Page:Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand.djvu/156

122 traveller at times, when trying to get round its perpendicular and iron bound cliffs, and as far as the eye can reach one beholds headland after headland laved by the mighty Pacific Ocean, the white fringe of its ever restless surf looking in the sunshine like a silver thread upon the storm-beaten shore.

“To the north a similar but less imposing scene presents itself. The peaceful valley of the Mikonui at the base. The river Totara, Lake Mahinapua in the distance, with a glimpse of the Hokitika River and some portion of the town, the long stretch of sea shore for many miles, a few habitations here and there, and at length closed in by ‘Point Elizabeth’ stretching out into the sea, a few miles north of Greymouth, completes the view.

“It is impossible for me adequately to describe such a glorious panorama, for the point of observation being within a few miles of midway in Westland, one obtains a view of nearly the whole of the Province. It requires the descriptive powers of a Chevalier, or a Von Guerrard, to do justice to it; and if either of these celebrated artists could behold it under such favourable circumstances—a cloudless sky, the sunshine dancing in the foliage, on the glittering bosom of the restless and azure deep, over the rippling river falls, on the still waters of the silent lake, and marking in bold lights and shades the prominent and time-worn features of every mountain in the Southern Alps,—could not fail to enrapture and create at once a response to the demands upon his talents, by repeating the scene in miniature with all its beautiful details.”

Turning from the descriptive to the practical, I regret to record that the great hopes, entertained by many, of the Mount Rangitoto silver mine, have not yet been realised. A company was formed with a nominal capital of £30,000, £19,500 of which was subscribed in shares of £5 each, the balance being apportioned to the original proprietors. The capital was all expended in prospecting the ground and developing the mine. The original lode was lost, though several other lodes were met with in the drives, carrying more lead and less silver. Eighty bags of the ore were shipped to Messrs Vivian & Son, of Swansea, and several lots were shipped to Australia. In 1882, Mr Bevan, one of the original promoters, went to England with the object of inducing English capital to be invested in the further development of the mine. He reached London at a time when heavy losses were reported to have been made in the Indian mines, and was unsuccessful in floating his projected company. Five hundred acres of freehold land, a crushing plant and smelting apparatus, are all that remain of the first silver mine venture on the coast. The strong but neglected constitution of poor Palmer broke down, and he has taken the final march, in front of his mountaineering companions, to that goal whence no one returns. The end of “Waitaki Bob” was still more sad. He died in the Sea View Asylum at Hokitika.