gully and Boatman's Creek, there is reported to be gold-bearing 
 gravels. These may be a rewash of the " Old-man bottom," or may 
 be strata more auriferous than is commonly the case interbedded 
 therewith ; probably the latter is the case. In the upper part of 
 Burke's Creek heavy beds of gravel, forming part of the Older 
 Pliocene series, have been mined in Howell's Claim, and a very deep 
 face is there exposed which has been extensively worked. 
 
 Little Boatman's has been worked from the slopes of Specimen 
 Hill to or almost to its junction with the main branch of Boatman's. 
 Mainly its gold has been derived from the adjoining auriferous 
 slates to the eastward, many rich reefs lying in that direction, though 
 these have not been traced through the spur into the valley of 
 Little Boatman's, nor at lower levels under it. Rich specimens are, 
 however, met with in the creek, and one large block of quartz 
 lying in the creek-bed was found so impregnated with gold that a 
 great part of it has been removed as specimen-stone. On the 
 north side of the valley of the main branch of Boatman's Creek 
 alluvial gold workings at low levels have apparently been exhausted, 
 but on the higher slope of the hill, at the back of the township 
 (Capleston), rich gold has been found in the lower beds of the " Old- 
 man bottom." And, from information afforded by Mr. Rodgers, of 
 the Crown Hotel, Capleston, it appears that along the contact be- 
 tween the " Old-man gravels " and the coal-rocks, the lower part
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 87 
 
 of the auriferous band gave gold at the rate of 1 dwt. to the dish, 
 and the upper part of the rate of 1 dwt. to the ton. It may be 
 assumed that the deposit will extend considerably along the contact 
 of the two rocks under the higher part of the range, striking towards 
 Howell's Claim on the one hand and south-west across Boatman's 
 Creek on the other hand, and, gradually dipping westward, should 
 pass below the water-line of the main valley. This lower auriferous 
 band in the " Old -man bottom " will again have to be noticed in 
 dealing with the other, or south-west, division of the block. There 
 are other and higher bands of the " Old-man bottom " that are known 
 to be auriferous, one of which has been tested on the south-west side 
 of the creek. This, from its strike and dip, would correspond from 
 its position, on the north side of the creek, with the horizon and 
 locality where gold, on the authority of Mr. John Gallagher, is said 
 to occur on the top of the spur between Boatman's and Burke's 
 Creek. 
 
 At Capleston, the slate-rock makes its appearance in the bed of 
 the creek, and underlying the coal-rocks, extends north and south, 
 and forms the range of higher hills to the northward, and the western 
 slope of the range between Boatman's Creek and the north branch of 
 the Inangahua. The core of this range to the south-west is formed 
 of Devonian rocks. One mile and a half to two miles above 
 Capleston the slates pass under rocks belonging to the coal-bearing 
 series, and towards the middle part of this belt of slate the chief 
 quartz-mines of the Boatman's district are situated. The Just-in- 
 Time, the Fiery Cross, the Welcome, and many other claims of lesser 
 note are situated in this part of the slate belt. These have all at one 
 time or another, and each in their turn, been famous gold-yielding 
 mines. Nothing more need be said in justification of the area over 
 which they extend being withdrawn from sale and reserved for mining 
 purposes. 
 
 Towards the source of Boatman's Creek the conglomerates at the 
 base of the coal-measures are likely to prove auriferous ; but, 
 although a good deal of prospecting has been done in this part of 
 the district, the idea of testing the cements at the base of the 
 coal-bearing series is novel to the miners, and hitherto attention has 
 been directed wholly to the recent wash in the creek-beds. 
 
 On the south-west portion of the block alluvial diggings alone 
 exist. The slates of the auriferous series extend from Boatman's 
 Creek to the Waiatahu, or north branch of the Inangahua, opposite 
 the Sir Charles Russell battery ; but up to the present time auriferous 
 quartz-reefs have not been found in this area of the slates. Resting 
 on these follow the conglomerates and quartz cements, or coarse or 
 fine sandstones of the coal-bearing series. These are or should be
 
 SS GEOLOGICAL REPOBTS. 
 
 gold-bearing, since the same beds are auriferous at no great distance 
 to the south-east. The Pliocene gravels, or " Old-man bottom," next 
 follow, and are known to be auriferous. There are also, towards the 
 north-west, terraces of early Recent or of Pleistocene date, probably 
 also auriferous. 
 
 A tributary of Boatman's Creek drains part of this portion of the 
 block west of the slate range, and its modern gravels have derived 
 gold principally through the cutting down of the " Old-man bottom," 
 out also in part from the older formations lying farther to the east- 
 ward. Fryingpau Creek, more to the south-west, has, however, been 
 the chief seat of alluvial mining in this part of the block, and has 
 undoubtedly derived its gold from all the sources here enumerated, 
 the early Recent, or Pleistocene terraces excepted. 
 
 Along the hill-sides bounding the valley of Boatman's Creek the 
 " Old-man bottom " is developed between the disappearance of the 
 coal-bearing series at Capleston and the creek mentioned a mile and 
 a quarter further down the valley. The lower beds of the Pliocene 
 gravels, as on the opposite side of the valley, are on this side 
 auriferous ; and along the junction between these and the coal-rocks 
 rich coarse alluvial gold was found. This was worked out in the 
 beds of the small creek without leading to the prospecting of the 
 underlying Older Pliocene gravels, from which the gold in the creek 
 had been immediately derived. Some distance further down the 
 valley a claim has been opened out, and partly worked, on Mr. 
 Boardman's farm. This is so clearly in an auriferous band of the 
 Older Pliocene gravels that it is thus of peculiar interest and 
 importance. The average result as yet obtained is 5 dwt. of gold 
 to the ton of gravel put through the boxes. Mr. Boardman works 
 the ground himself when water is to be had. Work can only be 
 done in wet weather, or when an old prospecting drive has sufficient 
 water in it to supplement that collected on the surface. 
 
 Block LIV. This embraces the Reefton mining area between the 
 two branches of the Inangahua from the Town of Reefton to the source 
 of Murray Creek, and from the battery-site of the Sir Charles Russell 
 Mine to the mouth of Lankey's Gully. The block contains 7,000 
 acres, and is throughout of a mountainous character. Its agricultural 
 or even its pastoral capabilities need not, therefore, be considered. It 
 was the early great centre of quartz-mining in the Reefton district, 
 and is still in the premier position in that respect. It would, there- 
 fore, be superfluous to at length describe a block the proceeds and 
 capabilities of which are so well known. It is only necessary to 
 mention the fact that, along the south-east boundary of the block, 
 along Lankey's Gully and the upper part of Murray Creek, cement 
 workings in quartz gravels at the base of the coal-bearing series is a
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 89 
 
 promising phase of gold-mining, which has possibilities along the range 
 between the two branches of the Inangahua as far as Garvie's Creek. 
 That the Lankey's Gully Cement Company's operations failed to be 
 remunerative merely goes to show that the right place, or the right 
 method of working the cements, was not hit upon or adopted. These 
 cements extend over parts of the proposed reserves, Blocks LVIII. 
 and LX., and are also largely developed on Block LV., which also 
 should have been a proclaimed reserve. 
 
