inches high, full of nuggets, none smaller than peas, some like walnuts, and one piece the exact shape of a small shoehorn. "If you can lift that," said the Manager, "as it stands, level with your elbows, you are welcome to it." The smelting is done in plumbago pots, which become white-hot in the furnace; a little borax is added as a means of collecting the scum, and when that is cleared off, the melted gold at first is as brilliant as sunshine, but soon passes through lovely phases of glowing red, till it settles down into its ordinary hue. It is then poured into iron moulds, which hold from one to five hundred pounds' weight of gold; a pound being worth fifty sovereigns. So elusive is gold, and so valuable, that the clay floor of the furnace room is periodically scraped, washed and burnt, returning an appreciable amount of the metal. With all the treasure they contain, one wonders that burglary and robbery are almost unknown here, especially as the Bank buildings are flimsy structures of wood; the unwritten code of honour with regard to gold on this Coast protects it. Miners bury their gold in the floor of their huts, but no one seems to expect robbery.
Going to Ross, southward, I had to cross the Hokitika, which widens out opposite the town into a considerable estuary. On the further side there is a settlement, with a large rough building used as a hospital; also a stable well supplied with horses. A groom brought out a fine upstanding animal, and I got into the saddle, noticing, as I did so, a second groom came to his head. The moment they let go he was off like an arrow, doing his best to buck me off; fortunately the beach was soft, with hummocks of sand, and sticking in the spurs, I sent him at a
