subjected to much less mechanical disturbance, the flexures and foldings of the strata forming, as a rule, only gentle undulations, while in Victoria, and also in California, they are generally so abrupt that the strata appear to be vertical.

The general trend or direction of these rocks is about N.W. by W., or nearly across the Island. At first sight this appears as if at right angles to the mountain ridges; but if we disregard the minor valleys, it will be found, as I before indicated with reference to the tertiaries, that a broad massive axis of elevated land follows the above direction, with a slope northwards towards the valley along the base of the Kakanui Mountains, and to the south towards that remarkable valley which appears to extend from the Five River Plain to the mouth of the Molyneux, and which is bounded on the south by a range of mountains which, though more broken, have a similar conformation to the Kakanui Range.

It is in the valleys included between the finger-like spurs which branch off to the N.E. and S.W. from this central axis that the tertiary drifts have proved most auriferous, all the present diggings being in such valleys.

The schists towards the central portion of the axis contain much more quartz, and have the laminæ more contorted than those either to the south or north, but excepting this, which is only a matter of degree, there is no observable difference.

The quartz always occurs in thin layers, or circumscribed patches, or as concretionary masses, and in all cases has a clear relation to the original composition of the sedimentary rock before it underwent any mineral or structural alteration. Even the largest masses of quartz I have seen, including those at Highlay and Waipori, have to all appearance this limited form, and are what miners term “flat reefs;” as distinguished from the vertical veins which occur in Victoria, the sides of which remain nearly parallel at least for great distances, like true mineral lodes.

The absence of granite, and the rarity of ancient volcanic dykes of greenstone or porphyry (of which I have seen as yet none in situ, although fragments have been obtained) forms another peculiarity of our schistose rocks. However, if as has been reported, there are lodes of copper in the vicinity of the Dunstan Range, that fact may be taken as a sure indication of the vicinity both of granite and of such dykes. The only well marked variety in the schists has been observed at Shag Valley and in Highlay Burn, where they approach more to the character of argillaceous slates, of a deep blue colour, and traversed by small veins both of quartz and carbonate of lime, the former of which have more of the true character of auriferous quartz veins than elsewhere. As yet I have seen no evidence of what is the exact matrix of the gold in this country. The presumption that it is contained in our schist rocks is only because of the absence of other rocks of a more likely nature so far as is yet known. The schists which bound the lower part of the Manuherikia Valley have exactly the same character as in many other places, as for instance at Moa Flat below the gorge of the Molyneux at Mount Benger, or to take a nearer instance, as are displayed in the sea cliffs below Saddle-hill, about seven miles from Dunedin. It is this sameness in the character of the schist which impresses me with the idea that the intensity and long continuance of the operations which produced the tertiary “drifts” has had more to do with the accumulation of rich deposits of gold in certain localities than any peculiarity in the bed rock in these spots.

If these views be correct, we may expect an extension of auriferous country to the north-west along both sides of the central axis which I have indicated, towards the district occupied by the large lakes, and in which the miners will find the natural agencies working large “claims” for the benefit of future generations.

A sample of black sand with gold has been submitted to me by the Commissioner for the Gold Fields Department, as procured from the Manuherikia country. It consists of—

83% magnetic iron ore.
4% specular iron ore.
7.5 gold, silica, and insoluble matters.

100%

There is no trace either of tin in the sample. The large per centage of highly magnetic iron is a very distinctive feature from the black sand found in other parts of the Province, of which there is rarely more than 20 per cent, easily attracted by the magnet. The scales of gold when examined under the microscope are seen to be only moderately water-worn as compared with ordinary samples of gold from river bars, but much more so than with the Waipori or Tuapeka gold.

If this black sand deposit occurs in great quantity, it would seem to indicate that the natural sifting process has been carried out very perfectly, but as in that case we would then expect to have all the heavy mineral substances which exist in the original rock, represented in it, unless it can be shown that even the bulk of the gold has been separated from the iron sand, it seems to argue against the rock matrix being auriferous.