 Block LIX. This lies south of the Inangahua River, from Reef- 
 ton to Rainy Creek Junction, and, with the exception of some 
 inconsiderable flats on the left bank of the Inangahua, and a small area 
 of level land in the lower part of the valley of Devil's Creek, the area 
 of the block is decidedly mountainous. It is of irregular figure, and 
 comprises an area of 10,000 acres. The land is therefore unsuited 
 and unfit for either agricultural or pastoral purposes, and, being 
 covered with bush, would scarcely pay to clear, as the abrupt slopes 
 would not retain the soil; and the flatter lands are of very inferior 
 quality, these latter being generally covered with mountain pine, 
 growing on a poor swampy and peaty soil. Valuable mines are 
 situated on this block, the principal of which are the Globe, the 
 Progress, Sir Francis Drake, the Cumberland, and in Rainy Creek, the 
 Inkerman. Alluvial mining has also been, to a very considerable 
 extent, carried on along the valley of Devil's Creek, Soldier's Gully, 
 and Maori Gully, and on the higher lands around Merrijigs. At the 
 head of Soldier's Gully, and between the middle part of Devil's Creek 
 and Reefton, there are heavy deposits of Pliocene gravels that have 
 been extensively worked, and sluicing operations are still being carried 
 on. In Maori Gully, work is still being carried on in the lower part of, 
 the creek, and towards its source and around Merrijigs there are a 
 number of workings in high-level gravels, respecting which the exact 
 age and manner of deposit might be matter for debate. Patches of 
 " Old-man bottom " appear in the valley of Maori Gully, and to the 
 neighbourhood of these the present gold-workings appear to cling. 
 There is also, between Maori Gully and the upper part of Slab-hut 
 Creek, a sort of table-land, covered with gravels that are promising, 
 but do not appear to have been sufficiently prospected. 
 
 Block LXI. This lies to the south-east of Block LIX., and 
 stretches along the south-western bank of the Inangahua River, a 
 distance of ten miles, with an average breadth of about two miles 
 and a half. Its area is 10,000 acres. The whole is mountainous, 
 and fit only for mining purposes. There are several quartz-mines on 
 the block, the most important of which is the Golden Lead and 
 Merrijigs Claims, the surface portion of the lodes in which have been 
 worked to a considerable extent. A low-level adit is being driven
 
 90 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. 
 
 from Deep Creek into the Golden Lead, which, it is expected, will 
 cut other reefs besides those already found, and the latter at lower 
 levels. In this part of the district the rocks, though belonging to 
 the Maitai series, are, at least where the quartz-veins usually occur, 
 mainly sandstones ; and the lodes, so-called, are thin leaders of gold- 
 bearing quartz, which, varying from 1 in. to 3 in. in thickness, are rich 
 enough in the precious metal to make the working of them remunera- 
 tive. 
 
 The south-eastern part of the block is probably occupied by part 
 of the granite area surrounding the source of the Inangahua River, 
 but to the limit of the Maitai rocks in this direction, round the 
 sources of the Big River, there are prospects of a continuation of 
 these thin but very rich leaders of quartz in the more arenaceous rocks 
 of the Maitai series. Coal is developed over a considerable extent of 
 this block, and will yet prove of great value in connection with the 
 working of mines known and to be discovered ; as where wood only 
 is depended upon for steam-raising purposes large areas are soon 
 stripped of their forest growth. 
 
 Block LXII. This extends along the south-east side of the Little 
 Grey Valley, from Slab-hut Creek to Big River, a distance of fully 
 seven miles. The greatest width of the block is three miles, and 
 the area it contains is 10,000 acres. The block may be characterized 
 as broken and hilly country, physically not suited to agriculture, and, 
 as regards the quality of the soil, this, except along the banks of the 
 more important streams, is of very poor quality. In the lower part 
 of Slab-hut Creek a considerable amount of gold-working has been 
 carried on, now principally by Chinamen. Beyond the gorge in the 
 upper part of the watershed, the low grounds of the creek valley, and 
 many of the tributary streams, have been worked. The fundamental 
 rock is Maitai slate, overlain on the high lands by the gravels of the 
 "Old-man bottom." Quartz-reefs are likely to be found in the 
 older rocks, and masses of reef-quartz are not infrequent in the wash 
 of the various creeks. 
 
 In the valley of Antonio's Flat and creek of that name the low 
 grounds show shingle, partly derived from the destruction of the 
 Maitai slates, which is the prevailing rock higher up than the forks 
 of the creek, at the upper end of Antonio's Flat ; but from this 
 point downwards to the junction of the stream with the Little Grey 
 the material, carried into the main water-channel by the action of 
 lesser contributory streams, is wholly derived from the Older Pliocene 
 gravels, which are present on both sides of this part of the valley, to 
 the exclusion of any other rock. Along the many lesser gullies cut 
 back into the gravel hills gold-working is being carried on almost to 
 the water-partings leading into the adjacent watersheds to the north-
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 91 
 
 east and south-west. In the upper part of the valley the main 
 workings lie along the right branch of the creek, the bed of the 
 creek and the lower slopes of the hills being slate-rock, while the 
 tops of the hills are formed of the gravels of the " Old-man bottom." 
 Both of these rocks may, therefore, have been a source of gold to the 
 gravels of the creek-bed . There appears to be an air of decadence in 
 raining throughout the whole of the valley of Antonio's Flat, while 
 the work done shows that it must at one time have been a prosperous 
 and a nourishing place. This state of things, as shall immediately 
 be shown, may shortly change when enterprise undertakes the pro- 
 specting of the deep ground on the middle and upper parts of 
 Antonio's Flat, or prospectors have found out that large sluicing- 
 claims can be worked to profit in the gravels of the " Old-man 
 bottom." 
 
 At Adamstown, the creek draining the valley joins the Little Grey 
 a little below the Mawheraiti Railway-station, where there were for- 
 merly workings of considerable extent, which, like those in the valley 
 of Antonio's Flat, were confined to the side gullies or those parts of 
 the main valley where bottom could easily be reached. Lately, how- 
 ever, enterprising miners Chinamen and Europeans alike have 
 attempted the deeper ground, and this, as regards both classes of miners, 
 with encouraging and satisfactory results. The Chinamen, in large 
 parties, strip the ground from the underlying gold-bearing wash, which 
 may be 16 ft. to 20 ft. below the surface. The European prefers to 
 sink shafts, and drive out as much of the wash as can be safely won. 
 The consequences are that what lately might have been claimed to 
 be a worked-out and deserted gully is now on the fair road to a 
 greater degree of prosperity than formerly the mining population in it 
 enjoyed. 
 
 The southern portion of the block terminating on Big River is 
 high-terrace lands or hills formed of " Old-man bottom," intersected 
 by gullies, all of which are liable to contain gold-bearing deposits, 
 but of which the particulars have not been ascertained. The prin- 
 cipal workings in this valley, the lower part of it, lie along the Black- 
 water, and, strictly speaking, these have to be considered when dealing 
 with the next adjacent to the southward. 
 
 Block LXHI. This lies to the south-east of Block LXIL, and is 
 wholly rugged, hilly*, or mountainous country. The block forms an 
 irregular square, the greatest length of any of the sides of which is 
 six miles. The block contains 10,000 acres. It comprises within it 
 the upper portions of the valleys of Slab-hut Creek and Antonio's 
 Flat Creek, and Big River runs across its south-western end. Along 
 the north-west boundary, and for some distance into the block, the 
 rocks on the spurs are Older Pliocene gravels, underlain by Maitai
 
 92 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. 
 
 slates, exposed at first along the beds and sides of the gullies, and 
 finally on the crests of the ridges. The eastern and south-eastern 
 parts include a plateau-like mountain-top, covered with stunted pine- 
 trees, favouring a wet and boggy soil and subsoil. Little of this part 
 of the block has been explored, but a road to the Big River Mine is 
 being so improved that explorations will in future be carried on with 
 greater ease. 
 
