INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 13 



described by King. Under great difficulties he ascended the 

 elevated tableland with its deep ravines and gorges, which he 

 describes as consisting of horizontally-bedded sandstones crowned 

 by basaltic elevations. In 1839, he was shipwrecked in (iantheaume 

 Bay, and his party wa.s forced to make an overland journey to 

 Perth, in the course nf which he discovered the Murchison and 

 other rivers, and the Carboniferous rocks in the Victoria Range. 



Stokes, Commander. — Captain Wickham was commissioned in 

 1837 to The Beagle's third voj'age. Under him some of the most 

 important objects of the voyage were achieved, hut in consequence 

 of his retirement in March, 1841, owing to ill-health, the command 

 devolved on Captain Stokes, who is the author of the narrative of 

 the six years' voyage. •'•' The objects of the survey did not permit 

 of any connected observations of the geological structure of the 

 islands or coast, and though the author disclaims any pretention 

 to be versed in geological science, yet some of his recorded 

 observations have the merit of discoveries, which have; stood the 

 test of critical investigation. The ^Eolian calciferous sandstone of 

 Swan River is described, and he mentions that the most remark- 

 able feature is the absence or scantiness or the secondary and 

 transition rocks ; all the Tertiary appears to be of the newest kind, 

 and to be in juxtaposition with the Primary. The Darling Range 

 is stated to be granitic, and slate of a primitive character is men- 

 tioned as occurring at the Canning River. 



The Carbonaceous series of rocks chiefly to be met with at 

 Western Port are considered analogous to those of the Carboniferous 

 formation^ and the occurrence of coal in the same series at Cape 

 Patterson is announced. 



The escarpment of the tableland of Arnheim Land is described 

 as constituted of horizontally-bedded sandstone overlying slaty 

 rock. A somewhat similar arrangement is noticed at Talc Head 

 and Fort Hill, Port Darwin, and the covering fine-grained sandstone, 

 the stratigraphical position of which was first observed by Stokes, 

 has lately acquired considerable importance by the discovery of 

 radiolarians within its mass.f Fossils were collected from a cliff 

 named Fossil Head, near the mouth of the Victoria River, but 

 they were subsequently lost or destroyed. 



Stkzelkcki, Count J. — To this highly acconq)lished scientist 

 we are greatly indebted for his arduous and gratuitous researches 



• Discoveries in Australia, 1837-1843, 2 vols. 1846. 



t Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xnv., p. 221. 1893. 



t Physical Description of New South Wales, &c. 1845. 



