BY THE REV. J. MILNE CUREAN. 199 



line west, good junctions of the Silurian rock and granite can be 

 seen a little to the Bathurst side of Newbridge Station. Decom- 

 posed granite is exposed in a cutting on the river bank at the foot 

 of George Street, near the railway gates, Kelso, near the rifle 

 butts, at Rankin's Bridge, in the railway cuttings between Bathurst 

 and Brewongle, and in almost any of the creeks on the slopes of 

 the Bald Hills. Following the river down, junctions of slate and 

 granite rocks will be found in the neighbourhood of the " Forge," 

 some sixteen miles from Bathurst. The change from the granite 

 to the slate country is very marked in this vicinity. The granite 

 rocks are worn into smooth boulders, reminding one of the roches 

 moutonnees produced by ice action, while the slate shows jutting 

 points and pinnacles that conform more or less to the strike of 

 the slate. Boulders of a hard, undecom posed granite are to be 

 found on the railway line beyond Wimbledon. Porphyritic 

 granite is common, but limited in quantity, in each locality. 

 There are some good specimens near the river crossing on the 

 road to White Rock. 



A rather noticeable feature in the Bathurst granite is the 

 inclusions that are by no means rare. These vary from a few inches 

 to many yards in length. The prevailing tint of the granite is 

 a light bluish-grey. The inclusions are always dark coloured. 

 When examined minutely they are found to consist of the same 

 material as the body of the granite in a finer state of division. 

 These inclusions contain a considerable amount of titanic or 

 magnetic iron. When the rock is powdered a magnet will 

 separate it readily. If the Bathurst granite is of metamorphic 

 origin, then the inclusions may represent fragments of the 

 original parent rock that have withstood metamorphism. On the 

 other hand, they might represent fragments of slate caught up 

 by the molten granite. After studying a great many of these 

 inclusions, I find it hard to believe that they are the result of any 

 chemical or selective influences in the cooling mass. I rather 

 incline to the view that they are mechanical. Some of the 

 inclusions consist entirely of black mica, felspar and quartz. 

 There is no sharp line separating the one from the other. 



