474 Geological Society. 



The north-eastern flank of the north-western extremity of this 

 ran^e swells out into a hill of low elevation, from the base of which 

 to the water's edge a low flat extends ; the flat is about fifty yards 

 broad, and is, in point of level, within a foot of the surface of the 

 water ; it continues along the base of the slope for the space of about 

 half a mile : it is called by the aborigines Kurrur-kurran. To the 

 south and west of this flat the slopes of the mountain come down to 

 the margin of the lake. The surface of the flat is composed of black 

 sandy vegetable mould, and of detritus thickly interspersed with the 

 roots of plants and grasses ; trees of large growth, which are prin- 

 cipally Eucalypti and Casuarinse, together with some others of smaller 

 dimensions, stand at intervals upon it, and grow even close to 

 the water. Beneath the alluvial matter the rock occurs in situ : this 

 is a sandstone, which is for the most part of a compact and semi- 

 crystalline texture, approaching to chert ; its strata run out to some 

 distance, at a small depth below the surface of the water, and render 

 the lake in that part very shallow. 



Throughout the whole of the alluvial flat, stumps and stools of 

 fossilized trees are seen standing out of the ground, and one can 

 form no better notion of their aspect, than by imagining what the 

 appearance of the existing living forest would be if the trees 

 were all cut down to a certain level. In the lake also, where it ad- 

 joins the flat, to the distance of from 80 to 200 feet from the shore, 

 numerous points are seen, like those of a reef of rocks, just peeping 

 above the surface of the water ; these points are the fossilized stools 

 and stumps of tree, similar to those which are found on shore. The 

 greater part of these stems, both of those on land and in water, stand 

 vertically ; many of those on shore have remains of their roots in the 

 sandstone rock beneath the alluvial matter ; and of those which stand 

 in the water, one at the distance of three feet from the shore has 

 portions of its roots imbedded in the sandstone on which it rests. 

 The rock immediately round the roots is not of so harsh a texture as 

 it is in other parts ; in it, in the neighbourhood of the roots which 

 are in the water, there appear numerous white spots, which give the 

 stone a mottled appearance : this arises from a multitude of small 

 cavities which contain powdery silex, similar to what is often found 

 in the cavities of chalk-flints. On the shore, the surface of the rock 

 near the stems is worn into a number of little holes, which are owing 

 to the decay and removal of this powder. Mr. Clarke sees no other 

 explanation of these specks, than that they mark the situation of the 

 fibres which proceeded from the roots. The roots of the trees are 

 in some instances surrounded by an accumulation of sandy rock, 

 which forms a mound of a higher level than the rest of the stratum. 

 The roots do not descend, so far as has been ascertained, very far 

 into the substance of the rock, nor is there any appearance of a 

 dirt-bed. The stools stand from two to three feet above the surface 

 of the ground, and vary from two to four feet in diameter ; but one in 

 the lake is at least four feet above the level of the water, and five or six 

 feet in diameter. In several of the stumps from 60 to 120 concen- 

 tric rings of growth may be counted : a few of the stools are hollow 



