THE KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELD.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1712, 2 June 1886, Page 2

THE KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELD.

[by telegraph.] (Per s.s. Waihora at the Bluff.) Mfxbourxe, 17. Little or no additional news has been received from the Kimberh y goldfields. Several steamers are being put on from Melbourne. The Khandalla leaves tomorrow afternoon, taking from Adelaide, Sydney, and here, fifteen saloon and sixty-five steerage, with a number of hoi'ses. The Gambia also leaves in a day or two, taking thirty passengers from Melbourne, and sixty or seventy from Sydney and Brisbane. The passage to Cambridge Golf occupies sixteen days. The Perth • Inquirer ' of May 5 writes : " Derby township consists at present of only thirteen buildings, the majority of which are stores, while one is in reality a so-called • hotel.' Besides these a number of tents have been recently erected. The population consists of not more than 150 or 160 souls. The goldfields about which so much has lately been heard, are situated nearly 400 miles from port, and are very difficult of access. None but strong and well equipped parties can hope to surmount the difficulties of the journey between Derby and the El Dorado. An iin pression is abroad that the goldfields are situated upon the banks of the Old river, but this is a mistake. Mr Hard man first discovered the ' color ' on the banks of that river, but the diggeis who proceeded to the place, at once left it to follow up the indications found in the neighborhood of the Elvire. In no case as yet known have prospectors sunk more than Bft below the surface, the major portion of gold obtained having been found among the roots of tussocks of spiuifex, with which the district abounds. The whole country is very lighcly timbered with a species of stunted white gum, which is practically useless except for firewood. The gold is very widely clistribnted, the 'color' being found wherever earth has been panned out, but only a few pockets, and these of a very small kind, have as yet been found. They have beeu discovered only in beds of gullies. In all probability the wealth of the district will depend upon quartz reefs with which it is so thickly intersected." THE LOCALITY. of the present discoveries is at the head waters of the Elvira River, in lat. 18. lOdeg S., and long. 127.50deg. about the thirty miles E.S.E. ot" Mount Barett, and 130 miles from the junction of the Negri and Ord rivers. Mr Hardman, Government geologist of Western Australia, in his official report and map, indicates the position of the gold-bearing rocks examined by him on the sources of the Margaret, the Mary, and along the west bank of the Elvira River to its junction with the Panton. Over a line of 140 miles of country wherever he tried he found 41 the color," and also in several of the reefs he found gold ; but none of the party had the slightest experience of gold-mining, pratical or otherwise. THE CLIMATE. From the beginning of April to the middle of May (again quoting Mr Johnston) hot weather was experienced. Although the thermometer was never very high, the moist state of the atmosphere caused by the evaporation from the lagoons and low lying plains sur^ rounding the east arm, and almost total absence of winds, made the heat much more oppressive than the same temperature would be in a drier climate The weather from the middle of May to the middle of Angust is quite pleasant, as bright wstnn days with cloudless skies, fresh easterly winds, and cool nights, were the rule. During

