BY P. A. O'SHANESY, F.L.S. 731 



miles, and between thirty and forty miles south of west. It lies 

 at the Southern extremity of a steep, broken, rocky range of 

 mountains, which appears to be entirely detached, but is probably 

 a broken spur from the southern part of the Drummond Range, 

 from which it is distant about forty-five miles due west. Several 

 of the mounts in the neighbourhood of Springsure shoot up to a 

 height of 200 or 300 feet above the surrounding country, and 

 the sides, which are mostly perpendicular, consist of naked rock, 

 but their summits are clothed with various kinds of trees and 

 plants. Evidently the inhabitants of Springsure are determined 

 to perpetuate the name of the " Prince " of the Apostles, as 

 several mounts in the neighbourhood are named after St. Peter, 

 and one in particular is called the Great St. Peter's. This is an 

 immense, square, flat-topped rock, with perpendicular sides, and 

 it is plainly discernible from Emerald Downs Station, a distance 

 of fifty-five miles. As another instance of the religious 

 enthusiasm of the Springsure people, the " Madonna " is pointed 

 out in the rocky face of the mountain, within a mile of the town, 

 and the reverend gentlemen who accompanied the writer imagined 

 they could trace another Madonna in the side of another mountain, 

 so that, with the enchanting scenery and the holy and venerable 

 names associated therewith, one almost fancies himself in some 

 celestial region. 



But to be serious. As already remarked, this district is very 

 interesting to the geologist, the surrounding hills abounding 

 in opals, chalcedony, jasper and hyalite or " Glass-stone." 

 Valuable opals have been found on a rocky ridge within half a 

 mile of Springsure, and opaline rocks are to be met with every- 

 where, and it is the opinion of an eminent geologist, the Rev. 

 Tenison-Woods, who has visited the mine, that if properly 

 worked it would prove remunerative. But though opals are 

 more precious than botanical specimens, which are of little or no 

 pecuniary value, yet to search for opals was not the object of the 

 writer's visit, and therefore he will leave that subject to some 



