, 59 
now nearly altogether eaten away, were burning moun¬ 
tains, making ruddy the skies above them ? These ques¬ 
tions will perhaps be settled when the geology of this 
tract shall have been carefully investigated. 
An account of a journey through Gippsland would he 
incomplete unless reference were made to the metalliferous 
minerals, ores, and coals which are found in this part of 
the colony. 
Osmiridium—a metal belonging to the platinum group Osmiridium. 
—has been collected in small quantities near Stockyard 
Creek. A few days before we commenced our journey 
some of this metal, in rough grains, was sent to the Mining 
Department for analysis by Mr. Reginald A. F. Murray, 
who is now engaged in making a geological survey of 
south-western Gippsland. It is not probable that this 
metal is very abundant, but its occurrence in any locality 
is worthy of record. 
Long before this sample was received, Mr. Patterson, 
the assayer for the Bank of Australasia, had obtained 
specimens, and had made known the fact that osmiridium 
was to be found in the colony. 
Before Mr. A. W. Ilowitt undertook the task of opening Cold . 
up the goldfield of Gippsland, there were not more than 
50 persons engaged in gold mining. At the present time 
there are 1581 men employed in alluvial mining, and 943 
in quartz mining. These, with the aid of machinery of 
various kinds, of the aggregate value of £144,588, raise 
yearly 70,000 oz. of gold. 
The area of auriferous ground actually opened up, hut 
not at any one time wholly occupied, is 148 square miles, 
and the number of reefs proved to be auriferous is 461 . The 
tracts within which the already discovered alluvial work¬ 
ings and quartz reefs lie are comparatively small in area ; 
