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slips and deadfalls, the party had considerable difficulty in reaching their objective, and when they did get there they found that in the interval since the survey party had seen the formation it had been covered up deeply by creek debris brought down by floods, and no vestige of it could be seen. The task of shifting all this material was too great for the men to undertake at the time, so they restricted their efforts to blasting up some of the larger boulders, in the hope that further floods would clear the debris away and they would be able to see the reef on a subsequent visit. As far as the writer is aware, however, none of the men returned to the spot again, so it is not known what the result of their work was.
Dunn’s Creek Reefs.—These are said to offer little promise.
Low’s Creek Reef.—This was tested by crushing and panning, also by fire assay, but failed to reveal any gold content.
Freitas Creek Reef.—This reef, which occurs at from one to one and a half miles up the creek mentioned from its junction with Taipo Creek, is described as consisting of several mineralized zones in greywacke and argillite, in only one of which were traces of gold got on assay. Nevertheless the geological surveyors were of opinion that their general appearance was so favourable that they might with advantage be traced and prospected along the line of strike.
Scotty’s Creek Reefs.—Numerous lenticular quartz veins are said to have been located in the valley traversed by this creek, but values were not detected in any of them. Highly auriferous quartz fragments are reported, however, to have been found from time to time in the bed of the creek, and the geologists commented that, concealed beneath the vegetation and surface debris, the veins may exist from which they were derived.
Other reefs of the area which attracted the attention of the survey party were those known as the Taipo Gorge reef, Harley’s Creek reef, the Hura Creek reefs, and McQuilkin’s reef.
Taipo Gorge Reef.—This outcrops in the left side of the gorge, about eight chains below the junction of Rocky Creek with the Taipo River, and has a maximum width of 1 ft. Unlike the reefs just previously referred to, it occurs as a bedded reef in banded schists, a highly quartzose mica-schist forming its western wall, and a more laminated biotite-schist its eastern wall. The vein stands practically vertical, and is described as apparently lensoid both in vertical and horizontal extension. Its chief interest lies in the fact that it was found to contain platinum, an assay of a sample giving a result equal to 1 dwt. platinum and 6 dwt. 13 gr. silver per ton.
Harley’s Creek Reef.—This reef occurs in the bed of Harley’s Creek, about half a mile up from its junction with the Teremakau River, in country rock consisting of hard shaly phillite, striking north 36° east, and dipping south-eastward at an angle of about 55°, and appeared also to be lenticular in both horizontal and vertical extension. No gold was found in it, but two samples showed on analysis that they contained platinum, respectively at the rate of 3 dwt. 8 gr. and 1 dwt. 2 gr. per ton.
Hura Creek Reefs.—Hura Creek is the next one of any importance entering the Taipo above Dunn’s Creek. In one of its headwaters tributaries, at a point above 350 ft. below the Hura Saddle, a fragment of quartz about 5 lb. in weight was found by a member of the survey party, which on one face included a beaten-out ragged streak of gold, in the aggregate amounting to ½ dwt. The quartz is said to have had a striking resemblance to that of the Gold Creek reef, and its discovery was looked upon as important. As it was found so near the cap of the range the geologists considered that the