 The mining population within the block are chiefly in the valley 
 of Antonio's Flat, and towards the source of Slab-hut Creek and 
 around Merrijigs, Merrijigs Hill occupying the eastern corner of the 
 block. Through this, from Block LIX., extends the belt of sandstone, 
 with the small but rich leaders of auriferous quartz, that have been 
 mentioned as occurring in the Golden Lead Mine. On the western 
 slopes of Merrijigs Hill there are heavy deposits of gravel, which in 
 working them for gold are being sluiced on a moderately extensive 
 scale. 
 
 Block LXV. This lies between Big River and the Big Grey, 
 from the Greymouth Reefton Road and railway-crossing to four miles 
 up the Grey Valley. Snowy Creek and Blackwater (a tributary of 
 Big River) are the principal streams that intersect the block. The 
 surface over the north-east part is hilly and broken to the Blackwater, 
 and on the south-west side of Blackwater, hilly country, formed of 
 Older Pliocene gravels ("Old-man bottom"), continues perhaps half 
 the distance towards Snowy Creek. This portion of the block, except 
 in the Valley of Big River and the lower part of the Blackwater, is 
 without lands fit for settlement. Along Big River the low-lying lands 
 have been already acquired and held in freehold by private individuals, 
 while the lower part of Blackwater is largely taken up by alluvial 
 mines in active operation. Between Snowy Creek and the Big Grey 
 there is a succession of broad terraces, by which descent is made to 
 the level of the river. The first two or higher terraces are covered 
 with forest, while the last two to the river-flat are for the most part 
 clear of forest. The two highest terraces are of great extent, and, 
 overlooked from a distance, appear as though their area would be 
 splendidly adapted for farms and settlement. Experiments in this 
 direction have proved utter failures on the lower and open terraces ; 
 and the higher terraces, birch-covered, are held to be even less en- 
 couraging for settlement than the second terrace .proved to be. 
 
 Gold has been largely mined in the valley-bottom of the Black- 
 water, and along the immediate lower hill-slopes bounding the valley, 
 but the Older Pliocene gravels that have yielded most of this gold 
 lie comparatively untouched and unprospected. In Snowy Creek, in 
 like manner, for the first three miles from where it opens on to the 
 lower valley of Big River,, workings are general along the creek-banks
 
 McKAY. Smith-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 93 
 
 and the flat ground between the watercourse and the high river-terrace 
 to the south-west. There has, however, been no regular and syste- 
 matic working of the ground, and it is evident that, with a good 
 supply of water under hydraulic head, such as might be afforded by 
 or obtained from the neighbouring terraces, the whole of the valley- 
 bottom would pay for hydraulic sluicing. Some few of the gullies, 
 cut back into the south-west terrace, have been worked ; but on the 
 whole, from an examination of the workings, Snowy Creek has been 
 incompletely worked, but will probably yet again be worked when the 
 required water-supply is brought on to the ground. The workings 
 are for the most part comparatively shallow, hence the ease with which 
 the ground has been turned over in search of the richer patches of 
 gold. 
 
 On the banks of the Big Grey, towards the south-east comer of 
 the block, the beaches and low banks along the river are auriferous, 
 and as reported would pay for working, but the water requisite for 
 this purpose has to be brought across private lands, and, as the 
 owners object, this cannot be done. Hence only two men, or two 
 parties, are working on this part of the block. 
 
 Block LXVI. This lies to the south-east of Block LXV., and i 
 partly on each side, but mainly on the north-east side of the Big Grey. 
 It is of irregular figure, but roughly a parallelogram, each of the sides 
 of which are about five miles in length. The block has an area of 
 9,000 acres. The source of the Black water lies within the block, and 
 part of the course of Snowy Creek is through it. It crosses the Big 
 Grey above Mackley's, and includes part of the high open terrace- 
 land on the south-west bank of the river. On the northern side of 
 the river the block immediately away from the river-banks is wholly 
 covered with forest, mostly birch. Gold-workings within the bounds 
 of this block have been very limited, and, for the most part, confined 
 to workings along the river, and some prospecting along the more ac- 
 cessible creeks and gullies. On the north-east side of the river the 
 land is of the same quality as over the greater part of Block LXV., 
 only towards the east it is higher and more sterile still. The lesser 
 area on the south-west bank of the river is open terrace land, covered 
 with native grass or low scrub, and may be considered second-class 
 pastoral land. 
 
 Block LXIX. This block lies to the south-west of Big Grey, but, 
 except at one point, unreserved or freehold lands exclude it from 
 having frontage on this river, or to the Grey River below the junction, 
 the Big Grey, and the Mawheraiti or Little Grey. Its figure is 
 irregular. The greatest length of the block, south-east and north- 
 west, is seven miles ; and its greatest breadth, in the opposite direc- 
 tion, three miles and a half. Its area comprises 9,000 acres. Through-
 
 94 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. 
 
 out, except in the south-east part, it is formed of broken hilly country 
 of considerable elevation. Towards the east it includes part of the 
 terrace plain that, north-west of the granite mountains, lies between 
 the Big Grey and the Ahaura Rivers. Two principal streams drain 
 the block : the Wai puna, falling into the Big Grey, drains the 
 central and more rugged parts ; while the upper part of Duffer's Creek 
 and of its tributary, Half-ounce Creek, drain the north-western part. 
 The only land that can be considered of any value for agricultural or 
 pastoral occupation is the eastern part of the block round the source 
 of Waipuna Creek, and a narrow strip of land along the left bank of 
 Half-ounce Creek. The Waipuna area is a hard, stony, high-level 
 terrace, fit for pastoral purposes only. The area along Half-ounce 
 Creek is a narrow strip along the left bank of the creek, under and 
 on both sides of which mining is being carried on, for the purposes 
 of which this land is necessary. There is therefore no land fit or 
 available for settlement within the block. 
 
 The principal mining operations are carried on in the watershed of 
 Waipuna Creek, Noble's Creek (both branches of it), and Mosquito 
 Creek, these being wholly within the block. The lower Waipuna is 
 confined to a narrow channel in a deep gorge, and the bed of this, 
 though auriferous, cannot readily be worked. The Waipuna Gold- 
 . mining Company drove a tunnel from the middle part of the gorge 
 through the intervening spur to the river-bed, but this did not serve 
 the purpose for which it was intended and the bed of the Waipuna, 
 from the junction of Noble's downwards, has yet to be worked. 
 Considerable workings have been at and near the junction of Noble's 
 Creek with the Waipuua, and both branches of Noble's Creek itself 
 have been worked almost to their very sources. The gold in most 
 cases is found in the first terrace above the creek-bed, and mainly it 
 lies along the right bank of the creek. From the terraces on both 
 sides of the creek to the foot of Napoleon Hill, and from Wellington 
 Terrace at the foot of Napoleon Hill, a very great amount of gold has 
 been raised. A few claims are working at higher levels on the left 
 bank of the main branch of Noble's. 
 
