Deceptive Appearances. 271 



pects. Another district some fifty miles from 

 here do^uTi the Umfuli river, Avhere is situated the 

 Mammoth river about which much talk had been 

 made (as also the Lo Magundi district), is, I expect, 

 of no better character than those I have already 

 written about. j\Iauy prospectors, some working 

 for syndicates, some on their own account, many of 

 Australian and American ex^^erience, have no"\v 

 been occupied in these districts for some time. 

 Not one, although they are all sufficiently com- 

 mimicative, appears to be able to claim, or to be 

 desirous even of claiming, that he has discovered 

 anything of value or promise. Day by day I see 

 them abandoning the country with the usual ex- 

 pression that "it is not good enough for them." 

 Mr. Henry C. Perkins tells me that he was never 

 yet in any gold district where so few rich sj)ecimens 

 of quartz were brought for inspection. The gold 

 reefs of the country are of an exasperating char- 

 acter. When first seen and cursorily examined 

 the general appearance is promising, and hopes are 

 high ; l)ut the more they are developed, and the 

 more work is done upon them, the more un- 

 promising and valueless do they become. Such are 

 the facts as at j^resent kno^vn about the auriferous 

 Avealth of Hartley Hill and the surrounding district. 

 It is, of course, 2)ossible that in course of time 

 some fortunate band of prospectors may light 

 upon a really valuable reef, but no consideration or 

 iirgument that I know of leads me to the expecta- 

 tion that this will be the case any more than the 

 absence of gold in Middlesex would lead me to the 



