I declined, greatly distrusting such
deserted pits, especially in this region, where they appear unusually
liable to foul. Two days afterwards a Kruboy went down and was brought to
grass almost insensible from the choke-damp; his hands clenched the rope
so tightly that their grip was hard to loose.
We then mounted to 'the outcrop' near the ridge-summit, 100 yards
north-north-east. This reef-crest is a tongue of quartz and quartzite
veining grey granite: it was found dug out and cleared all round by the
people. Mr. Cornish had contented himself with splitting off a fragment by
a shot or two.
When the whole hill shall have been properly washed, the contained reefs
will present this wall-like appearance. The dimensions are ten feet long
by the same height and half that thickness, and the slope shows an angle
of 40?. We passed onwards to the top of the ridge, winding among the pits
and round holes sunk by the native miners in order to work the casing of
the reef. One of these, carefully measured, showed 82 feet. About sixty
yards to the north-north-east we reached the crest of what Mr. Ross calls
'Ponsonby Hill.' He notices that the strike of the quartz, which shows
visible gold, is from north-north-east to south-south-west, and its
underlie to the south-east is at the ratio of one inch in twelve.
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