BY SYDNEY B. J. SKERTCHLY. 



But there is yet one other, Avhose gentle courtesy has always 

 led him to seek the lower seats in the synagogue of fame, till it 

 would almost seem as if his seventy years' service were to pass 

 by without the comforting recognition, " Well done, thou good 

 And faithful servant." Need I say I refer to Mr. F. M. Bailey, 

 Government Botanist, doyen of Australian botanists, friend and 

 helper of all who desire to know aught of herbs and trees ; and 

 whose Spirogyra-like locks seem almost destined never to be 

 bayed by the gentle hand that loves to honour those that have 

 helped to make her Empire great : and this only because, like 

 charity, he was not self-seeking. 



Following the good example of my immediate predecessor 

 in this chair, I shall not attempt to review the progress of 

 .science during the past year, but devote myself to the subject of 

 my own particular researches. It has been my privilege to 

 spend the greater part of the year in studying the geology and 

 mineral deposits of that part of our colony which has lately 

 become so famous under the name of Chillagoe ; and as I had 

 some three years previously spent several months there, the 

 results I now place before you may be taken as the matured 

 opinions which have grown from a year of minute study in the 

 field. The title of my address is therefore : — 



Tlte (icdloji!/ lOiil Miiifiiil J )cjinsits nf tlic ('(iiiiitrif (irmDid 

 Hcr}>erto)i, WatsunvUh', (oul C/iilhu/oe, Xort/i (Jiirfn-shouL 



(1.) (Tcofirapliiail. — It is curious to note the almost complete 

 ignorance of the North displayed even in the South of this great 

 colony. The intrepid explorer Avho bids farewell to sorrowing 

 relatives on the wharf at Brisbane on his voyage to Cairns is 

 looked upon as a sort of minor Nansen or Andree, about to 

 plunge into the pathless wilderness, and to face moving accidents 

 by Hood and field in the fell climate of the deadly tropics. Nor 

 is this altogether to be wondered at, for the distance from Brisbane 

 to Chillagoe is about equal to that between London and Naples. 

 For the sake, then, of strangers let me describe this distant 

 land. 



The port at which we disembark for Chillagoe is Cairns, 

 situated on the shores of the fine-sheltered Trinity Bay. The 

 steamer lays us alongside the wharf, so that all the horrors of 



