The Country round Lyell the Coal-Field 



it is not possible to definitely correlate the two 

 series. 



On drawing water from the river for washing 

 purposes, we were surprised to find that it was remark- 

 ably hard, so much so in fact that it was almost impos- 

 sible to obtain a lather, and some pebbles obtained from 

 the river bed were found to be coated with a layer of 

 calcium carbonate, of a spongy texture and arranged in 

 concentric layers, also our kettle soon became coated on 

 the inside with a deposit of scale. 



From these circumstances it was obvious that there 

 must be a large amount of calcium carbonate dissolved 

 in the water, and we therefore suspected the existence of 

 a thick limestone somewhere in the upper parts of the 

 river basin. 



Pursuing our journey we arrived at a point where 

 the stream divided, and as the branch on the left hand 

 appeared to be the larger we decided to follow this, and 

 eventually found ourselves in front of a great cliff of 

 limestone, at the foot of which was a cave from which 

 the river issued. 



Returning now to the point of junction, we deter- 

 mined to ascend the other branch on the chance that by 

 its means we might obtain access to the country to the 

 north-east. Here, again, the stream divided ; one branch, 

 which flowed from the north-east, appeared to issue from 

 the foot of the limestone cliff, was not navigable, and 

 the other was evidently the South Fork, whose upper 

 course we had already examined. 



In order to effectively explore this region it would 

 be necessary to establish a camp and provision it for 

 some weeks, as from the roughness of the country it 



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