THE PROSPECTING EXPEDITION TO BIG BAY.

Kumara Times, Issue 2876, 22 December 1885, Page 3

THE PROSPECTING EXPEDITION TO BIG BAY.

In reference to the expedition which Hailed last week in the s.s. Waipara for Bi" Bay, the Lyttelton Times states; “A. number of enterprising people* m Oimslcluucli and Diuiediu have, we

understand, made arrangements for prospecting smiie country lying inland from one of the bays of the West Coast, Big Bay, near Cascade Point, which is close to Jackson’s Bay, of not too happy memory, and lies to the southward of it, A portion of the party is, we hear, already at the hay in queetion, and the rest are to start forthwith. The enterprise has grown out of a rather romantic story. Some thirty years ago, the story goes, a French vessel put into Nelson, and presently going to sea was never heard of more. During her stay no communication was allowed with the shore, but before she sailed one of her people managed to evade the watch and swam to land. There he told a wonderful tale, the gist of which was that the crew had been piloted to a certain place inland from Big Bay by some Maoris, that they had found gold, that they had gathered a hundred thousand pounds worth of the precious metal, massacred their Maori guides, and set forth on their voyage home. After a time, the runaway dying, his papers were examined, and found to contain descriptions of the scene of the murder and plunder. Several attempts have since been made with the guidance of the information to find the spot, but owing to heavy snow drifts all have proved fruitless. The present search is, we understand, to be prosecuted in a determined manner.”