NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. 147

"This belt or zone consists of a series of strata, of
greenstone shale, and slate rocks, differing in mineral
composition and texture, but exclusively of a basic
variety of rock." He also states that this belt is
skirted by a series of highly metamorphic
rock, in which no gold has yet been found, although
many reefs have been explored. Copper ores are
also found in some of the reefs, and in others
the quartz is partly replaced by calcspar, sometimes
wholly so; in either case the gold diminishes as the
calcspar increases. These extracts irresistibly remind
the of Nelson formations, greenstone and slate,
copper ores, metamorphic rocks, and lastly, as if to
complete the parallel, in the Maitai all the quartz veins
contain calcite in more or less abundance, some
of the veins being almost entirely composed of that
mineral, while in the Roding they are nearly all pure
quartz. The place previously indicated as being
worth a trial for copper also corresponds in almost
every particular with Mr. Daintree's descriptions of
the reefs in Gilbert Ranges Goldfields.‡ In speaking
of the dykes or elvan courses he says: "It is at the
point of intersection of such rocks that the most
mineralization has taken place, quartz-reefs abound, and
specular iron, copper and lead ores occur." In the
lower part of the belt, which I consider to most
nearly correspond with the Gympie Creek formation,
I observed three separate springs, the water from
which as it oozed out of the crevices of the slate had
a most intolerable stench of sulphuretted hydrogen,
I would therefore caution prospectors and others not
to trust to amalgamation only in testing any quartz
from this locality.

COLLINGWOOD DISTRICT.

Immediately on leaving the town of Collingwood a
large tract of alluvial ground is entered on, which
stretches away some eight or nine miles in a south-
westerly direction, this plain is bounded on the north-
west by the Aorere River, on the north by the sea, and
on the east by the Parapara; towards the south-
west the drift deposit of which it is composed ends on
the slopes of slate and schistose hills near Bedstead
Gully, &c. The most striking features about this
land are the succession of terraces by which it rises as
it recedes further inland, and also a few islands of lime-
stone and schistose rocks, which here and there rise
up above the level of the surrounding drift. The drift
is composed almost entirely of quartzite, quartz, and
schist in rolled pieces; but in a few instances I
noticed the presence of subangular fragments. Gold
may be found in all parts of the drift, but only in pay-
able quantities in a few localities; which appear to me
to be those places where the materials have been
resorted, and the gold concentrated by the action of
running water, subsequently to their original deposi-
tion.

One of the most remunerative diggings ever dis-
covered in this system of drift was that on Appoo's
Flat, where at one time upwards of 300 diggers were
employed, and all doing well; from what little infor-
mation I could gather, it appears that as soon as ever
the yield of gold fell off, the men gave up their claims
and went to the West Coast, the consequence is that
while the best of the ground has been worked, there

‡ Report on the Gilbert Ranges Goldfields by R. Daintree,
Government Geologist, Northern Queensland, 1869.

still remains a great deal untouched which would pay
a moderate dividend for working. At present the flat
is quite deserted, except for one "hatter," who seems
to work a few hours a day, and says that he can do
very well as long as he remains a "hatter," i.e. with-
out any mates.

The wash-dirt in this particular place consists of
brilliant white quartz, and quartzite with ferruginous
stains. About the middle of Appoo's Flat a shaft was
sunk, 120 feet in depth, some men in the neighborhood
told me that it bottomed the drift and found that it
rested on limestone, others again assert that the bottom
of the drift was not reached, both however agree in
stating that there was no water to contend against, and
they agree about the depth.

The junction of the schistose slate and limestone
must be somewhere under Appoo's Flat, for on passing
up the gully quartzite and quartzoze schist are en-
countered, striking nearly north and south, the latter
carrying numerous quartz veins. The bed rock of the
upper part of Appoo's Gully is a crystalline limestone,
which is overlaid near the Parapara by a half decom-
posed granite, the strike of the limestone is north and
south, the granite seems to make to the east near
Ernests Saddle. The schist and quartzite which are
found in the lower part of the gully continue to the
north in a line parallel to Glengyle Gully, forming the
hills on its western side, to the south they continue
past the head of Lightband's Gully, through the
Pioneer Company's ground, and are found again in
Coles' Gully; the limestone evidently rests on this in
isolated patches. In Bedstead Gully a blue altered
slate is found under the schistose rocks, it crops out to
the surface near the outlet of Coles' Gully, it can be
traced up Bedstead and over into Gully.

It is certain that there are no rocks in their normal
condition within a considerable area on the eastern
side of the Aorere River, except perhaps parts of the
limestone. That there must be an immense area of
metamorphic rocks is evidenced by the extraordinary
accumulations of drift, composed entirely of pebbles
and boulders derived from that description of rocks.

ALLUVIAL WORKINGS.

A few parties are still engaged in the different
gullies, on this class of diggings, who as a rule are
earning a living, but very few are doing more; some
of the best claims are Lightband's, Hit or Miss, and
the Glengyle. The Glengyle has been steadily worked
for a number of years by the same party, who seem to
have unlimited faith in its capabilities, as for the last
two or three years they have been engaged in remov-
ing the debris from a slip which filled the whole of
their workings, and has almost entirely prevented
them from getting any gold during that period; they
hope however to be able to resume operations some
time this summer. The gold occurs in four distinct
beds, the lowest of which is generally the richest, the
order of these four beds is, 1st, blue "mullocky wash-
dirt; 2nd, cream-colored gravel; 3rd, finer dirt with
red gravel; 4th, rough dirt rich in gold; underneath
this is sand and river detritus with no gold, the bed-
ding is pretty regular east and west.

The Hit or Miss claim on the north side of the
saddle which divides Glengyle from Appoo's Gully,
is very similar in character to Lightband's, which I