44 



Iron is frequently j^resent in the waters, and being also de- 

 posited in presence of decaying vegetation which accumulates at 

 the spring among the crevices of the calcareous tuft, it has as- 

 sumed a yellow ochre appearance not unlike powdered sulphur, 

 for which, indeed, it was taken to be at a time when the origin 

 of these springs was supposed to be volcanic."^ 



Tlie temperature of the waters is variable in different localities, 

 that of the three springs at Dalhousie Station was 73°, 79°, and 

 93° F., but I was informed that the largest one some miles north- 

 ward was quite as hot as the hand could bear without suffiering, 

 though, like those at the station, perfectly palatable and tasteless. 



The fact of the creek channels having cut down to the bed of 

 retentive clay is the cause of many of them having large though 

 not deep waterholes. Such an one is Algebuckinna ; the Angle 

 Pole waterhole is another ; the Ross at Macumba and the holes 

 £it Charlotte Waters are other instances ; and as a general premise 

 it may be said that the deeper down in the bed tlie less sand, and 

 consequently better holding ground obtains. 



At Mount Daniel the sandy clay in which fossils occur is a 

 yellowish one, speckled green with what is probably glauconite 

 grains. The shells and wood are silicilied, and jointing jDlanes or 

 .shrinkage cracks are already coated witli a thin film of porcelain. 

 The channel of the Goyder separates this hill from Mount 

 Townsend, which stands on the bank of the Finke, and disj^lays 

 well the usual section. 



After leaving Mount Daniel and ascending the Finke channel 

 the upper bed or sand grit gets thicker. The Finke being the 

 main drain of this region should yield the best cliff sections. 

 About a mile above Crown Point cattle station is Cunning- 

 ham's Gorge. In this same grit and immediately above this 

 gorge, tlie channel is strew^n with large boulders of red granite, 

 well rounded, and also some masses of a porcelain breccia, enclos- 

 ing argillaceous schist fragments of several inclies extent. No 

 bed rocks are exposed in the channel, which seemed to be all of 

 argillaceous beds surmounted by cliffs of porcelain-capped grits, 

 and I looked in vain for some break in the country indicating a 

 change of formation. As some of the boulders weigh about a 

 quarter of a ton tliey cannot have been washed from any great • 

 <listance, and I think most probably a bar of primary rocks repre- 

 senting an ancient ridge here comes up to the surface, but has 

 now been eroded away or covered by the sandhills \\'hich obtain 

 for the next 20 miles to the northward. This seems probable, 

 because at 1 8 miles higher up stream the cliff* section reveals a 



* This substance was examined in the University laboratoiy by Mr. A. W. 

 Fletcher, and found to be persulphate of iron. On ignition it gave off a slight 

 •odour of burnt organic matter. — Editor. 



