Farquharson. — The Plotinum Graveh of Ore-puki. 469 



I^roofs that the land was formerly much higher, especially in the souths 

 are given by the following : [a.) The outlying islands have a fauna and 

 flora very similar to that of New Zealand, and must have been connected 

 to the mainland in late Tertiary times. (6.) The absence of older Phocene 

 marine formations in both Islands, and the absence of nearly all Pliocene 

 formations in the South Island : what Pliocene formations do occur are 

 wholly gravels, which would naturally be formed in the denudation of a 

 mountain-range, (c.) Further, the submerged valleys on the west coast of 

 Otago, in the Sounds region, show that formerly the land \va& much higher, 

 for if, as is most probable, the actual shape of the bottoms as shown by 

 soundings has been caused by glacial erosion, it is evident that a great ele- 

 vation must have once taken place. 



That a former subsidence of level in the South Island has taken place,, 

 probably in the Pleistocene, is shown by several writers. On the west 

 coast of the South Island, according to Dr. Hector in the Geological Survev 

 Reports, 1866-fi7. comparatively recent sea-beaches or beach-terraces extend 

 to more than 220 ft. above the sea. Mr. Dobson, another observer, has 

 estimated these terraces at 400 ft. (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 7, p. 444). At 

 Amuri Bluff, on the east coast of Canterbury, there are three distinct ter- 

 races, and Mr. McKay obtained Recent marine shells from the highest, which 

 he estimates to be 500 ft. above the sea. These three terraces also appear 

 further south. Further, a deposit of fine silt occurs along the east coast 

 of Canterbury and Otago from Banks Peninsula to Moeraki. Its lower 

 portions are stratified, but its upper ones are not. At Oaniaru the gravels 

 at its base contain large numbers of Recent marine shells, and the upper 

 parts have yielded moa-bones. This silt goes to a height of 800 ft. at Banks 

 Peninsula, and to 500 ft. or 600 ft. at Oamaru. Further, the entrance to 

 the West Coast Sounds has been terraced to a height of 800 ft. above sea- 

 level. Finally, the remarkable river-terraces found throughout the South 

 Island all furnish collateral proof of a once lower level. It is to be noticed 

 that these instances also show a subsecpient elevation of the land, and it is 

 quite possible that this elevation is still going on. 



The topmost height of the actual detrital deposits amounts to between- 

 400 ft. and 500 ft. It is quite possible, therefore, that the depression or 

 submergence of which instances have just been given lowered the level of 

 this part of the country also by 500 ft. The claim deposits would then 

 easily be accounted for. 



History of the Claim and Platixum. 



It is in a district having the characteristics just described that the 

 company at present called the Round Hill Hydraulic Sluicing Company 

 has its working-area. The main facts about the claim and the discovery of 

 platinum are as follows : Somewhere about the year 1880 some prospectors 

 working in the neighbourhood came upon what they believed to be good 

 alluvial gold. As usual, though the district was in a dense bush and without 

 even the crudest means of outside communication, claims were soon pegged 

 off in great numbers, and in a very short time a considerable number of men 

 (about four hundred), mostly Chinese, were engaged on the field. For a 

 short time the yield was decidedly good, but at last, despite great exertions 

 on the part of the European part of the population (for the Chinese soon 

 made off), barely enough gold could be got to pay expenses. Recourse was 

 then made to hydraulic sluicing, by which, of course, the quantity of material 

 " washed " would be enormously increased. A company was formed, with 



