322 REPOKTS OF RESEARCH COMMITTEES. 



The petrography of Kingsborough and that of Maytown are 

 ahiiost identical, as are also the physical features, in spite of the 

 great distance between them. 



The most even country in the belt is that of the granite areas 

 and the larger alhivial patches. 



The Hodgkinson Kiver at and above Mulligan, and the Palmer 

 River at and aboive Maytown, run in rocky gorges, which contain 

 water only in the wet season and a few months after. 



(/(.) The Chillagoe, O.K., I'ahner Belt. — The patches cf Feather- 

 bed porphyry which occur, especially down the Walsh River, 

 constitute rough, mountainous, bouldery country. The limestone 

 areas are partly composed of well-grassed plains, and partly of . 

 jagged pinnacles. The granites are very varied in chemical com- 

 position, and their scenery is accordingly varied. The greatest part 

 of the Chillagoe granite area is an evenly eroded plain, but there 

 are patches of hard, fine-grained, very siliceous granite which resist 

 erosion to such an extent as to sui'vive as steep high cones whose 

 slopes are bestrewn with huge spheroidal boulders. Between the 

 Walsh River aiid the Mitchell River we also have an extensive 

 area capped with sandstone residuals, taking the form of flat- 

 topped ranges and mesas lined with mural escarpments which are 

 unscaleable except at a few points. These mesas and ranges are 

 similar to Mt. Mulligan. 



(/) The. Efhcruliii -(' )()ii(U)u DUiriet . — Large areas of this dis- 

 trict form a slightly undulating peneplain. This is the case with 

 the granite areas. However, where metamorphic rocks pre- 

 dominate, rough hills and ranges are the characteristic typ^e of 

 scenery. That is the case on the Percy and at Gilberton. 



The Newcastle Range porphyries also give rough scenery, and 

 the later, supposed "desert," sandstones yield flat-topped table- 

 lands. 



The granite and metaniorphic country is badly watered. Water- 

 boring in the granite generally yields salt water. Boring in the 

 metamorphic country should always be carried out at or near inter- 

 sections of reefs in the quadrant which, from the dip of country 

 and reefs, is best calculated to intercept the water. 



Large pcrrtions of the Etheridg© district are basalt-covered, 

 especially between Fossilbrook and Einasleigh. 



The basalts are very late Tertiary basalts which have flowed 

 down river valleys and watercourses, compelling considerable 

 stretches of various rivers, e.r/., the Einasleigh and the Copper- 

 field, to carve new valleys. 



In vegetation, physiography, and climate this district is very 

 similar to the Northern Territory. There is no scrub country 

 at all in this region, and agriculture would only be possible 

 with irrigation in spite of the gocd soils, since the climate is 

 markedly semi-arid. 