 In the left-hand branch workings seem mainly to affect the 
 right-hand side of the valley, and the reason of this appears to be 
 that on this side the greater elevations have near their summits heavy 
 deposits of coarser gravel than forms the bulk of the hills, which 
 also seems to be much more auriferous than the middle and lowest 
 exposed parts of the " Old-man bottom," as developed in this part of 
 the Grey Valley. 
 
 These high-level gravels form the top of Napoleon Hill, and some 
 of the higher ridges in the direction of the upper part of Half-ounce 
 Creek, the source of Duffer's Creek, and the head of the left-hand
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and. Northern Westland. 95 
 
 branch of Noble's, and often contain huge angular blocks of stone 
 which seem to indicate the agency of glaciers as being concerned in 
 their aggregation and deposit. The popular idea among miners is 
 that the gravels of Napoleon Hill are the deposits of an old river, the 
 bed of which is preserved in the higher part of the hill, the lead in 
 which fills this old channel from bank to bank. This question need 
 not be discussed in this place : it is enough to say that the gravels are 
 auriferous, and that they are distinguishable from the middle part of 
 the Pliocene gravels on which they rest. They gradually decline to 
 loAver levels, as they are followed from north-east to south-west, as far 
 as the south-west bank of the Ahaura River, beyond which the same 
 beds (the higher parts of those forming the " Old-man bottom ") pitch 
 to the north, and thus it is shown that no one river could have 
 deposited the beds in the two localities, unless since deposition the 
 deposits have been disturbed, inclined, and elevated, which, to some 
 extent, they have been. These beds are worked in the head, Duffer's 
 Creek, in Napoleon Hill, also in the ridge of hills between Orwell 
 Creek and the Ahaura River ; and they have unquestionably yielded, 
 it might be safely said, the sum-total of the gold that has been found 
 in the higher parts of Mosquito Creek, the several branches of Noble's, 
 Duffer's, and Orwell Creeks ; the recent alluviums along the beds and 
 valleys of these several creeks being clearly due to no other agency or 
 action than the denudation of the Pliocene hills formed of these gravels, 
 which are here grouped under the general term of Older Pliocene or 
 " Old man bottom." 
 
 In Half-ounce Creek the gold found in the terrace along its left 
 bank might possibly be referred to the same source as that in the 
 terraces bounding the low grounds of the Grey Valley, east of Totara 
 Flat. These have resulted from the action of the Grey River, and 
 belong to the left side of the valley of Duffer's Creek ; they extend and 
 unite with the lower part of the terrace stretching along Half-ounce 
 Creek, so as to appear as one. This merely shows that the valley of 
 Duffer's Creek was partly excavated at the time when the outer ter- 
 races along the Grey Valley were being formed. 
 
 Duffer's Creek Gold-mining Company's works are the most im- 
 portant on this block at the present time. With greater supply of 
 water there may be many such claims, even more prosperous, estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Block LXX. This block lies between Duffer's Creek and the 
 Ahaura River, above the township of that name. It is of irregular 
 outline ; its greatest length south-west and north-east being about 
 five miles, and its greatest breadth about three miles. It comprises 
 an area of 6,500 acres, the greater part of which is covered with 
 bush, the Ahaura Plain being excluded from the reserve. Towards
 
 96 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 the north-east, or between Orwell Creek and Duffer's, the surface 
 of the block is formed of hills composed of the same material and 
 of like character to that which, it has been said, characterise the 
 greater part of Block LXIX. In like manner, the area of flat lands 
 in this part of the block is exceedingly small, and of no consequence 
 whatever. Along the middle part or Orwell Creek, and thence to 
 the Ahaura River, the upper levels of the Ahaura Plain are flat 
 slightly -terraced lands, having soils of a light and stony character. 
 Towards the river this is thickly bush-clad, and by a succession of two 
 or three descending terraces, also bush-clad, the level of the river is 
 reached. Along this part the Ahaura River runs in a deep gorge, 
 between the terraces on this block and the hills on the south-west side 
 of the river, to where it enters on the main valley of the Grey River 
 at the Ahaura Township. It may be contended that these level lands 
 along the northern bank of the Ahaura River are of value for settle- 
 ment, but as nothing in the way of settlement is being done on the 
 contiguous open lands outside the reserve whether freehold or not 
 the contention seems very doubtful. 
 
 Recent developments have gone to prove the existence of gold in 
 the succession of terraces that rise one after the other on the north- 
 east bank of the Ahaura, and as all of these, even the broader and 
 higher terrace-plain extending to and across Orwell Creek, have been 
 formed by the Ahaura River, similar gold deposits are probable over 
 the whole area of these flat lands. Also, where Orwell Creek de- 
 bouches from the hilly country towards its source it must have carried 
 gold, with the other products of denudation, on to the surface of 
 the plain, originally formed by the action of the Ahaura River ; and 
 it is fair to assume that over part of its course along the north-east 
 margin of the plain paying gold-deposits will be found, the auriferous 
 deposits being augmented by what has been brought down by the 
 smaller tributary-streams draining from the hilly country to the north- 
 east. Several gullies have been worked in hilly country, the gold 
 necessarily being derived from the gravels of the " Old man bottom " 
 in the hills referred to. The new rush on the banks of the Ahaura 
 River is at present giving encouraging results, and several importanj 
 works are in progress, which are intended for the development ot 
 this new find. 
 
 Block LXXI. This lies to the south-east of Block LXX., and to 
 the south of Block LXIX. It stretches for eight miles along the 
 north-east bank of the Ahaura River, and has an average width of 
 two miles and a half. The block includes an area of 9,000 acres. It 
 includes the important district of the upper part of Orwell Creek, 
 and towards the south-east, part of the terrace-plain described as 
 extending east of Napoleon Hill, and lying between the Big Grey
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 97 
 
 and Ahaura Rivers. Along the Ahaura River there is a continuation 
 of the terrace-plain described under Block LXX. This is backed by 
 hills of Older Pliocene gravel, separating this part of the Ahaura 
 Plain from the valley of the upper part of Orwell Creek. From the 
 point where it enters the hills the whole upper valley of Orwell 
 Creek is gold-bearing, and alluvial mines are being worked through- 
 out the whole length of this part of its course and that of its various 
 tributaries. The recent alluvial deposits of the creek-beds have been 
 derived from the waste of the surrounding hills, composed entirely of 
 " Old man bottom," thus showing most conclusively the auriferous 
 character of that deposit. It is true that the higher part of this 
 deposit, the so-called " old river-bed " of Napoleon Hill, has yielded 
 the greater part of the metaliferous wealth that has been taken from 
 the recent wash deposited in the low grounds, but it is also true that, 
 at many places besides Napoleon Hill itself, these gravels are rich 
 enough to pay for working in the original and unconcentrated 
 deposit, and have, as a matter of fact, been unknowingly so worked ; 
 as, for instance, opposite the north-west base of Napoleon Hill, on 
 the south-west side of the valley of Orwell Creek, where the dip of 
 the beds brings them nearly to the creek-level, and at various heights 
 in other parts of the block. The existence of these gravels will 
 enable the continuance of mining in the valley of Orwell Creek long 
 after all the accessible recently-formed deposits of the creek-valley 
 have been worked out. 
 
