FURTHER PARTICULARS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1916, 10 August 1888, Page 12

FURTHER PARTICULARS.

I':te c.(. <.»• px-.iiteinbir. one' set on foot anent a j.l'w jjo'iHU'id or " lufch" there is no satisfying the thirst tor pirticulitts, there bping some danger of even the reporter himselt being carried off by the fevfrieii pulsations of the occasion. The following additional particulirs arc furnished chiefly for the benefit of those who are, or may be, about to join in tho rush : -

'1 hero tiro two routes, both neirly equally pract'crJre, to the new field from the head of Lake Wakatipu. The one from Klulock is possibly the stio'-teat, but that having Glenorchy for its starting joint i 3 undoubtedly the safi-6t. The two places mentioned lie on the opposite shores of Lake Wakatipu. The Glenorchy route offers a good dray road —in fact a carriage road — for the greater part of the distance, and avoids some of tho most dangerous fords of the Dart river,

while the Kinlook routs !■ via a pack track, ' and is pretty rough at that, and a greater number of crossings of the river. A cattle track, ending near the lower workings, was cut through som,e of the worst country by Mr Whitburn many years ago, and has now been cleared from the rank growth of tootoo and other scrub by the Chinese, who are working in the timbered part of the river about 10 or 12 miles from Glenorohy. The European miners are said to be 20 miles further up the river, but distances in these rough regions, so difficult of access, are not easily judged, and the term "a day's iourney" would convey, perhaps, a clearer idea of the distance than any statement in miles. The Europeans ara working in clear country, where scrub for fuel is available. So much for the roads and distances. As to the gold, it may be mentioned that it is of a rough and course nature. Two parties of Chinese are working in the riverbed, and a party of two Europeans are reported to have been making £1 or £5 per week per man on a terrace probably 10 or 12 miles further up stream, so that gold has been proved to exist; over a considerable stretch of the river, and in the river bed as well as on the terraces. There are not many tributaries falling into the Dart river below its upper part, commencing, say, where the Europeans are working. The country is micaschtst rock, hornblende occurring in large blocks near the head of the valley, which is shaded on the north-east by the stupendous ramifications of Mount Earnelaw, upwards of 9000 ft high.

The best time for going to the valley is approaching, a3 in November and December the river is flooded and the upper part of the valley next to inaccessible. It was only last year that two men were got out at the imminent risk of the rescuers. Snow still lies in all the higher portions of the valley and in most of the tributaries.

The previous and present accounts comprise all the available information up to date, and are compiled from my own knowledge of the locality, and from other reliable sources. It must be distinctly understood that I advise no one to go to the rush, and indeed it would be too much to expect me to act as any one's private fortune teller. That gold exists in the valley I know from my own experience, but in what quantities remains to be proved, and the valley and its branches are of sufficient extent to give employment for hundreds of miners, if not more.