32 Bar-^ard, Notes of a Visit to W. A. [voTxxx** 



XXXVI. 



pumped every day and sent on the long journey to Kalgoorlie, 

 taking about four weeks to accomplish the distance of 350 

 miles. For this task there are eight pumping stations, situated 

 about fifty miles apart. The main is of the lock-bar type, and 

 can be seen at many places along the line between Northam 

 and Coolgardie. The neighbourhood of the weir is also a 

 good collecting-ground. A beautiful Hovea was in full bloom 

 when I was there, and a Hibiscus was another conspicuous 

 shrub. 



A few words about the Darling Range, which has such an 

 influence upon the vegetation of the Perth district, may help 

 to a better understanding of this peculiar feature of Western 

 AustraHa. Standing in King's Park and looking east, one can 

 see the range extending for miles from north to south, occupying 

 about the same position as the Dandenongs do to Melbourne. 

 It extends for more than 200 miles, from about Moora, no 

 miles north of Perth, almost to Cape Leeuwin, the south- 

 western extremity of the State ; but it is not by any means a 

 dividing range such as that traversing Victoria, for it is broken 

 by valleys through which streams find their way from its 

 eastern slopes to the Indian Ocean. Thus the Swan, known in 

 its upper portion as the Avon, rises far to the east of its main 

 ridge and flows into the ocean some thirty miles west of its face. 

 Geologists tell us that the face of the Darhng Range presented 

 to Perth is a fault scarp, and that the twenty miles or so of 

 country lying between it and the seaboard consist of recent 

 dune rock overlying Cretaceous and Pcrmo-Carboniferous strata. 

 This stretch of sandy country is apparently saturated with 

 water, and capillary attraction is perhaps accountable for the 

 wealth of vegetation supported in what looks like a dry and 

 unpromising region. That the depth of sand is immense was 

 proved when the bore at the Zoological Gardens, used to supply 

 warm baths, was put down through 1,500 feet of pure sand. 

 Fremantle and some of the other suburbs depend for their 

 water supply on artesian bores. The range consists of granites 

 of several t\'pes, but does not rise to any great height. Mount 

 William, about 1,600 feet, near Hamel, being its highest point. 

 We have in the Brisbane Range, to the south of Bacchus Marsh, 

 a very similar geological feature, but on a much smaller scale. 



To a visitor from Melbourne interested in geology the 

 surroundings of Perth present little opportunity for the study, 

 the absence of our famihar Silurian and Basaltic formations being 

 at once apparent, the only rocks near Perth being the granite 

 of the Darling Range and a soft limestone between Cottesloe 

 and Fremantle ; this is used both for building and road metal, 

 hardening considerably on exposure to the air. For basalt 

 one has to go to Bunbury, 120 miles south, where there is an 