 Block LXXIV. This lies between the lower Ahaura and the 
 lower part of Nelson Creek, below Hatter's Terrace, and has a 
 frontage of five miles to the Grey Valley. The block contains an 
 area of 8,800 acres*, and is divided into two nearly equal parts by 
 Callaghan's Creek, which runs nearly parallel to the lower course of 
 the Ahaura. The flat and arable lands within the block lie along the 
 right bank of the lower part of Nelson Creek to the point where the 
 Ahaura Nelson Creek Road enters the valley, and occupy the lower 
 valley of Callaghan's Creek ; and there is also a small area of level 
 and low-lying land on the south-west bank of the Ahaura River, at 
 the northern corner of the block. Most, if not all, of these lands 
 have been alienated, and are held by private individuals ; the lands 
 in Nelson Creek Valley and along Red Jack's being, for the most 
 part, improved and in grass. There is also a broad terrace, timber- 
 covered, along the north-western part and frontage of the block, but 
 this, in relation to the whole, is of limited extent. The existence of 
 these freehold lands within this and other blocks to the north-east 
 have been a great bar and detriment to the progress of mining, and 
 large sums have been paid by the Government to those in possession 
 of riparian rights in the way of compensation and settlement of 
 7
 
 98 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 claims for future damage. All the other parts of the block are an 
 assemblage of gravel hills, with exceedingly abrupt slopes and steep 
 narrow gullies or simple watercourses between, and are nowhere fit to 
 be profitably utilised as agricultural or pastoral farms. Fair soil 
 there may be along the low grounds of some of the larger gullies, 
 but, generally, the country is too steep to retain the soil were the 
 bush cleared. 
 
 Mining is carried on in several of the smaller creeks falling into 
 the Ahaura River, in the line of the south-west extension of the 
 Napoleon Hill lead, and in Callaghan's, on approximately the same 
 line, and lower down the valley. In Callaghan's, where the gold- 
 bearing wash of the low ground has been wholly derived from the 
 immediately adjacent hills, there appears to be ample employment for 
 the miners, with their present supply of water, for many years to 
 come. In Nelson Creek the lower terrace flat on the right bank of 
 the stream, from the crossing below Hatter's Terrace to where the 
 hill-spurs cut it out, has been extensively worked ; and the hill- 
 slopes at the upper end of this flat are at the present time being 
 worked on as extensive a scale as the water-supply available will 
 permit. The ground and workings on the range-slope here indicate 
 the presence of the auriferous higher part of the Older Pliocene- 
 gravels that stretch south-west from Napoleon Hill, and are con- 
 sidered to be distinct from the finer-grained middle and lower parts 
 of the " Old man bottom." Gow's Creek has its lower course 
 through this block, but for the most part it lies within the con- 
 tiguous Block (LXXV.). 
 
 Block LXXV. This lies to the south-east of Block LXXIV., and 
 extends from the eastern boundary of that block "along Nelson Creek 
 to Lake Hochstetter. This block has but a small frontage (one mile) 
 to the Ahaura. It includes an area of 8,600 acres, and may be said 
 to be wholly hilly land unfit for cultivation. The principal gold- 
 workings on this block are along the valley of Gow's Creek, and near 
 its junction between it and Nelson Creek. In the lower and middle 
 parts of the Valley of Gow's Creek the whole of the low grounds have 
 been worked over. Towards the source of the creek there are yet 
 considerable areas that will have to be worked. 
 
 The Nelson Creek water-race, taken from Lake Hochstetter, runs 
 along the side of the range on the northern side of the valley, but it 
 is not high enough to command the auriferous gravels that, as the 
 equivalents of the Napoleon Hill gravels, are said to occupy the top 
 of the ridge between Gow's Creek and the source of Callaghan's 
 Creek. These gravels were identified, and are largely developed on 
 the track over the range from the Hatter's Terrace to the middle 
 workings in Callaghan's. .
 
 . South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 99 
 
 Block LXXVII. This lies between the lower part of Nelson 
 Creek and No Town Creek (the Twelve-mile Creek), and has a front- 
 age to the Grey Valley of four miles, and extends back to the south- 
 east nearly four miles. The block includes an area of 7,500 acres. 
 Towards the Grey Valley the front part is formed of the high terrace 
 that on the south-east side of it fringes the Grey Valley. These 
 terraces are covered with bush, birch prevailing ; the soil, as usual in 
 such cases, is poor in quality. If cleared and sown down in English 
 grasses these during the second and third season gradually die off and 
 disappear. Less than a mile back into the block the Older Pliocene 
 gravels begin, and form the whole of the other parts of the block, 
 except the lower flat lands along the Twelve-mile, where they are con- 
 siderable, only from one to three miles up the creek from the main 
 road. Red Jack's, Kangaroo, Sunday, and Wyndham Creeks are the 
 only other considerable creeks that drain the block, and along these, 
 especially the first named, the only areas of low-lying alluvial land are 
 found. These, however, though considerable in the case of Red 
 Jack's Creek, form but a small proportion of the total area of the 
 block. 
 
 Gold-mining is carried on principally in the beds and alluvial 
 banks of the streams bounding or intersecting the block, also to some 
 extent in the high outer terrace formed by the action of the Grey 
 River. Mining in the lower part of No Town Creek is confined to 
 the south-west side of the valley, the hill-slopes on the opposite side 
 being exceedingly abrupt. Near the eastern side of the block the 
 principal workings are on the opposite side of the main valley, near 
 the junction of the first large creek below the Township of No 
 Town. 
 
 Block LXXIX. This lies to the south-east of Block LXXVII., 
 and has a greatest length of six miles, with an average breadth of 
 three miles. The block contains an area of 10,000 acres. Dead 
 Man's Creek and the left-hand branch of Red Jack's take their rise in 
 this block. The surface is hilly, and the rocks present are exclusively 
 the gravels of the " Old-man bottom," underlain by a soft-brown 
 sandstone, which also shows along the banks of Nelson Creek. From 
 these gravels the recent alluvial deposits found along the beds of the 
 different creeks have been derived. 
 
 Block LXXX. This lies to the south-west of Block LXXIX. 
 Its greatest length north-west and south-east is four miles and a half, 
 and its greatest breadth four miles. The block contains 10,000 acres. 
 No Town Creek (the upper part of the Twelve-mile, with its various 
 branches) drains the greater part of the block ; Candlelight and some 
 smaller creeks draining the south-west slopes of the No Town Hills 
 towards, and to, the Arnold. The whole of the block is hilly, broken
 
 100 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 country, and not likely to be soon required for other purposes than 
 mining. The chief mining has been carried on along No Town 
 Creek, from the north-west boundary of the block to some distance 
 above the township, and along several branch creeks coming * -om the 
 south-west. Candlelight Creek also has yielded a large amount of 
 gold. At the present time there is a considerable number of miners 
 on the block, though the great extent of the former workings make it 
 appear as though the miners were few, the men being scattered over 
 a wide area and in many gullies. The gravels of the " Old-man 
 bottom " and the brown sands underlying are here seen to be under- 
 lain by blue sandy clay, such as is met with in the Arnold and New 
 River districts, which shows that, while from the Big Grey to the 
 Ahaura the plunge of the gravel formation is to the south-west, be- 
 tween Hatter's Terrace in Nelson Creek and No Town the dip is 
 reversed, and here for the first time the marine Miocene beds make 
 their appearance ; consequently, the higher auriferous beds of Napo- 
 leon Hill are likely to be found only on the tops of the higher of the 
 No Town Hills, and here also will be afforded an opportunity of 
 testing the lower beds of the Older Pliocene bottom, which it has 
 been shown are auriferous in the Inangahua Valley. 
 
