the slope of the hills I saw large blocks of quartz lying , which from 
all appearances originated from “reefs” or veins , that — according 
to the statement of Mr. Heaphy , — protrude on the top of the divid- 
ing ridge in various places like Avails, eight to ten feet high and 
ten to twenty feet thick. I much regretted the inclemency of the 
weather at the time, which frustrated our intention to examine these 
quartz reefs more closely. It is worth mentioning that gold was 
also found on the creeks flowing from the east side of the Cape 
Colville range on Mercury Bay into the sea: on the Arataonga, 
Waitekuri, Cook’s river and others. The traces of gold, there- 
fore, seem to extend over a larger district, and the Coromandel 
gold-fields — such was my opinion in 1859 — bid fair to grow 
into importance in future years, when the country as yet covered 
with dense woods, shall have become more accessible, when the 
auriferous quartz reefs themselves shall have been discovered, and 
the difficulties, which the natives have hitherto opposed to every 
undertaking on a more extensive scale have ceased. 1 
Besides those mentioned, there had been at the time of my 
travels no other discovery of gold made upon North Island; although 
it is not improbable that the hitherto wholly unexplored moun- 
tain range on the S. E. side of the island , forming the continuation 
of the Alpine chains of South Island, still harbours many hidden 
1 From Auckland newspapers I learn, that the discovery of' the rich gold fields in 
the Province of Otago, in 1861, has given a new impulse to entreprise. The Coro- 
mandel gold-field was again worked, and in April 1862, 248 gold diggers — among 
them about 100 Australians who had come from Dunedin, — are said to have been 
assembled in the Coromandel Harbour, to try their chances on Cape Colville penin- 
sula. The latest results seem fitted to inspire brighter hopes. On the Matawai and 
Tiki creeks pieces of gold-quartz weighing 30 to 40 ouuces, and even of 11 pounds 
weight, are said to have been found containing 50 to 60 per cent ot gold; 
Murphy and Co., who began to work a quartz reef on the Kapanga, are said to 
obtain from one ton of gold-quartz by crushing and washing an average result of 
2 »i/ 2 ounces of gold. But it. is known as a matter of fact, that quartz crushing in 
Australia with good machinery yields profit even when the ton ot quartz contains 
not more than one ounce of gold. The Coromandel gold occurs in the form ol dusty 
scales or nuggets — frequently as scaly nuggets or Ci pepites'\ but still more ge- 
nerally dendritically disseminated in quartz, which is usually ochrey or brownish 
in colour. While there is a very limited and insignificant field for alluvial digging, 
there is ample scope for quartz mining. 
