322 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [March 8, 



4. On the Coromandel Gold-diggings in New Zealand. By 

 Mr. Charles Heapley. Iu a Letter to His Excellency Sir 

 George Grey ; — communicated by Sir R. I, Murchison, F.G.S. 



The gold which was obtained here (Coromandel, near Auckland) 

 during the summer was all dug from either the surface, or from a 

 depth of 18 inches varying to 4 feet below it, and was taken in some 

 instances from the gravel of a stream bed, or in others from a bed of 

 quartz-grit near the foot of a granite mountain. 



Only in one instance had any one sunk a shaft to the bed-rock. 

 At a depth of 33 feet, a shaft, which I dug, fell in from the looseness 

 of the surrounding earth. Mr. Stephenson, a digger, however, came 

 upon the bed-rock at a depth of 27 feet ; but there it was on so steep 

 an inclination, that but little gold could have been expected to have 

 been found lodging upon it. Some small pieces, of a more sohd 

 nature than any found elsewhere, were, however, washed from its 

 surface. (See fig. p. 323.) 



The unusually wet summer induced the diggers, who were chiefly 

 men from Port Philip, men used to a dry climate and firm soil, to 

 abandon the idea of sinking shafts to the bed-rock. The New Zea- 

 land diggers contented themselves with digging near the surface, and 

 when the small stratum of quartz-grit, where Coolahan got his gold, 

 was exhausted, they left the district. 



It cannot, however, be denied, that the limited extent of the Go- 

 vernment district was a source of discouragement to men, who, in 

 Australia and California, look to an unlimited field for exploration. 

 But, had the working been of a systematic nature ; had shafts been 

 sunk hy each party to a reasonable depth, there is but little doubt 

 that rich deposits would have been brought to light. 



On the eastern side of the Dividing Range, gold has been found 

 by various prospecting parties; and in one valley, the Opitonui, 

 which all concurred in declaring rich, one man, a Canadian, has lately 

 reported to me, that in prospecting he " could pick the gold out of 

 a stratum " with the point of his knife. How far this is true, I can- 

 not say. The man says that he merely waits for the valley being 

 thrown open to commence work there. The place is so closely 

 watched by the natives, that it is not practicable for a man to work 

 there now even covertly. 



By a map * that I send herewith officially. Your Excellency will 

 perceive the extent of the known gold-field. Beyond this, the 

 Messrs. Ring are reported to have found gold in the direction of the 

 Aroba mountain, to the eastward of the Thames. 



The map only includes such parts of the district as I am personally 

 acquainted with. 



By a very recent examination, I have been enabled to discover the 

 surface of the bed-rock immediately over the locality whence Coola- 

 han and others obtamed the greater part of their gold last summer ; 

 and, from the circumstance of its being of quartz of a similar nature 

 to that to which their gold adhered, I am in great hope of being 



* Not accompanying tbis letter. — Ed. Q. J. 



