It" 17:
172
SpecimensfromCape Thomson .
No. 1. Carboniferous or Derbyshire lime-stone, from the upper part of cliff A.
No. 2. Ditto with chert.
No. 3. Chert alone.
No.. 4. Lime-stone containing product® and encrinites.
No. 5. Ditto.
No. 6. Calcareous shale, from contorted stratification, containing selenite.
No. 7. Coralline lime-stone.
No. 8. Lime-stone containing tubiporite.
No. 9. Black shale and coralline lime-stone, passing into each other and alternating,
containing crystals of carbonite of lime, selenite, &c.
No. 10. Veins of carbonate of lime, carbonate of iron and blende, in compact limestone.
No. 11. Balls of argillaceous iron-stone, found in the shale.—B.
Many specimens of this lime-stone from Cape Thomson, are not distinguishable from
the entrochal marble of Derbyshire, being almost entirely made up of fragments of
encrinite. Many shells and corallines also appear to be identical with those of the
Derbyshire lime-stone, e. g. the producta Martini, and other product®, the species of
which cannot be accurately made out, from the imperfect state of the specimens ; there
are also many specimens of the lithrostrotion, or basaltiform madreporite (Vol. I I . pi. V.
fig. 3 and 6. Parkinson’s Organic Remains: Columnaria of Goldfuss), and specimens
of flustr®.
Mr. Collie, in his notes, speaks of impressions of trilobites also in the argillaceous
slate of Cape Thomson, but I do not find any remains of these animals in the collection
made by Lieutenant Belcher.—E d .
To the north-west of Cape Thomson, the coast runs out by means of a low spit to
the distance perhaps of twenty miles into the sea. The low point itself seemed to be
acquiring almost a daily accession to the basaltic gravel of which the beach was in
greatest part formed. I remarked large blocks of angular clink-stone, used about the
huts for retaining their turfy thatch on them. A low and apparently diluvial shore
extends from this spit for several miles, to a considerable river, and to a rocky cliff
beyond it, which Mr. Elson found composed of basalt.—C.
C A P E L I S B U R N E .
We again approached the coast of Cape Lisburne, and found the brownish grey and
black strata of the cliffs to the south-west of it dipping south and west, at various but
generally at considerable angles. The whole surface of the country back from the sea
is raised several hundred feet above the level of the water, and diversified by saddle-
backed hills, separated by wide valleys, conical eminences and perpendicular cliffs.
The perpendicular rocks appear to be composed of mountain lime-stone, the acclivities
of slate and shale.
I -
G E O L O G Y . 173
Cape Lisburne is composed of two remarkable promontories. The south-western
one rising abruptly, is covered with loose grey stones, divested of the smallest trace of
vegetation; the north-eastern one rising gradually, and although thinly clad with
verdure, it forms a striking contrast to the grey head of the other. The first rises from
the sea iu distinct strata, dipping south-west at 58® , and consisting of layers of swine-
stone in its central aud harder projecting portions, and of soft friable slate and shale iu
its worn and more retiring sides. The front of the second is rugged and shelving,
with its stratification very indistinct. I t is partly covered with vegetation, and with
fallen masses of grey flint, which, with some mixture, apparently of swine-stone, constitutes
ils chief bulk. I t is easily accessible, and rises to about 1000 feet from the
level of the sea, being some way back higher than its companion. Both stretch their
ridges inland to the south-east.
Specimens.
No. 1. Black argillaceous slate, filled with slightly fractured terebratul®, forming the
thin strata of the north-east side of the first promontory.
No. 2. Tubiporite, in black swine-stone ; in a separate block at the bottom of No. 1.
No. 3. Tubiporite ond small terebratul®, in black swine-stone ; same locality as No. 2.
No. 4. Terebratul® and radiated head of encrinite, in compact dark swine-stone.
No. 5. Columnar madreporite.
The highly elevated country and mountainous ridges cease to the north-east of
Cape Lisburne, and the coast-line forms a deep and extensive bay, skirted by a low
beach, fronting a flat filled with lagoons, for about fifty miles north-east of the Cape.
The land rises from the beach all along this bay by low earthy cliffs, and then by very
gradual acclivities. About thirty-five miles from Cape Lisburne, I found hills running
north-eastward and composed of sand-stone, dipping at an angle of nearly 25® to the
south-south-west, with gently sloping and generally verdant backs. Exposed strata
form the ridges, and are perpendicular for several feet on the north-west front. Under
the perpendicular strata on the north-eastern declivities of the lower ridges, coal protrudes,
and is mixed more or less with the alluvial soil.
A t Cape Beaufort is a high ridge, in which a narrow vein of coal is exposed, about
a quarter of a mile from the beach. I t is slaty, burns with a pure flame and rapid consumption.
Probably the quality improves at some depth, and extensive beds of it may
occur in the neighbourhood. The upper part of this eminence exhibits perpendicular
faces towards the sea, and is strewed with broken blocks of slaty sand-stone, containing
carbonised impressions of reeds, both fluted and plain, generally fiat. Imbedded nodules
of horn-stone, quartz, iron-clay, and chert or Lydian stone, with fibrous veins of calcareous
spar frequently lie between the thin layers; the sand-stone itself is generally of
a reddish grey colour; it rises to its highest elevation at Cape Beaufort, viz. about 300
feet above the level of the sea. This cape seems to constitute a boundary between the
hilly ranges above described to the south-west, and the low plains, intersected with
lagoons and lakes, which extend on tbe north-east of it as far as the eye can reach.
2 A