BY T. GRIFFITH TAYLOR. 335 



Reverting at this somewhat late stage to the condition of the 

 actual bed of the Lake, the latter is at present in a very 

 favourable state for examination, since — with the exception of 

 the small patch in the S.E. corner shown in Plate vii. — it is now 

 (Februar}^, 1907) absolutely dry. The bed therefore presents a 

 unique appearance. A level plain, apparently as flat as a billiard 

 table, extends for over 15 miles, unrelieved by any islets or 

 undulations as is the case with Lake Bathurst. Indeed, the 

 plain extends for over 30 miles without obstruction, which fact 

 may have helped to determine the choice of Bungendore for the 

 primary base-line in New South Wales. Mr. Glover* has carried 

 out levelling operations, and finds the south-central portion to 

 have a fall of 4 feet in the mile, while to the north the slope is 

 less than 2 feet to the mile.- 



SSuch a dead level seems to corroborate the theory that Lake 

 George never had an outlet since it was first formed. No 

 evidence of any flood more than 30 feet deep can be traced as 

 having occurred for many hundred years, while nearly 200 feet 

 are necessary to provide an outlet north, west or south. 

 Probably smce its inception the Lake has been receiving silt 

 which has gradually tilled up its bed, and covered over all ancient 

 irregularities. Near Grove Creek there is an isolated ridge of 

 angular quartz grit about 150 feet long, 50 wide, and 5 feet high. 

 This may represent a sort of Nunatak (to use a glacial term) 

 projecting above the silt. It constitutes practicall)' the only 

 outcrop on the western shore. At either end of the Lake — near 

 Murray's Lagoon and near Bungemlore — there are extensive 

 grcivel deposits. The former extends for more than a mile around 

 the southern border of Murray's Lagoon (see Plate. vii.}. It 

 reminds one irresistibly of the clinker or hurricane banks of coral 

 shingle on the Barrier Reef. There is the same steep slope to 



* " Notes upon Floods in Lake George," by H. C. Russell, B.A., F.R.S., 

 etc., Journ. Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S.Wales, Dec, 1886. In this paper a full 

 account of the levelling and contours of the Lake is given, together with the 

 history of the Lake till 1886. 



