390

successful operation that was entirely made of red birch: there were no straps or bands of iron to withstand the strain, every detail being of this timber. The Messrs. Gillow have had considerable experience of its, and they compare it to the elm of Britain. The size of the trees vary very much according to the situation and elevation. In the valley of the Waiau, near the sea, totaras were seen up to 27 feet in girth, and pines and birches close on 20 feet in girth; on the higher elevations a very usual size of the birch was from one to two feet in diameter.

Barren Mountains

A reference to table A will show that there is 1960 square miles under this division. All the country to the west of the Te Anau and Manipori Lakes (with the exception of what is forest) comes under it. The higher parts of this country are composed of igneous rocks; from the numerous fractures that generally occur in them, it may be expected that mineral and metallic veins will there exist. On Mount Pisgah several veins of quartz, with flakes of mica imbedded, were seen to traverse it; and in the valley of the Doon, below Mount Pisgah, there are many large fragments of quartz and granite. A very cursory examination was made of the bed of the Doon and several other of the streams west of the lakes. Mica was discovered in abundance, but no auriferous deposits. Clay, slate, and metamorphic rocks occur between the Te Anau and Wakatipu Lakes, and minute particles of quartz are found on the Thomson mountains. Up to the date of survey, this country had not been prospected. Supposing that gold exists there, it is not likely to be come at so readily as was the case on the Shotover and Arrow, for the valleys are more open and wide than those of these rivers, and the alluvial deposits are much covered over with the degradation of the mountain sides. The higher parts of the Humboldt and Forbes Mountains seem, from their rounded massive forms, to be composed of granite. Mica schist flanks the sides of the mountains surrounding the Shotover and Arrow; it is inclined at almost every angle, and is exceedingly friable in some instances; where it forms the escarpment of a ridge it presents a very contorted appearance. Standing on the Harris Mountains and looking over to the Upper Shotover and around Mount Aurum, a wild, hacked, precipitous scene presents itself, to which it would be difficult to find a parallel.

Means of Communication

In the open country of the Waiau Districts, a pack-horse may be taken up or down or, across any part of it, and drays can also be taken over the greater part of it. There are two dray tracks by which it communicates with other districts; one is by the Oreti.

Wea and round the north side of Twinlaw, and is entirely in Southland; the other is by the valley of the Oreti -- it enters Southland near the junction of the Windley and Oreti.

The means of communication in the Wakatipu District is mostly by water -- the nature of the country necessitates this; all the valleys open into the lake, and then the shores of the lake are impassable in many places, so the only way of getting from place to place is by boating. In the Shotover and Arrow Districts the rivers flow through gorges too abrupt to allow of their courses being followed; the only way therefore of communicating with the upper parts of the district is by crossing over the ridges; the tracks over these are from 4000 to 6000 feet above sea level, and the ridges being much broken, a long detour is often necessary, so as to keep on the leading ridge, or to get up or down a passable spur; in this way several points on the Shotover and Arrow are reached by pack-horses. Stores are congregated at these points, from whence supplies are distributed to the population along the river. The Wakatipu District has three routes of communication with country beyond its own boundaries; the principal is from Kingston, at the south end of the lake, and this is the only part of the lake which drays can approach; the other two are bridle tracks -- one from the west side of the lake, takes up the valley of the Von, and continues on to the Te Anau Downs; the other leads over the ranges to the Cardrona and Upper Clutha Valleys. The position of Kingston being at this end of the lake nearest the producing districts of the Colony, and the ports of the east coast, gives to it the command of the important trade of the lake. The magnitude of this trade has made the consideration of the means of communication with the Wakatipu Districts a matter of primary importance. The impracticable nature of the Kawarau valley as it now is, the nearness of the ports of Southland, and the lie of the country between them and the Wakatipu, plainly point to them as the possessors of the greatest natural facilities for communication between the east coast and Kingston. A dray road by the Kawarau would, under present circumstances, be more than a rival to the route by Kingston; but before a road could be formed and made, it is not unlikely that Southland will have so much improved the means of communication towards Kingston, that goods will then be delivered as cheaply there as they ever can be at the Kawarau Junction; in this case, then, the proposed route would only be a rival to the one now in use. The difficulties to be overcome in the formation of a road along the Kawarau valley are of no mean order; the river runs through a most precipitous gorge low.