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be similar to the clay or shale from
which the alum of commerce is derived.
The principal extent of bush land in
this district is found near the coast.
In another place were found oyster-
shells, very little changed or decayed.

The thickest beds of coal at Coal Point
and the Pomahaka probably exceed 20
feet in both places, the water preventing
the full thickness from being seen; this
coal, however, does not extend in seams
of regular thickness like the true coal,
but appears to occur in patches, which
thin out and disappear in a very irre-
gular manner. One of these beds at
the Pomahaka has been on fire for
several years, and has been long known
by the name of the Burning Plain. It
was still burning away pretty briskly
when we passed it this season. Traces
of gold were found in the gravel of
several of the streams and rivers.* The
trials were all made on the very surface,
at such odd times as would not inter-
rupt the proper work of the survey, by
one of the party who happened to have
previously visited the Australian gold-
fields. The gold found was in every
case small and scaly, varying from the
smallest specks to about the roughness
of bran, which it seems to resemble
also in the manner of its formation, by
being ground about among the stones
of the streams. It was found in the
Clutha river above the junction of the
Manuherikia, and in the Tuapeka
stream, in sufficient quantities to make
it probable that it would pay to work
if set about in a proper manner, with
some wholesale system of washing, such
as sluicing. Specks were also found in
the Manuherikia, Pomahaka, and Wai-
tahuna, and it will probably be found
also in some of the tributaries of the
Mataura and Pomahaka. Along with
the gold was found black sand—in
some places fine and resembling emery,
in other places coarser, and sometimes
in square block crystals, which are
probably oxide of tin. Limestone
crops out about the Horse-shoe Bush
and Tokomairiro Gorge, but was not
observed in any other place: it is of a
grey and white colour, and hard crys-
talline texture. Various appearances
seem to indicate that the lower lands
of the district have been elevated from
the sea at a comparatively recent date;
slight shocks of earthquakes have been
felt at intervals during the last few
years.

• The best sample of gold yet brought into
  town was found in the Tokomairiro River
  (south branch). This sample indicates a
  workable gold-field.

The forest of Tautuku stretches from
the mouth of the Clutha nearly to
Otara Point, and covers an area of
more than 500 square miles. Besides
the usual timber found about Dunedin,
it abounds in white birch, the bark of
which has been found well adapted for
tanning. There is also plenty of iron-
wood, which is very hard and tough,
and suitable for wheels and agricultural
implements. There is a fair sprinkling
of wood generally along the other parts
of the coast, and the Tapanui ranges
are well wooded; but it becomes ex-
tremely scarce towards the north. In
some places a few patches of black
birch are found in the gullies, and
manuka scrub on the ranges; but to-
wards the Manuherikia only a few
patches of matakaru, and a dark, small-
leaved scrub, like what grows below
the junction of the Tokomairiro are to
be met with.

PASTURAGE.*

For the first five or six miles from
the coast, the pasture is much mixed
with fern, flax, tutu, and scrub, and a
great part of it would be reckoned in-
ferior compared with the inland parts,
yet experience has shown that it is
capable of sustaining a considerable
number of cattle. Farther from the
sea the fern begins to disappear, or is
found with tutu only in gullies, and
towards the north disappears altogether,
the country being covered entirely with
grasses of various kinds. The pasture
generally becomes very coarse when
the elevation reaches 2000 feet; here
snow grass, mixed with cotton plants,
prevails on the spurs, and mosses make
their appearance in the gullies. On
the Lammermoors, at an elevation of
3500 feet, the vegetation consists of
snow grasses, spear grass, snow flowers,
and several kinds of pretty veronica
shrubs—moss in all the hollows, and
the ground in places carpeted with
lichens or similar low plants. The
Upper Taieri Plain and adjoining slopes
are finely grassed, but the plain itself
is a little marshy. On the summit of
the Roughridge, at 3800 feet, the snow
grass is about equally mixed with a
fine soft green grass—a kind of poa,
which appears to be peculiar to this
locality; it looks to be a nutritious
grass, and gives a green appearance to

• The whole district has been applied for
  or taken up as runs since the date of this
  report.