 Block LXXXI. This lies to the north-west of Block LXXX., and 
 occupies the space between the lower part of the Twelve-mile Creek 
 and the Arnold River. Its area is 4,500 acres. Part of the Arnold 
 Flat is included in this block, but the greater area is occupied by the 
 north-western end of the No Town Hills. These, together with the 
 confluent terraces of the Grey and Arnold Rivers, constitute the 
 whole of the block. The land over the lower grounds might be 
 improved, and sawmilling, followed by settlement, is likely to be the 
 means of clearing the forest from this part of the block, and the 
 bringing of the lands under grass or cultivation. 
 
 Mining in this block is limited, and mainly carried on in the hilly 
 part within the valley of Candlelight Creek. Much speculation has 
 been indulged in with respect to the auriferous character of the 
 Arnold Flat. Here it is intended to clearly lay down the opinion 
 that the higher margins of the flat along the foot of the No Town 
 Hills are likely to prove gold-bearing. This assumption is based on 
 the fact that the No Town Hills have been largely denuded by 
 ordinary creek-action since the Arnold Flat was formed, and thus, 
 over the eastern part of it, a fresh, and to some extent an auriferous 
 deposit has been laid down. The prospecting of these younger beds 
 thus forms a legitimate undertaking, and a matter that should be 
 attended to. On the other hand, how far it is warrantable or even 
 advisable to undertake deep-sinking, with the view of passing through 
 the series of gravels that form the Arnold Flat, is a matter respecting
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern. Westland. 101 
 
 which there is diversity of opinion. And they may be right who 
 hold the view that the Arnold Flat is composed of shingle originally 
 brought down from the Upper Teremakau Valley by ice, and after- 
 wards distributed to its present position, and, reasserted by the action 
 of the Teremakau, at that time an affluent of the Grey, or by a 
 volume of water much greater than that which the Arnold now carries 
 to the sea. According to either of these views it would not be a 
 hopeful undertaking to sink deep shafts on the Arnold Flat, except 
 at the very base of the No Town Hills, where already a shaft has 
 been unk to a depth of about 100 ft. from the surface. According 
 to Mr. McDonald gold was got at the furthest depth reached, but 
 not enough to pay for working, under circumstances that would have 
 compelled the ''driving-out" of the wash. Mr. McDonald is, how- 
 ever, hopeful that good payable gold exists on the Arnold Flat in the 
 vicinity of where the prospecting-works were carried on by him. 
 
 Block LXXXV. This lies along the coast-line from the mouth 
 of the Grey River north of Port Elizabeth and the Seven-mile Creek. 
 In this direction the block has a length of four miles and a half, and 
 from the crest of the limestone range to the sea a bread tli of one 
 mile, one half of which is raised beach and terrace, and the other, 
 the steep slope of the limestone range, thickly covered with bush. 
 The area of the block is 3,000 acres. Towards the south the raised 
 beaches and terrace lie at a low level in relation to the sea, but on 
 Darkie's Terrace and at Port Elizabeth marine deposits reach to at 
 least 100 ft. above the level of the tide. The hill-slopes at the foot, 
 and the limestone-slopes themselves, grow good grass when cleared of 
 the bush and scrub, but the greater area of the available parts of the 
 block consist of raised beaches, on which there is little or no soil. 
 Gold-workings were formerly extensively carried on on the beach 
 between high- and low-water mark, but the beaches from repeated 
 workings have for a time been rendered poor, and the mining now 
 going on is mainly along the inner raised beach, where various 
 hydraulic or steam elevating-plants are being worked. 
 
 Towards the northern end of the block lies Darkies' Terrace, 
 which for a long time maintained the reputation of being very 
 rich in gold. In this is represented the high-level black-sand leads 
 of the northern part of Westland, from the Hauhau Lead, near 
 Kanieri, to north of Rutherglen. Here, in Darkies' Terrace, the level 
 above the sea is somewhat less than further to the north or to the 
 south ; but, looking at the outlines of the end of the Cobden Range, 
 as seen from the south side of the Grey River, it appears as though a 
 plain of marine denudation had been cut at a higher level than 
 Darkies' Terrace, and on this it is possible that auriferous deposits 
 are preserved. This, however, would be as much too high as Darkies'
 
 102 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. 
 
 Terrace is too low to correspond with the ordinary average level of the 
 inland black-sand leads. 
 
 At the mouth of the Seven-mile Creek, on the south side, there is 
 a terrace-flat which is intermediate in height between the present 
 beach and the higher auriferous level of Darkies' Terrace. With 
 improved appliances and means of working, gold-mining on the first 
 raised beach may be long and prospei'ously conducted within the limits 
 of this reserve. 
 
 Block LXXXI. This block extends along the north-west bank of 
 the Grey River, from the south-east corner of the Grey Coalfield 
 Reserve, a distance of four miles and a-half. The western boundary 
 from the point indicated, runs north along the Mount Davy Range, 
 a distance of seven miles, to Trig. K at the source of the Seven-mile 
 Creek, the north-eastern boundary converging on the same point. 
 The block comprises an area of 8,000 acres, all the land within it, 
 with the exception of a narrow strip along the Grey River, being either 
 steep hill-slope or mountainous; Langdon's Farm is, however, excluded 
 from the block. Across the middle part of the block a belt of Maitai 
 slate extends in a north-east direction. In this, within the water- 
 shed of Langdon's Creek, are a series of reefs and leaders of quartz, 
 carrying gold and antimony ore. The lodes run nearly east and 
 west, or acioss the north-east and south-west extension of the slate- 
 belt, and, consequently, nearly straight up and down the face of the 
 range and so continue till at higher levels the formation in which 
 they occur is overlain by the lower beds of the coal-bearing series that, 
 in Bald Hill and in Mount Sewell, consist of conglomerates, probably 
 auriferous. Down the slope of the range the same rocks continue 
 till the slates again disappear by being brought in contact with the 
 higher beds of the coal-bearing series along a line of fault which 
 strikes along the lower middle slope of the Mount Davy Range, 
 through this, and into the next block to the north-east. Working 
 or prospecting of the antimony and of an adjoining quartz reef, has 
 long been discontinued ; but the prospecting of some quartz reefs in 
 the Julian Claim, 400 ft. to 500 ft. lower down the range, has been 
 persistently carried on, in the hope that what were reckoned favour- 
 able indications, and the occurrence of some choice specimens, would 
 lead to a paying reef. During the present year the Messrs. Curtis 
 found a rich leader or small reef not far from the Julian boundary, 
 and on this being further prospected stone of a rich description was 
 found at a lower level, and there is hope that quartz-mining for gold 
 may develop to considerable importance over the whole area of slate. 
 Active steps are being taken to test the value of the find. 
 
 On the higher part of the range conglomerates form the base of 
 the coal-measures. These conglomerates are sometimes coarse (usually
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 103 
 
 the lower beds) and sometimes they are wholly composed of well- 
 rounded quartz pebbles, cemented hard into a rock mass. These beds, 
 as they are auriferous at other places, in all likelihood are so here ; 
 but none of the miners seem to have tried them. On the lower slope 
 of the range there is an accumulation of coarse mountain-wash con- 
 taining much debris from the slate-belt, as well as a considerable per- 
 centage of the rocks of the lower part of the coal-bearing series. It 
 is in this mountain-wash that the principal alluvial gold-workings are 
 now and have been for many years past situated. Gold is also found 
 along the banks of the Grey River, and sometimes the prospects 
 obtained appear to be excellent, but somehow no one seems to system- 
 atically set to work along this part of the river. There is the possibility 
 that in the near future many mines may be located on this block. 
 At the present time there are not many miners at work. 
 
