442 Proceedings. 



4. A line series of specimens, presented by Mr. Docherty, 

 from Dusky Sound, was exhibited, aud their indications ex- 

 plained. 



Mr. Docherty has been working single-handed, cutting tracks in the 

 direction of Wet Jacket Arm, in continuation of his labours for some three 

 or four years past, and has been successful in discovering a system of 

 metalliferous veins and intersecting dykes, the contents of which are of 

 interest to the mineralogist, and will probably prove of great economic value 

 in the future. Sir James Hector exhibited a diagram map showing the 

 district explored by Messrs. Reischek and Docherty, and referred to the 

 existence of an area of many hundred square miles in that part of the 

 Colony that had never yet been visited or explored. 



5. "On the Occurrence of Black Sulphur in the Native 

 State," by Sir James Hector. 



The specimens were sent by Captain Mair, Eotorua, with the fol- 

 lowing note: — "I send you a matchbox full of funny little globules 

 which I obtained from an active hot spring in the Waiotapu Valley, 

 at the back of Maungakakaramea. They appear to be manufactured 

 on the spot, and are thrown out by millions. I have never seen any- 

 thing like them elsewhere." These globules proved on analysis to con- 

 sist of sulphur 88-81 per cent. ; water, 9 - 46 per cent. ; carbon, '24 ; 

 loss 1-39. They were hollow spheres of irregular form, and appear 

 to have been rilled with steam when thrown up in the air, as they 

 seem to have burst in falling by the formation of a vacuum in most cases. 

 They were about the size of peas, and were interesting as being the first 

 instance in which allotropic sulphur had been found in the natural state. 

 Captain Mair also adds the following note with reference to the Tarawera 

 disturbance :—" While in the Waiotapu Valley, on the 2nd July, 1887, we 

 heard some extraordinary noises, apparently deep in the ground under our 

 feet, and travelling along the earthquake rents from the north-east to the 

 south-west. They occurred four times one day, and were like an express 

 train dashing across an underground bridge. There was no perceptible 

 tremor of the earth. The old Maoris to whom I mentioned the circumstance 

 said the sounds were caused by the pent-up steam bursting into and tilling 

 large caverns in the earth. I do not know whether this is a scientific 

 explanation, but it certainly seems a plausible one." Sir James Hector 

 explained that it was about this time that great changes took place in the 

 appearance of the district by the sudden rising of the waters of Rotomahana 

 to their original level, while the new cold-water lake that had formed in the 

 fissure since the eruption had disappeared; and it was probably the rushing 

 of the underground waters, in establishing this readjustment of levels, that 

 gave rise to the noises reported. 



6. Samples were exhibited of trachyte tuff and breccia con- 

 stituting the auriferous deposit recently found in the level 

 ground west of Te Aroha. Collected by Professor Hutton, 

 F.G.S. 



The material, which appeared to be somewhat of the nature of an infil- 

 trated quartz reef, whioh had hern decomposed and then distributed as a 

 surface deposit, was found to contain gold at a rate varying from 2 oz. to 

 14 oz. to the ton. The gold occurs in twisted angular flakes and grains, and 

 is associated in a light felspar sand with heavier grains of quartz, mica, and 

 titanic iron. It will probably prove to be the outcrop of an important reef, 

 from which the sulphides have heen removed by decomposition so that gold 

 is left in its free state. The gold is the usual alloy of the district— consist- 

 ing of gold 80-47 per cent., silver 16*91, loss 2*62, previous assays having 

 varied from 77 to 84 per cent. This sample is, therefore, an average one. 



