BY DR. J. V. DANES. 79 



almost completely obliterated. The great development 

 of secondary deposits is an unmistakable proof of the old 

 age of the caverns ; another proof is, that many roofs have 

 collapsed, and open sinkholes with almost perpendicular 

 walls are met with in rambles through the subterranean 

 labyrinth. Waters which eroded those caves left them 

 some time ago, and thick layers of " cave-earth " cover the 

 floor of horizontal passages. The outer appearance of the 

 limestone bluffs perforated by caverns in the interior is 

 very rugged, and the bluffs are very inacessible. 



The Karren phenomena is developed on most of them 

 in very bold and sharp forms. A climb to the top of a bluff 

 reveals a really stupendous labyrinth of sharp correlated 

 rocks, deep perpendicular chasms, miniature caves and 

 recesses, but further progress is very slow and tiresome, 

 and the edges of the rocks, sharp as a knife, leave dis- 

 agreeable traces on the dress and skin. 



Most of the bluffs in the Chillagoe district are of such 

 rugged appearance, with the exception of one group south- 

 east from Chillagoe. A peculiarly shaped, smooth-faced 

 limestone bluff, called generally " The Lion's Head," is 

 known to everybody who has been in Chillagoe. The 

 base of the bluff is full of potholes leading underground, 

 and one narrow passage opens into the centre of the Lion's 

 Head Bluff, ending with a deep sinkhole. All surrounding 

 rocks are smooth on the surface, and differ very conspicuously 

 from most of the others. There can be no doubt that the 

 Lion's Head and its surroundings owe their shape to the 

 vigorous action of running water in some remote period. 

 The bed of the short ancient river was at a considerable eleva- 

 tion above the present creek beds in the environs. The 

 base of the Lion's Head is about 100ft. about the present 

 creeks. The Lion's Head Bluff is an unmistakable 

 lemnant of the old landscape, and I can recommend it to 

 the attention of future investigators, who will be 

 certainly able to say more about the former direction 

 of the drainage at much higher level than the present, and 

 the subsequent evolution of the landscape. 



From Rockhampton, I visited the Olsen Caves, which 

 occur in a limestone ridge about 16 miles in an almost 

 northerly direction from Rockhampton. There are several 

 ridges and bluffs to the east and south-east of Mount Etna, 



