in still more numerous localities, the smoke curling above the treetops betrayed the existence of human inhabitations. The weather was now very fine, and the view up the river upon the high mountain chains, rising abruptly at the end of the plains, exceedingly beautiful—the dark green vegetation ascending for several thousand feet and contrasting strikingly with the pure white garment of snow with which the higher portions of the ranges were uniformly covered.
Near the junction of the Kokatahi the Hokitika turns abruptly to the south-west and changes its character becoming, for more than a mile a deep slow flowing river, the shingle deposits of its smaller but more rapid tributary having damned the waters of the main river back to a considerable extent. Its left bank consists of large morainic accumulations covered with forest vegetation, the right bank being low and covered with shrubs and ferns. The landscape has now undergone considerable change, a wide plain, mostly covered with veronica, olearia, coprosma, leptospermum, and coriaria bushes stretching to the high mountains. In the midst rises an isolated range, called Te Koi-itarangi, about 800 feet high, which has a roche moutonnee-like appearance. Some others, of which one has the form of a regular cone, stand at the foot of the outrunning spurs of the high ranges which bound the horizon.
We now left the busy abode of the mining population, and entered the solitude, although many trial shafts along the river-bed, and afterwards along the high banks near the Hokitika Gorge, proved that numerous prospecting parties had tried their fortune in many localities, without obtaining the desired results. An attack of fever, without doubt caused by being continually in wet clothes, kept me here for several days in the same camp; however, owing to the use of some strong doses of quinine, I soon felt much better, and was able, on May 30th, to reach the foot of the ranges, where the river enters the plain in a deep gorge, the vertical or overhanging walls on both sides of which consist of gneiss-granite. The water in this gorge was so deep, that we could nowhere find the bottom with the large pole we had in the canoe, and there was no perceptible flow.
Passing through this really fine Gorge, about half a mile long, we found the river bed above it so rough and full of large blocks of stone, and the water so rapid, that we could not take the canoe any higher. We therefore continued our journey on foot, for some distance, to enable me to examine the geological structure of the district. In every prospect we obtained gold, but it occurred in such small quantities, that it would not pay for its extraction by the mining processes now in use. A wild mountain landscape surrounded us here, and as the river was flowing in a nearly straight valley for a considerable distance the eye could not follow the outline of the spurs which appeared behind each other, those most distant getting generally higher and more rugged. Heavy rain set in again, which, however, did not prevent me from returning to Hokitika, and we reached it, owing to the swollen state of the river, in about three hours and a half; having been three days ascending to the same camp. My two Maori companions had here ample opportunity to show their skill in guiding the canoe through all the obstacles in our way, of which drift trees were the most dangerous, but
