FIRST DISCOVERIES OF GOLD IN N.Z.

AND EXPLORATIONS IN THE MIDDLE IBLVND.

MR JAMES MACKAY'3 ACCOUNT

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[Continued."! Eight Maoris from Wanganui in the North Island came to the Native settlement at Aorore, Collingwood, about the same time with the intention of proceeding to Arahura to purchase greenstone from the resident Natives. It was arranged that Mr Mackley should accompany them.. I sent a message by them to the chief Tarapuhi at the Grey to be on the lookout for the smoke of a fire which we would light on our arrival at the grass flat near Ahaura. On seeing which he was to bring a canoe up and some provisions aud take us down to the Mawhera Settlement (now Grey mouth). A days' travelling down the Brown Grey brought us to the Alexander Stream ; two days afterwards we reached the grass <plain which we fired. We here discovored that some Maoris had been up the river from the settlement aud had suspended a basket of potatoes and some dried ells on a conspicuous tree. We camped tiiere fur the ni#'it.- ,\fy kneo became wQrse ami was quite stiff, and thia materially retarded our progress .seawards. On reaching a branch stream now known as Nelson Oreok, we saw two canoes and some Europeans and Natives approaching us. They turned out to be Messrs Rochfort and Mackley, and .my old friend Captain Fearon of Motueka, with Tarapuhi and three of his people. Mackley and the Wangauui Natives had been some weeks at the Grey. Koohfort and Fearon had voyaged to the Buller in the schooner "Gipsy" of Nelson which had been chartered by the Provincial Government to bring supplies to the Grey for Dr Haast's party. They came by land along the coa,4t, being anxious about the safety of my party, my cousin Alexander and Frank Flowers having arrived safely at NuUon, and !>]> >i ted having left us at M .iruia, shorl of provisions. It seems Alex and Flowers were pretty woi. starved for three days after leaving us. Then they met Haast's party, vrho gave them a small supply of food, wLtioh with some wood hens , they caught supported them until they - reached the Lake Station at Rotoiti, from whence they reached Nelson in two days. We were pleased to hear that the Gipsy " would leave the Buller as soon as the | westerly gales abated, and make for the Grey. .We joyfully embarked in the cauoes and reached the Mawhera [ Grey) settlement, the same eyening (2nd March, 1860). Self and party had bee a upwards of seven weeks ccmtng ; through from Nelson. My leg became very painful and proud flesh was : growing quickly in the wound. Mackley was an ex-medical student and he fortunately had some nitrate of silver with him, which, was applied successfully. The Maoris had succeeded in harvesting a crop of wheat, and we ground some of this with the historical mill, and made bran poul- '"" tices to reduce the swelling of the limb. . W^e feared that some accident must have happened to the vessel, and Rochfort and Fearon were contemplating returning to the Buller, and I wrote letters for ' them to convey to Nelson. However, the schooner came in sight early on the afternoon of the sth March. She waited until the -tide was nearly full, and safely crossed the bar at 6.30 p.m. The captain found 2J fathoms of water at the shallowest place. Thus the cutter,- Supply, (Captain "Walker) was the first vessel to cross the bar of the Buller River, and the schooner, Gipsy, (Captain McOann) was the pioneer of the Grey. The Gipsy was bar bound until the 13th March, on which day she left for Nelson, taking with her Captain Fearon and two other passengers who had remained -on board all the time. Mr Rocbfort told me of his discovery of gold and coal at the . Buller in 1859. We arranged not to disclose to the Maoris about finding l the gold, as it might militate against the land purchase operations, and in addition, no prospecting had taken place to prove the value of the discovery, which Rocbfort had not mentioned to anyone, and was onlyknown to his Maori chainman, Stephen. On the 16th March Rocbfort engaged Papara to accompany him to the Buller, and left for that place, travelling by the coast. Mr Mackley had been suffering for j some days from a severe cold, which eventually ended in a quinsied throat. The bran from the mill again came in handy for fomentations, The gathering burst on the 23rd March, and he then speedily recovered. Dr. Haaet, and* Messrs Burnett, Groom, Beckman, and Dick the Maori, had arrived safely, at the Grey in the interim. Haast and his party endured nothing but new chum inconveniences and hardships. Their track was plain before them, and open behind to communicate with their base of supplies. • They were Bhort of food on two oc- ; casions only, and couH travel as j suited them, stopping to inspect the j formation of new country as reached. j From the Grey they were to return to j Nelson by the coast and inspect the geological formation of the country en route. By the 25th March my leg was healed, and having arranged with , Tarapuhi that all the Natives were to meet us at Tah.itahi's settlement at Poherua (now Clifton) to discuss J;he land purchase question, we were anxious to start on our journey south- . wards along the coast. Bad weather - detained us until the 28th, on which date self, Mackley,. my three Nelson. Maoris, and nearly all the inhabitants of the Grey started on our, way south. - The Wanganui Natives remained at j Taramakau and Arahura collecting greenstone. ITo be Continued.]