those months the nights at times li were too cold to be pleasant, ice being n seen on water buckets mmc than one o in the early morning. In September a it agaiu became nnpleasantly warm, t especially during the forenoon, before I the north or north-westerly winds set i in, which they generally did by noon, a and blew till midnight, and, being off- t sea winds and moisture laden, cooled 1 the air considerably. Considering the c latitude of the Ord and Cambridge ( Gulf, I think the climate good, espec t ially inland ; but near the coast, par- \ ticularly where it is low-lying, malarial 1 fever may be expected to prevail 1 during the dry season, when the g swamps and marshes are giving off the superabundant moisture that they r had accumulated during the rainy season. Ou this point the Otago Daily Times says : — A good many statements have been made a3 to the climate of the place. The truth is the ' climate is intensely hot, but not so 1 enervating or noxious aa it is repre* ] sonted to be. Men of sound physique j are not likely to succumb, as there is no malaria, and nothing deadly in the ' atmosphere. ! FISH AND GAME. Fish is plentiful in the Ord, some of J ! the pools of which are over two miles ( Jong. Sharks and garfish are seen | 100 miles up the Ord. The fish ] mostly caught with lines are catfish and bream. Wild dogs are plentiful, and in some parts rats are very numerous. There are two varieties of kangaroo, a small one with a daw at the extremity of its tail, and in the ranges large kangaroo are plentiful. Waterfowl of various descriptions are plentiful on the lagoons. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ROU T E. Two or more horses, two packsadd'es and bt idles, four sets of shoes, with plenty of nai's, four pairs of hobbles i and chains, one large mosquito net (6ft by 6ft), one large pair blankets, two paiis strong boots, small pick and shovel, one prospecting dish, small axe, good gun, with plenty of No 1 shot, revolver, ammunition, horse shoeing tools, saddling tools, good sheath knife, one steel, flout, sugar, salt, bacon, rice, one calico fly (for tent), preserved apples, cii'ic acid, vinegar, quinine, Cockle's pills, tea, \ carbonate soda, ' tobacco, preset ved ■ potatoes, tinned meats, mutches, castor oil, laudanum, pipes, four quart billy, quart and pint tin, chisel, one walei- ; proof shirt. As there are no hoises to I be procured in the district, miners will I at once realise the importance of the necessary horsea to carry the outfit. SETTLEMENT is progressing on the O'd and shores of Cambridge Gulf, about 12.0s)0 head j of cattle being now in the valley of the I Ord. Some years ago an attempt was i i made to start sheep farming there, but j iit was given up without much of a ; trial, being then considered an nn- : suitable locality for sheep farming, | and the stock was removed. TIIK NATIVES. are described hs numerous towards the ! sea, but much fewer inland. They are large, well made men, cut about the i breast and limbs in the same manner ! as so many other tribes of Australian j natives. They are also circumcised. I They are fauly docile, as they are j made use of on stations about the ! Fitzroy ; but about the Gulf they will not work ; and Mr Johnstone fears that they will give trouble as settle" nient advances. GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY. The formation is Old Silurian, which is largely the same as a large part of Victoria, with basalt, granite/limestone, Devonian rocks, auriferous schists and quartz reets, bine clay, and quartz gravels and ironstones, and sandstone grits. The Ord and the Fitzroy are the two main streams. Each heads from Mount Barrett, on the east and west sides respectively. The Fitzroy, which is the farther south finds its way into King Sound, receiving the tributary waters of the Margaret and Mary rivers, besides other small streams in its course. The Ord starts in a north-easterly direction, but gradually sweeps round more to the west until it empties itself into the head of Cambridge Gulf. It will thus be seen that both rivers enclose an enormous area of country of which the other boundary is the sea coast, in which there are several masses of high ranges and welldefined mountains. THE AURIFEROUS INDICATIONS. Mr Hard man in his report states that lie met scores of quartz reefs, and all running mainly north and south. The quartz was a dull yellow in color, vuggy (full of cavities), and rich in oxides and pyrites. The rivers, val leys, and tints aye in many places covered with quartz gravel and drift. He rarely failed to find gokl in prosppcting these gravels, and he tried over 140 miles on both sides of Mount Barrett, the indications being very good at the Margaret, which is the nearest to Derby. In several instances he found gold at considerable distances from the quartz bearing rocks, and in the drifts immediately overlying them. THE WATER SUPPLY. The gold -yielding country, he says, is well watered by numerous rivers, creeks, and gullies, which even in the driest part of the year are never wholly without water. Although scarce in the dry season, there would be no difficulty in conserving sufficient for all mining purpose?. He therefore naturally concludes that there ig a great probability of a payable goldb'eld being obtained. A WORD OF WARNING. Still, miners will do well to remember the old mottoes that " All is not gold that gutters," and that " Distance j lends enchantment to the view." All j the gold as yet obtained is nut a very I great deal as compared with what has

icen unearthed n times past by a few nen and in as swt a time. The 40 r 50 repotted to be there at latest .ccoivits may now be twenty times hat number, a« men are swarming in >y the steamer load from all the other Australian Coloiies and Port D.irwin tud Townsville overland. Some of ;lir overlauders have started from Peak Downs and other places in that mining lUtrict a good many weeks ago. We ;an only hope, however, that it will ;«rn out all tha'j is hoped from it, as we believe that it will do but little larm to any of the colonies, and be ;he means of doing a great deal of ;ood in the aggregate.