THE KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7656, 5 June 1886, Page 5

THE KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELD.

LIVING ON SNAKES, GRUBS, AND GRASS. A MINER'S ACCOUNT OF PROSPECTING. I Mr. Robert Purvis, who lately returned c from the Kimberley goldfields, sends the c following interesting letter to the Dubbo j Despatch:—"Will you please publish this i letter in your valuable journal for the benefit t of the public, and especially the digger, who £ is always eager to rush to places, whether ( prepared or nofy heedless of all consequences. ' As I have just come back from Kimberley ] district, Western Australia, after nine ( months, prospecting and exploring, lam able I to give full information about it. We made 1 up a party in Port Darwin, and came over 1 to Cambridge Gulf in a boat that was char- i tored by a storekeeper, who brought 37 tons 1 of goods, and started building a store at the < Gulf. He brought ovor a quantity of fowls < and geese, which did not reign long, being i eaten up by the alligators and snakes in a 1 short time. After waiting six weeks for the , horses, which travelled over from Port Darwin by landone of our horses was i speared by the blacks at the Gulf—we ] started, six of us and '22 horses, up the Ord ' river, whioh we followed for about -00 miles 1 through well-watered and splendid pastoral country— growing to the height of five ' feet and six feet, and of a good fattening i quality. The Ord is a beautiful river, very much like the Darling in size, and abounding in fish. For fifty miles or more, as far as the tide goes up, it is infested with alligators, but beyond tidal influence the river is full of crocodiles. There is plenty of game in the shape of wild geese and ducks along the course of the river. The blacks in thi3 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 finest race of blacks I have seen in appearance. Most of them are six feet high, with fine limbs and broid chests. We used to round them up on horseback like a mob of cattle, but never illused 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. In one tribe here they wore their hair in an immense bunch on the top of the head, made up of bark. After leaving the Ord we struck up the Fanton river, and from that on to Eluri, which is very mountainous and covered with spinifex, but the gullies are well grassed. After six months' travelling we came 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 '20 miles,- where we nearly got lOOozs in threo weeks, being compelled then to leave for the want of rations. In returning to Derby from here, and about 40 miles away, we struck gold and got about 12 ounces in a few days, but had to leave or starve. There never was a white man in this place before. The party we separated from got gold, and that was GO miles north from where we got our last. The intervening country is not half prospected. The gold is a beautiful sample, having got £4 per ounce for it. We have found a great many quartz specimens thickly impregnated with gold—in fact, one half gold and the other half quartzand 1 believe it will turn out to be a grand reefing country, as the country 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 for three months, the rest of the year being dry, and no water for goldwashing, but sufficient for domestic uae by carrying it a few miles ; and it is no use men going unless thoy are provided with provisions to last them through the wet season. 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 graßS and grubs, and thought ourselves lucky if we could catch a snake or iguana, we being away from more desirable game, on account of having to travel on the high ground, it being the wet season and the lower country being flooded. After a great deal of trouble and privation we reached Derby, a good deal the worse for wear, having no toots and very little other clothes. The climate agreed with me, but not so well with the ottiers, owing to the hard fare no doubt. I am going back with another * company at once." Another miner writing from Perth says - " The goldfields in the Kimberley district, in the North, are now an established fact, and altogether it is supposed about 10,OOOoz or 12,0000z have been brought into Derby, Kind's Sound, which seems to be the favourite port for the diggings, which are situate on the Elvira river, a tributary of the Ord flowing into Cambridge Gulf. One of the prospectors is stopping at the same place here with me. The party went up last September with 33 pack-horses lent by the Government. They went by way of Cambridge Gulf, and came down via Derby. He says the route via Derby is the best, the distance being 400 miles. They all had to leave, as they had consumed all their ' tucker,' and there was no water to be had for washing the dirt. The country is something like Northern Queensland, and the style of work the same—'gully-raking.' 1 The ground is shallow—from nothing to ■ three or four feet—the bottom opon slate. . He only had about 12oz for six months' I trip, but only about a week's real work at l digging. He says it is no good going up l again yet until just before the wet season 1 sets in, as nobody can work without water. ■ The beds of the rivers and creeks are all 1 dry. There is no timber about the diggings. I Tne horses managed to keep in good con- - dition by feeding on spinifex and coarse 1 grass growing on the edges of the gullies and • creeks. The gold extends over a largo area i of country, and will not be worked out for a 3 year or two, unless the Chinamen are allowed 3 to flock in, when it will be all up with it. , parties going there will have to take supplies ; enough tolastatleastsixmonths.ifthey intend r to give it a fair trial. The place will never do 3 for poor men until a practicable road for drays is discovered, and then the cartage will bo very high and provisions very dear, with a good chance of catching the fever thrown in. lam not going there.