516 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



The road [to Cooktown, which we followed from this point] 

 crosses the flat top of " Jessie's Tableland " l in a general east- 

 north-east direction to a point 45 miles from Cooktown, where 

 it rounds the " BATTLE CAMP RANGE." This range rises to 

 about 200 feet above the general level of the tableland, and is 

 composed of greenish-grey, sometimes reddish, sandstones. The 

 beds are, to all appearance, part and parcel of the " Desert Sand- 

 stone " series. Mr. Norman Taylor, who accompanied Mr. Hann's 

 expedition as Geologist, discovered some FOSSILS in the Battle Camp 

 Range, which were ascribed by Mr. Robert Etheridge, F.R.S., to 

 the genera Hinnites and Ostrea. 



At Battle Camp the BLACKS made a FUTILE STAND against the 

 intrusion of white men on the FIRST RUSH TO THE PALMER. 



From Battle Camp to the crossing of the NORMANBY RIVER 

 (33 miles from Cooktown), the road keeps a general south-south-east 

 direction. On the left bank of the Normanby is a mountain 

 mass of grey granite, apparently of later date than the sandstone. 



About 8 miles from the Normanby, in a general south-east 

 direction, the road drops down the last escarpment of the " Desert 

 Sandstone," which is seen resting on nearly vertical shales and 

 greywackes. Thence to COOKTOWN, the road traverses (eastward) 

 highly inclined beds of greywacke, slate and quartzite, striking 

 north-north-west. 



From the foot of the tableland I struck across country to the 

 COAL MINE which had been opened [on OAKY CREEK, west of Look- 

 out Range] by the energy of the Cooktown Railway League, and 

 made careful notes and measurements underground. 



I found that the mine had been sunk on the 8-inch seam alluded 

 to in my two " coal " reports, referred to at the beginning of this 

 narrative. A vertical shaft, 6 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 6 inches, had 

 been sunk to a depth of 19 feet through the bottom of the coal. 

 Then a drive, 6 feet 9 inches long, had been made to the dip, when 

 the bottom of the coal had been cut. The coal was then followed 

 in an underlie shaft for 14 feet 6 inches. The dip of the coal-seam 

 averages 33 degrees, or I in i-. Down the underlie it becomes 

 rather steeper, reaching 45 degrees in one place. 



At the north end of the vertical shaft, the section is as follows 

 the measurements being taken at right angles to the planes of 

 bedding * : 



Black shale, with Glossopteris, from surface to roof of coal. 



1st Coal. Good ; 9 inches at upper side ; 14 inches at lowef side of shaft ; with 

 a parting of dark shale, 2 inches thick at lower side, thinning out to inch at upper 

 side. 



Dark shale, 5^ inches. 



1 Crosses the flat top of a sandstone tableland, which, however, is not Jessie's 

 Tableland. R. L. J. 



8 By an ingenious method of measuring along the face of the workings the thickness 

 of the coal had been much exaggerated in local reports. 



