62 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



at that time a well-equipped party of gold-prospectors were camping on 

 the Red Hill, at a height of nearly 3,000 feet. To one of them, Capt. 

 Malcolm, I am in<le'oted for sevei-al rock-specimens mentioned further 

 on. The collection mentioned, owing to difficulty of carriage, consisted 

 mostly of chips and small pieces, amongst which varieties of peridotite 

 and serpentine claimed most attention. The several specimens are 

 more fully described in the sequel. They were obtained in various 

 places on the Red Hill Range, along the red-weathered outcrop (hence 

 the name " Red Hill ") of the peridotite ; but those of the serpentine 

 varieties come principally from the slope of the range, falling towards 

 the Jerry River, a tributary of the Gorge River. One of these latter 

 specimens, of thin lamellar (antigorite-like) structure, was found to be 

 impregnated with fine specks, of silvery-white colour and metallic 

 lustre, which on examination proved to be the new mineral Awaruite. 

 In most of the other serpentine specimens whitish metallic-looking 

 specks were also discovered, but they all turned out to be pyrite, 

 except in one piece of common dark green serpentine, which yielded 

 after crushing and washing, from amongst a small amount of pyrite 

 powder, a small hackly gram of the alloy. 



Up to the time of this discovery of the matrix-rock of the Awaruite 

 nothing was known or had been published about a similar discovery 

 by anyone elsewhere* ; but in answer to a letter I wrote to Mr. 

 Macfarlane, pointing out the discovery and asking for any specimens of 

 peridotite and serpentine he might have preserved from his previous 

 explorations, he informed me that he had also noticed the metallic 

 specks and would send a number of specimens containing them. These 

 I received some months later, but found only two specimens (dark- 

 green serpentine) with unmistakeable Awaruite in them, the metallic 

 specks in the remainder proving to be pyrite. Considering the great 

 scientific interest attaching to the discovery of the mineral and its 

 matrix combined, because of the apparent close relationship of the 

 occurrence to certain of the stony meteorites, and apprehending the find 

 in danger of being quite overlooked, from the fact that, although made 

 public in New Zealand nearly a year previous, no notice of it had up 

 to that time appeared in " Nature " and other English and foreign 

 scientific journals of eminence. I wrote letters to a number of dis- 

 tinguished authors, specially interested in the study of the peridotite 

 rocks in England, America, and Germany, giving the main particulars 

 of the occurrence of the mineral and the results of Mr. Skey's work. 

 The President of the Geological Society at that time, Professor Judd, 

 being one amongst the number, considered my communication of 

 sufficient interest to be brought before the Society, and announce:! at 

 the same time my intention of submitting a paper regarding the 

 discovery, providing I was successful in procuring more detailed 

 information about the geology of the country in which it was made, 

 and more material to work upont. In pursuance of this project I have 



* Mr. Skey's footnote to his second paper in the " Annual Report of the Colonial 

 Museum and Laboratory," quoted in the foregoing, appeared several months after my 

 find liei-ame known. 



t In the "Abstract of the Proceedings " of the Society at that Meeting, Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soe. vol. xliii. 1887, Proceed, p. 3, the credit of having discovered the 

 Awaruite is given to me, no doubt through some misunderstanding, whilst Mr. Skey, 

 as the analyst and namer of it, is not mentioned ; and it is further stated that I 

 consider Awaruite and the meteorite Oktibbehite as identical in chemical composition. 



