C.— 18. 
8 
least three other lines of gold-workings between the foot of the high terrace and the coast-line. 
Deposits of black sand are found in considerable areas over many parts of Addison’s Flat and the 
slope thence to the mouth of the Totara Eiver. Generally, however, the superficial rock deposit is 
a granity beach-wash. Along the course of the Totara Eiver the marine deposits have been carried 
away by the river, and a large shingle fan of river material takes their place. On the south side of 
the Buller the marine sands cap the brink of the highest terrace, and the succession of terraces to 
the river-level show by how much the land has been raised since the sea washed the foot of the Big 
Terrace, between Bald Hill and the Shamrock Lead. The high terrace east of Addison’s Fat, some 
300ft. above the level of the flat, has a width of from one mile and a half to two miles before the 
foot of the granite range is reached. Black-sand deposits, evidencing the presence of the sea, are 
also to be met with on the higher terrace, but no important gold-workings have been carried on at 
this higher level. 
South of the Little Totara the country from the western base of the granite* mountains is hilly 
to the sea. The Nile, the Four-mile, and the Fox Eiver drain this area. A range of limestone 
hills, commencing on the coast-line near the mouth of the Totara, sweeps inland in a semi- 
circle from this point to St. Kilda and Brighton. The limestone (its western boundary) is furthest 
from the coast-line between Candle-light and the Four-mile, south of Charleston. A valley de- 
pression lies between the limestone hills and the foot of the Paparoa Kange. This part is either not 
gold-bearing, or has not been sufficiently prospected. Coal is found along this line, and outcrops 
on the banks of the Fox Eiver, and marine tertiary (Miocene) beds are also present. It is between the 
limestone range and the sea that the greatest interest attaches to this part of the district. Over 
this are black-sand deposits that have been accumulated at all heights up to fully 500ft. above sea- 
level. These black-sand deposits have been the mainstay of gold-mining in the Charleston district. 
The auriferous character is not confined to the purely black-sand beds, but the beds of granite wash 
(beach- gravels) widely spread over the area between the limestone and the sea are also gold-bearing. 
It is here that black sand deposited by the action of the sea reaches the highest level along the 
coast-line between Eoss and the Mokihinm Eiver. The Fox River has cut part of its course through 
the limestone, and in this part the river-channel is through a remarkable gorge, which is only a few 
feet in width, but 300ft. or more in depth. 
Coast-Line, Fox River to Barry town. — Gold-mining in the north part of this district is limited to 
the beaches on the coast-line and one or two patches of high-level gravels in the vicinity of Eazor- 
back. Sout^h of Eazorback and the Punakaiki Eiver continuous beach-workings are to be had as 
far as the Fourteen-mile Bluff, while inland of the present coast an old high-level terrace-working 
extends along the foot of the ranges, from Doubtful Eiver to Baker’s Creek. There are also creek- 
workings in some of the various streams draining this part, and taking their rise from the southern 
continuation of the Paparoa Mountains. Canoe Creek and Fagin’s Creek are the most important 
of these gold-bearing streams. 
Barrytoivn to the Grey Valley. — This part of the district has a bold coast-line, and the inland 
district is mountainous. Gold- workings are chiefly confined to the beach, and the sea-terraces im- 
mediately at the back thereof. The conglomerates of the Ten-mile Creek are thought to be stan- 
niferous, and probably also are gold-bearing. From the Seven-mile to the Nine-mile, and, again 
between the Nine-mile and the Ten-mile, a back lead is at the present time being worked, and at 
higher levels, 60ft. or 100ft., there is a high-level line of auriferous gravels that corresponds with 
the higher levels of Darkies’ Terrace, between Poiut Elizabeth and Cobden, and west of the Lime- 
stone Eange. 
Westland District. 
This has been fully described in the Goldfields and Mining Beports for 1893,’’ so that a few re- 
marks on the general character of the country will suffice in this place. 
Grey River to Marsden and the Valley of Nciv River. — The coast-line of this part is formed of a 
slightly elevated beach, ranging from half a mile to less than a quarter of a mile in width. Behind 
this, near Greymouth, are hills of tertiary clays, or, further back, and forming a range of higher 
hills, the southern continuation of the Cobden limestone. The valley of Salt-water Creek and the 
vicinity of Butherglen shows clearly that the Now Eiver at one time had its course to the sea in this 
direction, the old high-level beaches being destroyed in the middle parts of the valley, and only 
attesting their former continuity by appearing as disjointed fragments on the ridges that are between 
the Salt-water and New Eiver, and the first-mentioned and lesser streams to the north. 
The valley of New Eiver, as elsewhere described, f is due to the action of the main stream 
and its various tributaries on a table-land formed near its surface by gravels of the “Old-man 
bottom,” which are present also in the adjoining hills overlain by glacier debris brought on to this 
region by the action of a branch of the Teremakau Glacier, which, passing through the gap in the 
mountains at and below Jackson’s, filled the Lake Brunner Basin, and thence overflowed the coun- 
try to the west and south-west. By this means (the action of the New Eiver itself) gold widely 
dispersed w T as collected and greatly concentrated along the beds of the several streams within the 
watersheds of New Eiver and Salt-water Creek, and these accumulations of auriferous material, 
together with the beach deposits, modern, and of older date at high levels, formed a source of gold 
that has maintained a large mining population from the early days of the Coast till within very 
recently. 
Teremakau Valley. — The Greenstone or Hohonu Eiver is the principal gold-bearing tributary 
of the Teremakau. The source of the gold is the same as that of the New Eiver, and the physical 
circumstances under which the river-valley has been excavated differs only in this, that the Green- 
stone takes its rise among mountains of granite and gneiss, which may have hastened somewhat 
the rate at which the middle and lower valley was cut down. The granite belt which, from the 
south of Lake Brunner, extends through the Greenstone Mountains to the south side of the Tere- 
makau Valley, limits, with the exception of the Seven-mile Creek and some other creeks in the 
* Geological Explorations of the Northern Part of Westland, Mining Keports, 1893, C.-3, p. 132. t See report 
already cited above, page 137. 
