THE KIMBERLEY.

Bruce Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 1757, 11 June 1886, Page 4

THE KIMBERLEY.

(By Telegraph). Melbourne^ June 9. The ' Argus ' this morning publishes a telegram from its West Australian correspondent announcing that at present seventy men are employed on the Kimberley field. All are engaged in surface- working, and they have all obtained more or less gold. Captain J. B Darke, of the steamer Catterthun, which arrived last week in Queensland, states that the steamer Gambier might get within five miles of the landing at Pott Dei by if piloted up the channel by a local man. He also staces there is great necessity to buoy the channel up King Sound, as it is surrounded with mud flats. Dr Hedley, of Hamilton, N.S.W., h*& received intelligence from his brother, now on the Kimberley goldfields, stating that he has struck a rich patch of gold, which has yielded 500oz. Mr Koberfc Purvis, who lately returned from the Kimberley, sends the following interesting letter to the < Dubbo Despatch' : — " As I have just come back from the Kimberley di^tiict, Western Australia, after Dine months' prospecting and exploring, 1 am able to give fall information about it. We made up a party at Port Darwin, and came over to Cambridge Q-ulf. After waiting six weeks for the horses we started — six. of us and twenty- two horses— up the Ord River, which we followed for about 200 miles through well-watered and splendid pastoral country, grass growing to the height of sft and 6ft, and of a good fattening quality. For fifty miles or mor3 ; as far as the tide goes up, the Ord is infested with alligators, but beyond the tidal influence the river is full of crocodiles. The Blacks in this part of the country are cannibals, as they eat their own children ; and no doubt they would treat the white man the same, but they are too wild to attack, as they run like deer at the sight of him, but when they become half-civilised they will be troublesome no doubt. They are the fiercest race of Blacks I have seen in appearance. Most of them are six feet high, with fine limbs and broad chests. We used to round them up on horseback like a mob of cattle, but never ill-used them. We used to fire our rifles off at trees, which had the effect of frightening them in case they should feel inclined to attack us. After leaving the Ord we struck up the Panton River, and from that on to the Elvire. After six months' travelling we. cama to this part, which is the gold region ; and I believe will be the future El Dorado of Australia. The party divided here, three of us going south twenty miles, where we got nearly lOOoz in three weeks, being compelled then to leave for the want of rations. In returning to Derby from here, about forty miles, we got about 12oz in a few days, but had to leave or starve. There never was a white tnan in this place before. The party we separated from got gold, and that was sixty miles north from where we got ours last. The intervening country is not half prospected. The gold is a beautiful sample, having goc £4 per ounce for it. We found a great many quartz sppcimens thickly impregnated with gold, in fact one half gold and the other half quiriz, and I believe it will turn out to be a grand leefing country, as the coumry is full of reefs and leaders of good looking stone, but I had no time to prospect them. It is no use men going till the wet season sets in, which was January with us, and lasts three months, the vest of the year being dry and no water

-for gold washing, but sufficient for domestic use by carrying it three miles. It is also no use men going unless they are provided with provisions to last them through the wet ueason. They will require plenty of pack-horses. They are dear at Derby, bringing £20 and £30 each. The distance is about 400 miles. On our way down we were compelled to live on boiled grass and grubs, and thought oui selves lucky if we could catch a snake or an iguana, we being away from more desirable game, on account of having to travel on the high ground, it being the web season, and the lower country being flooded. After a great deal of trouble and privation wo reached Derby, a good deal the worse for having no boots and very little other clothes. The climate agreed with me, but not so well with the others, owing to the hard fa»e no doubt I am going back with another company at once.