 Block LXXXV1L This lies to the north-east of Block LXXXVL, 
 and has but a small frontage to the Grey River (about a mile). The 
 north-eastern boundary of Block LXXXVL forms the south-west of 
 this. The north boundary runs east and west from the north-west 
 angle of Block LXXXVL to Healy's Saddle, between the Upper Black- 
 ball Creek and the Roaring Meg Creek, from which the east boundary 
 runs south to the Grey River at the mouth of Blackball Creek. The 
 area of the block comprises 7,000 acres, and by far the greater portion 
 rugged broken country, a large part of it being mountainous up 
 to 3,000 ft. and over. The block, however, contains a valuable coal- 
 field the Blackball Coalfield. The only flat lands within the block 
 lie within the lower parts of Blackball and Ford's Creek, and between 
 the foot of Kinsella's Peak and the Grey River. The main area 
 between Blackball Creek and Ford's Creek is in part occupied by the 
 Blackball Township, while the rest of the Terrace Flat to Kinsella's is 
 still under bush. Along the right bank of the left branch of Ford's 
 Creek there are some open terrace lands, but the soil is poor, and the 
 area is mostly covered by gold- workings, races, dams, &c. The Black- 
 ball coal-leases extend over the whole of the gold-workings within the 
 watershed of Ford's Creek, except between the south-east boundary 
 of the lease and the Grey River. 
 
 The most extensive diggings are those within the valley of the left 
 branch of Ford's Creek. These do not lie along the bed of the creek, 
 but on a terrace 100 ft. to 150 ft. above the level of the creek. As the 
 coal-bearing series forms the bottom on which the auriferous gravels 
 rest there are no slates within the watershed. The wash consists of 
 Maitai slates and sandstone from the slate range towards the head of 
 Coal Creek and the upper Blackball, mixed with a large percentage of 
 breccia-conglomerates derived from the base of the coal-bearing series. 
 Along the right branch of Ford's Creek (Soldiers' Creek) the gold is
 
 104 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. 
 
 chiefly confined to the lower levels and the first high terrace on one or 
 other bank of the stream. The gold must have been mainly derived 
 from the breccia-conglomerate at the base of the coal-bearing series, or 
 from the pebbly quartz grits that overlie. 
 
 Opposite the mouth of the Blackball Coal-mine, during the past 
 year, a small rush took place to where gold was found in the clayey 
 subsoil of the hill-slopes on the western side of the creek. Over 
 100 oz. of gold was obtained at, or quite close to the surface in the 
 course of a fortnight or three weeks, principally by inexperienced 
 gold-miners from the coal-mine, boys and even women being amongst 
 the number engaged in digging. This comparatively rich patch had 
 escaped detection ever since the commencement of the rush to the 
 Grey Valley the Blackball being opened early during the rush. 
 
 Immediately below the Coal-mine begins the deep gravel-terrace 
 that has been extensively mined opposite the junction of the two 
 branches of Ford's Creek. This extends north to the Blackball Creek,, 
 and the auriferous gravels underlie the township and terrace flat to 
 Kinsella's accommodation-house. The ground is partly worked by 
 hydraulic sluicing, and partly driven out, both methods of working 
 still continuing to afford fair wages. The wash is coarse and full of 
 disseminated iron-oxide, which does not seem to have resulted from 
 the oxidation of pyrites in the wash, or to have been brought from 
 the surface by water, but is rather due to the decomposition of the 
 green slates of the Maitai series that form the great bulk of the wash. 
 This iron-oxide, by coating and filling cavities, affects the value, or 
 rather the selling qualities of the gold. But the gold of Ford's 
 Creek also contains copper which reduces its value in some cases to 
 3 9s. per ounce. Where this cupriferous gold comes from is a 
 problem that till now has not been solved. In the Upper Blackball 
 is the Minerva quartz reef, which until recently was worked and 
 yielded a return that might warrant further prospecting of the 
 mine. 
 
 The alluvial claims in the Upper Blackball extend from the forks 
 downwards about a mile. The workings at the present time are 
 mainly on the right bank of the stream, and consist of sluicing-claims 
 that apparently deal with old creek-gravels, overridden by slope deposit 
 from the adjoining hill-slopes, which at frequent intervals form heavy 
 talus-fans, between the foot of the range and the present channel of 
 the creek. The gold in the Upper Blackball seems to come from the 
 head of the right-hand branch of the creek, little gold being traceable 
 in the eastern branch. 
 
 On the mountain range, between the Blackball and the Ten-mile 
 Creek, there are a number of quartz reefs that should be prospected 
 more than has been done. One massive reef in particular appears to
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 105 
 
 have yielded most of the gold found in the upper part of Blackball 
 Creek. 
 
 Block LXXXVIIL This block has a frontage on the Grey 
 River, between the mouth of the Blackball and Moonlight Creeks, a 
 distance of six miles. The western boundary extends north a dis- 
 tance of four miles. The total area of the block is 9,000 acres. It 
 includes nearly the whole of the Meg Watershed, and that of Moon- 
 light Creek below the junction of Garden Gully. Except a small pro- 
 portion of the whole that lies along the banks of Moonlight and Meg 
 Creeks, the land on this block is high-lying and generally worthless. 
 
 Gold-mining is carried on in German Gully, and along the left 
 bank of the lower part of Blackball Creek, in Healy's Gully, and 
 between the head of this and German Gully. 
 
 In German Gully the gold in part is obtained from the gravels of 
 the " Old man bottom," which on a line of disturbance is faulted, 
 and in contact along a vertical junction with the Maitai slates of the 
 neighbouring range. 
 
 A water-race is being cut from the gorge of the Meg to bring 
 water on to the higher giound, between the head of Healy's and 
 German Gullies. 
 
 There can be little doubt that a good deal of gold will be obtained 
 from the downs between the Grey River and the foot of the range to 
 the north-west ; but very little prospecting has been done over this 
 part of the block. 
 
 Along Moonlight Creek the only gold-workings are in the northern 
 part of the block, B.A. Creek and Fitzherbert Terrace being the sites 
 of the principal workings. 
 
 Block LXXXIX. This has a frontage to the Grey River of three 
 miles and a half, or from the mouth of Moonlight Creek to that of 
 Slaty or Big River. From the mouth of Moonlight Creek the block 
 extends due north a distance of seven miles, with an average width of 
 two miles and a half.' The block contains an area of 8,500 acres. 
 Within the block there is a strip of land along the banks of the Grey 
 River extending back to the road-line that, cleared of the bush on it, 
 will probably prove fairly good land ; and there is also a strip along 
 the right bank of Slaty to the junction of Slaty and Big River which 
 has for the most part been alienated, and is already partly cleared and 
 in grass. Johnston's Farm lies on the north side of Slaty Creek 
 between that and Big River. This is the farthest north freehold, hills 
 rising into mountains lying immediately to the north-west. In the 
 valley of Caledonian Creek there are some good lands no great distance 
 up from the road-line. Further up the creek high stony terraces and 
 broken hills formed of " Old man bottom " form the rocks within the 
 middle part of its valley.
 
