The Geology of the Lov:er Leigh Valley. 91 



generally on this side of the river as miocene. Presumably, also, 

 their continuation on the plain as far as Native Hut Creek 

 represents a contemporaneous deposit. 



A peculiar feature of the eastern bank is the presence in one 

 or two places of masses of drift sand. The most notable of these 

 is nearly opposite Farrell's ; and when passing along the road 

 from Shelford to Inverleigh, on the opposite side of the 

 river, the contrast of the white sand with the surrounding green 

 herbage on the bank is very striking. This sandy patch covers 

 several acres, and, commencing at the top of the bank, passes 

 down to about the level of the drift clays of Sec. I., which is not 

 more than 100 yards distant. Amongst the sand there are 

 quartz pebbles, occasional pieces of slate, and also a few small 

 scattered boulders and balls of basalt. Higher up the river, and 

 not far from Sec. III., there is at the very top of the bank a 

 sandy mound similar to that at Farrell's, but of less extent. 

 Here also we noticed a few very small detached boulders of 

 basalt, together with rounded pieces of scoria, in one of which was 

 a crystal of augite. This sand heap is probably the site of a 

 blacks' camp, as we picked up a number of quartz chips (so-called 

 flint knives), and also a piece of igneous rock foreign to the 

 locality, and shaped into an axe-head. In botli places, the 

 basaltic fragments were found not on the surface of the mounds, 

 but lying on patches of ground from which the sand had been 

 partly removed by the wind. Judging by the intermixed 

 fragments of slate, the sand would seem to be a drift from the 

 upper reaches of the river when this was flowing at a higher 

 level. If the scattered pieces of lava are also a part of the drift, 

 they could, from their elevation, only have been derived from the 

 upper basalt. On such a supposition, the drifts would of course 

 be subsequent to the outpouring of the lava, and prior only to 

 the recent alluvium on the margin of the stream. 



Basalts. 



In describing the sedimentary strata, we have necessarily made 

 frequent reference to the associated basalts. Of these, there are 

 probably several distinct flows on the river banks, some of which 

 are undoubtedly contemporaneous or nearly so ; such is, however, 



