DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF NEW ZEALAND. 



1095 



dealing- with refractory ores. The processes tried so far have allowed too large a pro- 

 portion of the gold to escape. 



After leaving Te Aroha, the train bowls along a vast and fertile valley for three- 

 quarters of an hour to Morrinsville, a few years ago the centre of the Piako Swamp, 

 across which the traveller could find his sluggish way only by boat. Thanks to the 

 energy of the Waikato Land Association, which spent upwards of one hundred thou- 



GKAHAMSTOWN. 



sand pounds in reclaiming 



its ninety thousand acres, it 



is now a rich plain dotted 



with cattle, homesteads, and 



plantations of trees. If the 



Association has not derived 



a sufficiently large return for 



its great outlay, the country 



at any rate has reaped the benefit. The route to the Hot Lakes District diverges here 



from the Main Line, but for the present we hold on the way to Hamilton, a rising 



town of some pretensions, built upon both banks of the Waikato River, which is there 



spanned by two substantial bridges. A few miles beyond Hamilton, a branch line runs 



to Cambridge, its competitor for distinction as the premier township of the Waikato. 



It stands in the midst of a thriving agricultural country, and offers both river and lake 



scenery of much attractiveness. Returning to the trunk-line we continue our journey on 



through the Waikato Valley, past the well-watered and timbered district of Ohaupo, 



