THE AHAURA.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 178, 5 March 1867, Page 3

THE AHAURA.

(from our own correspondent.) March 1,18G7. • Everything has been so utterly stagnan throughout the whole district of the Uppc: Grey and its affluents, that for a longtiiiK past I have been in exactly the posi tion o that immortal and never-to-be-sulfa'ciendy quoted Knife Grinder' — "Story! Lore' bless you, I had none to tell i " — and ] scarcely imagined the Argus would.care tc chronicle the important fact tliat I hac notliing to say. Latterly, however, then i has been symptoms apparent th;vt we wen about to wake up out of our lengthened trance — fitful gleams of energy have manifested themselves here and there, and ] am sanguine people seem to think thai the good old times are coming back again, These cheering visions have been evoked by the gradual setting in, not exactly of ;i rush, but of a sort of scattered immigration towards the Ahaura River, to whicli locality a good many parties of diggers have been drifting, until now there is? considerable population spread' along its banks, from the township at its foot, ii]. pretty nearly to its sources. Althougli few or none of these have as yet met with much to .reward their exertion, the) t seems to be a very general and widelyspread belief that something good musl be struck in this quarter; or, at all events, the district will not be abandoned untilii has been' thoroughly^ prospected. Tin difficulties of doing this are immense — •perhaps as great as any where on tht coast— the river running for the greatei part of its course between enormously high, precipitous clifls, generally .borderec by a mile or two of almost ■■impracticable timber, scrub, or deep morasses, *ant crowned on their summits by a dense bus! of heavy timber. 'The only means of access to the water are, at rare intervals, bj narrow densely-wooded gullies, thedesceni of which is of the most break-neck character, and to a man with a heavy anc cumbersome swag, hot merely toilsome but frequently hazardous. The only greal ■difficulty, however — that of supplies — is now being partially surmounted by several boats and canoes having been placed on the stream, which has conveyed heavj loads of provisions to the various parties camped along its banks ; .and small stores are about to be established in some of.tli( ! more easily-attainable gullies. The difficulties of the navigation do not appear tc be quite so great as was at first appre hended, as, although the current is ir i places extremely rapid, and the falls somewhat numerous, there is generally sufficient water upon them to admit of t loaded boat being forced . over, them, Should payable gold be struck at anj point not more than fifteen or twentj miles from the junction with the Grey, ii will probably be found easy to pack \\\ provisions by land from theAhaura township, as there is a good 'road '"through ai: open country to within a mile or two oi the river, and a comparatively slighi amount of labor would be required tc make a passable horse-track though the bjlt of bush that intervenes; but above this point, where the overland route ti Nelson passes through the bush to. a spol bearingthe ominous cognomen of " Starvation Point," the track- is so -wretchedly bad, and passes up and, down such tremendous gullies that it has hitherto been impracticable for any four-footed creature but sheep, and of these many are frequently lost by the way, ,or aro obliged tc be left behind. Higher up the river than Starvation Point, where it forks into twe brandies, the country again becomes more open, and it would doubtless be found.- advisable to bring down supplies fz^oni the otlier side. . . ; Of the gold prospects it is not easy tc obtain any 'certain, information. ■ I have seen and couversed with a great manj I parties who have given it a fail- trial, and. according to their, unanimous account! without much success. ■On the othei hand, it is certain that a uumberof parties have' been for some time at work, whe havefound sufficieiltinducement to remain and who, on their occasional visits to the township for the necessary supplies oi tucker, seem to be amply furnished witl: the base metal in quantities enough to paj for it, and to admit of a little '• spree' besides. -Such gold, as is obtained, aiic has been offered in exchange for the commodities required by those who bring ii down, is of a good character, being heavj and very much burnt, looking as if there might be a good deal more where it came from. One parcel that : I saw was ai rounded into .the. shape 'and about the size of sparrow shot. Putting all the circum-stances-together; I believe that the Ahaun offers a very promising field for the exer tions of those who have sufficient capita and energy to give it a fair trial; but is decidedly not the place to which a mar should bend his steps to whom it is abso lutely necessary that he should reap ar immediate aiid certain return for his labor Probably in the course of a very shorl i time the real value of the country will be accurately asceiiained. In the meantime lam endeavoring to accumulate a sufficient number of data to enable such oi your readers as are interested in the matter to form tJzeir own judgments, and these I will communicate at an earlj opportunity; .'"'■ '.' : The normal dullness of the. townshij has been enlivened this week rather unpleasantly by the outbreak of a long standing feud between the' English and Irish denizens, which colated on Tuesday evening in a general row. Windows and heads were broken, revolvers arid blood were drawn, -■•and a great deal of bad language and almost as bad brandy were freely expended. The result was- the arrival, of the "Warden the next day, the swearing-in of nearly the whole male population as official constables, and the deportation to,, Grey mouth" of .the ringleaders of the riot, of whose fate you are by this time probably cognizant through the reports, of the Magisterial examination at Cobdeii, but concerning wlu'ch we, the said specials and other injured ones,' remain, at the departure of the present b.oat, in a state of the most painful and excited incertitude. .