THE NOKOMAI.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 259, 18 October 1862, Page 5

THE NOKOMAI.

(prom a correspondent.) It would require the p>n of your correspondent — Irs of the Dnnstan, I mean —to t 11 of the road to tin Nokomai, of the scnci there a!one to bo witnessed of indignant (iiggers, heivy-swag-zecl, weary-footed, and loud swearing. *'\ say, Bill," I heav.l one say to his by ro means amiable mate, "wouldn't I just wish I had some of them 'ere Government chaps with this her« swap: on, and a stock-whip in my hand.'* Why Ins ire was aroused against the Government I am sure I cannot say, but am certain from his look and strength of nnn he would have; pitched in the thong pretty strongly. Hundreds of returning digger-' weret) be mot with along the road to Dumdiu and the older gold fiehls, who, when asked, gava it as their decided opinion that the Nokomai was a duffer, and the father of duffers. I, your correspondent, however—l scarce dare a?pire to ■'* your own"- -who have often witnessed tlie vetu n of the disappointed from new rushes, took but little notice of all this, awaiting my arrival on the field before forming an opinion thereon. When I reached the ranges looking down on Victoria Gully (so called), I confess the words of Dante, supposed to be inscribed on the gates of the Infernal Regions—"All ye who enter here abandon hope —f orcibly suggested itself to my mind. A more dismal, dreary pla^e I never witnessed. Nor. on descending, was there any improvement. You looked up at towering mountains, snow-clad anl many topped. In vain oue looked for a wav to get out—none such was visible. To return to Heaven's fair light, again appeared not a work of labour and paiu. butnn impossibility. The Victoria Gully appears to have bsen specially formed for the purposo of playing hide and go seek. It turns and twists into all conceivable shapes and forms. Amidst its low scrub tents are pitched in all directions.

And now as to the prospects of the plane. They are not, I confers, at all flattering just at present. The ground is very pntchy, and the greater number ofthose who have sunk and bottomed their claims are by no means satisfied with the results. S;x of the prospectors got a pound weight for their, week's work, making a total of eight pouuds weight obtained since first coinrnenc-ng working. Many more are doing well, but the prevailing opinion is, that this is not the gold fi'itd; that it is more iv tho direction ot the Wakatip Lake, whither huudreds have already stai'ted. Captain Baldwin, the Commissioner of the Waitahuna, has, 1 see, arrived. He yesterday had some jumping claims to settle. A company, with a capital of £500, is about being formed tor the purpose of cutting a tail-race through the entiia gully. I forward you the prospectus. I estimate titere are about 1,200 persons on and adjoining the puliy, but of these there are not, 1 should say, more than 200 at work. The probable amount of gold in the field is 4000z5.; most of this, however, if not all, go?s to Invercargill. Sed manutire da tabula. Not that I write on a table, but a tin dish; as, however, Ido not know tbe Latin for the latter, and, indeed, am doubtful if those of ancient Rome had such, a \sord, the quotation must stand.