gallop for several miles, till he quieted down. We then proceeded on good terms, having occasionally to negotiate streams which cut through the beach, and were often dangerously soft. Arriving at the Totara river, some eighteen miles distant, I learnt from a ferryman how to cross it and join a track which leads to Ross. Why, "You're on Black Billy," he said, "any trouble with him? 'cos he bucks like the d—l, at first, but if you can stick on it's all right." I made a mental note to eschew Billy's acquaintance in the future. When I returned, I asked the stable-man why he did not warn me. "Oh," said he "I hadn't any other 'oss in, and when you went off, I says to t'other chap, 'He's all right.'"
Ross is a lovely valley, encircled by forest-covered hills, as yet unspoilt by the devastating search for gold that gradually turns the most beautiful places into a wilderness of upheaved desolation of stones and earth. Some 5,000 men at work here, chiefly in deep sinkings; winding and hauling gear visible everywhere; some steam engines at work; work going on day and night; the busy hum of machinery and labour filling the valley, which two years had never been trodden by white man's foot.
The Warden of the District, whose special work needs knowledge of mining law, welcomed me. "My house is too small, I shall have to give you a mattress and blankets on the floor of the Court House, for all the hotels are full. I have arranged for our meeting about Church building to-morrow night." Going amongst the miners, I found no difficulty in making acquaintance. Noticing a man on the top of a heap of tailings, single-handed, working a double-handed windlass with two big buckets, and straining at the
