738 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
A bore put down to the west of Mount Mercer, proved the 
deep lead gutter at a depth of 113 feet from the surface, and 
one at Glenfine, near the Woady Yalloak River, bottomed at 
161 ft. 4 in., of which 2 ft. 9 in. was heavy wash. All that can 
be said as to the leads on this side of the main divide is that they 
show the same general features as those on the northern side, but 
that any comparison with the outlets of these old rivers is not 
possible. 
In order to test the conclusions drawn from the data obtained 
from considering the deep leads, I also examined the Admiralty 
Charts of Bass Strait and of the coast of Tasmania and the 
opposite Australan mainland. 
On the accompanying map are shown the 50 and 100 fathom lines 
of soundings in Bass Strait, extending westward to include the 
mouth of the Murray ive, and eainion d as far as Jervis Bay in 
New South Wales.* 
A line of soundings isalsoshown connecting Wilson’s Promontory, 
in Victoria, with Cape Portland, in Tasmania, by way of the 
islands pans between these points, On this line the greatest 
depth is 32 fathoms, between Wilson’s Promontory aah Kent’s 
Group. It is shallower between that island and Flinder’s Tsland, 
and still shallower thence to Cape Portland. 
A 30-fathom line on either side would indicate a plateau 80 or 
90 miles wide about midway between the shores of the strait, 
and on the Victorian side widening ont so as to extend up to 
Cape Howe. 
There would be a low ridge from Wilson’s Promontory to Cape 
Portland, with eo as elevations—now islands—rising at 
Mount Strezlecki to over 2,700 feet above the sea. These islands 
are, therefore, a aemereed continuation of that part of the 
Cordillera which, in Victoria, ends at Wilson’s Promontory, and 
as seen at Flinder’s Island, they show the same features as Wilson’s 
Promontory. The prevailing rocks, except a few isolated peaks of 
recent igneous origin, are granite and schists, which, on the low- 
lying tracts, are overlaid “by deposits of Eocene age covered by 
recent formations. t 
These islands are, therefore, composed of similar Paleozoic 
Plutonic rocks and metamorphic schists to those so largely repre- 
sented in the Gippsland mountains, which terminate in a southerly 
direction in Wilson’s Promontory. 
An inspection of the soundings shows that the 50-fathom line 
encloses a comparatively level plateau which falls more rapidly, 
* From the Admiralty Chart. 
+ XXxxil, p. 365. 
While preparing this address my attention was directed by Mr. Everett, chief drafts- 
man of the Department of Mines and Water Supply, to a paper read by Dr. Becker before 
the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, in which h2 points out the features referred to in 
this passage. 1 vol., p. 15. 
