50 



junction of the Florence and Maud Rivers, where the limestone 

 beds appear flat, and have been weathered into such peculiar 

 shapes that they have been termed the Castle Hills. The upturned 

 schists throughout this area are thickly pierced with diorite 

 dykes and converted into a coarse granular crystalline rock com- 

 posed of large crystals of white felspar and brown mica. In the 

 vicinity of the diorite it is studded with garnets, and has fre- 

 quently been alluded to as garnet-sandstone. In the shingle of 

 the CT'eeks, which flow down through this series, the waterworn 

 garnets are plentiful and having a hardness above the typical 

 garnet, and of fair colour, have been collected and put into the 

 market as "Australian rubies." On the north side of the range, 

 or at head of Florence River, the quartzite ridge dips northward, 

 with limestone knolls at its foot, and the steep escarpment of 

 INIount Mabelle beyond reveals the fissile sandstone which rests on 

 it, and dips away into the great plain beyond, wiiere flat-topped 

 hills and plains are strewn with ironstone nodules and chalcedony 

 pebbles. The laminar schist forming the core of the plateau and 

 ridges is frequently of peculiar appearance, due to the size and 

 predominance of its felspar crystals. They are visible when 

 standing a considerable distance back, and are similar to what 

 has been aptly termed " swellings and eyes " by German geo- 

 logists. 



On the north end of the Elder Range, dividing the Lizzie from 

 the Illogwa, the schistose structure is horizontally disposed, and 

 the formation has been weathered into cheese-ring cones, to which 

 the "swellings and eyes" impart a peculiarly grotesque appear- 

 ance.. 



In the valley of the Illogwa is the dyke from which are pro- 

 cured the large plates of mica recently brought down to market; 

 tourmaline and beryl accompany it. Eastward the country is 

 unexplored, save for AVinnecke's track, near the Queensland 

 boundary. 



The Elder Range is joined at Glen Annie by the two ridges 

 which come past the Paddy's Hole Goldfield, and Glen Annie is 

 the gorge through the anticline by which the Hale or Elder es- 

 capes from the valley south of the Hart Range. 



Eight miles lower down the Undoolya ridge joins, and there 

 are one or two subsidiary quartzite ridges below ; and then the 

 river, as far down as I explored it, to lat. 24° 7', passes through 

 the formation of the terraces, as met with along the Orraminna 

 route and the channel of the Hugh. 



Conclusion. 



It is evident that the triangular portion of the plateau just 

 described has been the scene of deep-seated uplifting forces at a 