 106 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. 
 
 Gold-workings are carried on in Baxter's Creek, lying between 
 Moonlight and Caledonian Creek, in Slaty, and other smaller creeks ; 
 but the number of European miners is small. There are some thirty 
 Chinamen engaged within the valley of Caledonian Creek. In this 
 valley it is more than possible that the " Old man bottom " will at 
 places afford gold in such quantities as will enable the working of 
 these gravels on a large scale. 
 
 Block XCI1I. This block is one of a group of four lying 
 between the Punakaiki River and the Ten-mile Creek, north of Grey- 
 mouth, having a frontage to the coast-line of two miles and a half, 
 and is of irregular outline ; it extends inland to and includes the 
 source of the Ten-mile Creek. This and Baker's Creek are the only 
 streams of any consequence within the block. Its area is 9,000 
 acres. There are no lands fit for settlement within the block, the 
 whole of it being, though not reaching greater heights than 3,600 ft., 
 excessively hilly. Gold-mining is carried on on the beach at and 
 near high-water mark, and one man is supposed to be working in the 
 upper part of the Ten-mile. The Upper Ten-mile is not easily 
 reached by prospectors, more especially from the coastward side ; and 
 hence it is that a valley, within which there are great possibilities as 
 regards quartz reefs, cement at the base of the coal-measures, and 
 alluvial of recent date in the beds and banks of the creeks, has not 
 been sufficiently prospected. The Upper Ten-mile and the north- 
 west source of the Blackball, both their valleys and the surrounding 
 ranges, should be carefully prospected for gold-bearing reefs. 
 
 Block XCIV. This lies immediately to the north of Block XCIII. 
 It has a frontage to the sea of fully three miles, and along its north 
 boundary it extends inland for seven miles. The south-eastern 
 boundary-line is somewhat irregular. The block contains an area of 
 7,500 acres. For about a mile back along the coast-line the ground 
 is low and swampy. All the other parts of the .block are mountain- 
 ous, and there are no lands fit for settlement except immediately 
 aback of the beach, where there is but a narrow strip, or along the 
 foot of the hills, where a slightly broader belt of improvable land is 
 met with. 
 
 Mining on this block is chiefly developed along the foot or lower 
 slopes of the front hills, the Barrytown Lead extending north and 
 south throughout the block. Gold is also worked in Fagan's Creek, 
 in which valley rich specimens and patches of gold are found. It is 
 strange that no gold has ever been found in Granity Creek. The 
 next considerable stream to the north, Canoe Creek, has been ex- 
 tensively worked, and its gold, partly derived from the reefs in the 
 range between its upper part and the sources of Moonlight Creek, and 
 partly from the destruction of the Barrytown Lead, has, where more
 
 McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 107 
 
 accessible, been worked out. The lower part of Canoe Creek, how- 
 ever, lies in the next block to the north, Block XCV. The beach 
 throughout the frontage of the block is gold-bearing, and, although 
 repeated washings have gradually diminished the percentage of gold to 
 be found in the black sand, there are still a number of miners 
 engaged in this special form of gold-mining. 
 
 The Barrytown Lead is an old raised beach corresponding to the 
 200ft. level black-sand leads to the north towards Westport, and 
 south as far as the Hauhau lead, near Kanieri. At Barrytown the 
 lead consists mainly of moderately coarse granite shingle, &c., and 
 black sand is no distinguishing feature of it ; but that it is of marine 
 origin and corresponds with the black-sand deposits to the north and 
 south is beyond doubt. A great deal of gold has been obtained from 
 this lead, and good wages are still being made by those having water- 
 rights and holding ground on the lead. Many of the miners, 
 however, believe that the swampy plain between the foot of the hills 
 and the sea is rich in gold, and rich because it is thought that the 
 creeks, breaking through the lead at different points, scattered a great 
 deal of gold over the adjacent flat. This being evident, many of 
 the miners think that were they assisted to bring in a tail-race or 
 sludge channel there would be a revival of mining at Barrytown, and 
 a return of the old days. There can be no doubt that a great deal of 
 gold washed out of a once continuous terrace has been carried on to 
 the low grounds of the swampy tract between the front hills and the 
 sea ; yet, though this may be admitted, it has not been shown that 
 the operation of the carrying forward of the gold has not resulted in 
 a dispersal rather than in a concentration of the precious metal. 
 
 There are many reefs in the back or inland parts of the block, 
 and these give every indication of being gold-bearing, and they should 
 be prospected more than they have been. 
 
 Block XCV. This lies on the coast-line immediately to the north 
 of Block XCIV. It has a frontage to the sea-coast of rather more 
 than three miles, and extends inland, or east, from the coast four 
 miles. The block has an area of 7,500 acres. From the beach for 
 a mile and a half, or back to the foot of the hills, the ground is 
 swampy. Though possibly this part might be drained, any improve- 
 ment of this kind would be effected at great cost. These remarks 
 apply with equal force to the block immediately to the south. The 
 area of the block east of the foot of the hills is generally mountainous. 
 Gold-workings are at the present time confined to the north con- 
 tinuation of the Barrytown Lead, and now and again one or two 
 parties on the present beach. There is a good deal of speculation 
 amongst the miners respecting the cutting of the tail-race proposed 
 to intersect the swamp between the hills and the beach, it being an
 
 108 GEOLOGICAL REPOBTS. 
 
 ^ 
 
 impression na\ , a firm belief amongst them that the greater part 
 of the gold once held in the Barrytown Lead is lodged in the swamp. 
 This, without question, is to a certain extent true, but whether all 
 that is anticipated as the result of this work would be realized may 
 be doubted ; since it is possible, and even probable, that the re- 
 arranged auriferous gravels mixed with other creek gravels will prove 
 less concentrated as regards the gold than the original deposit in the 
 Barrytown Lead. 
 
 Block XCVI. This lies immediately to the east of Block XCV. 
 Its length is three miles and a quarter north and south, and its ex- 
 treme measurement in an east and west direction is four miles. The 
 area of the block is equal to 6,500 acres. The whole surface is 
 excessively mountainous, and rugged in the extreme. There are no 
 lands fit for settlement. A large part of the area shows Maitai slates 
 at the surface, consequently reefs and creek gold may be found over 
 the greater part of it ; but such are the difficulties of prospecting that 
 but few people, it can be said, have any acquaintance with the block. 
 The north-east part lies within the limits of a coalfield, extending from 
 the head of Bullock Creek, across the mountains, to the Grey Valley 
 Watershed, as has already been described. (" Geological Report on 
 the Grey," and " Buller Valleys and the Paparoa Range " : See " Mining 
 Reports, 1895. ") There is no settled population, miners or others, 
 on this block at the present time. 
 
 The geological map accompanying includes the area of Northern 
 Westland, examined during 1893, and as it stands represents the 
 district of Northern Westland and the greater part of the Grey and 
 Buller Valleys in the Nelson Provincial District. It also shows the 
 areas reserved for mining purposes within the same districts, as those 
 were prior to The arbitration on the claims made by the Midland 
 Railway Company. The map and sections therefore illustrate this, 
 and the foregoing report on the Northern District of Westland. 
 
 18th August, 1897. ALEXANDER McKAY. 
 
 By Authority : JOHN MACKAY, Government Printer, Wellington. 1897.
 
 so.