FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 145 



ended in a 1700 foot scarp above the trough containing Lake 

 Bonney. There was little wonder that we had not realized on 

 our seaward tramp, via the defile, that such a high-level valley 

 existed. 



This elevated ridge was comparatively free from debris, 

 but there were huge erratics of granite with large felspar 

 crystals three inches across. They 

 were wonderfully scooped out by the 

 wind, and were nearly twenty feet 

 across in some cases. We also found 

 small kenyte erratics containing large 

 felspar crystals. These may have been 

 carried across from Mount Erebus, 

 or some unknown locality in the 

 south. 



After supper I took the prospect- 

 ing dish (which was the last article 

 purchased in New Zealand) and 

 washed for gold in the gravels along- « Anorthoclase " felspar, 

 side the lake. There were numerous thrown out of Erebus, 



quartz " leads " in the slates and * inches . ! on S- . Th< : 



* ... , . characteristic mineral 



metamorphic gneisses, and eruptive j n k enyte# 



rocks and limestone were in the 



vicinity. This is a juxtaposition which is always promising, 

 and furnishes the " country rock " of most gold fields. But 

 the quartz was too glistening and pure. It had not the 

 " kindly " rusty appearance which the gold-seeker admires, 

 and so I was not very sanguine. However, water was abun- 

 dant in Lake Chad and I washed out many pans of dirt. 

 The " tails " of heavy sand were not promising, even pyrites 

 and magnetite being almost absent. We knew there would 

 be no water available on the remainder of our journey, so I 

 depoted the " pan " on a boulder by Lake Chad, where some 

 future archaeologist will discover striking evidence for the lost 

 kingdom of Sheba ! 



Next day we started back to Alcove Camp, buoyed by the 

 thought of hot pemmican after nearly a week's cold "tucker." 

 We lunched just at the east end of Lake Bonney on our old 

 site below the peak of the Matterhorn. The latter is the 

 most striking mountain in the region. The conical summit 

 (formed of black dolerite columns) perched on a broader 



