50 



tered over the surface as profusely as ever, and continue to be 

 so until the bottom of the declivity is reached, which cannot 

 be less than forty feet below the level of the upper plain. 

 Afterwards a stratum of loose sand, varying in depth, takes 

 the place of these ferro-arenaceous nodules all the way to the 

 crossing at Davenport Creek. On the south-western side we 

 examined a hill which was one of the many remnants of an 

 extensive bed of Desert Sandstone, which at some former period 

 had been deposited against the old rocks that lie to the south- 

 west. We afterwards found the same formation had at one 

 time overlapped the secondary strata to the north-east. From 

 the uneven manner in which decay seems to be acting upon 

 the formation, and the peculiar structure its bedding presents, 

 there can be little doubt that the formation was of eolian 

 origin, and that the deposits, of which these stacks now form 

 but small and isolated remnants, were originally formed by 

 being blown by the winds against the sheltered and upstanding 

 edges of the primitive rocks. 



About half a mile before reaching the crossing at Davenport 

 Creek we observed a conical hill of old rocks situated on the 

 eastern side, and at a distance of from 400 to 500 yards from 

 the track, which cannot be less than 50 feet above the level of 

 the surrounding plain. 



On arriving at the bed of the creek we found by recent flood- 

 marks that this creek when flooded carries quite as much water, 

 if not more, than the Douglass. We also observed that the 

 gumtrees are more numerous along its margins, and although 

 somewhat stunted and gnarled in appearance they are also 

 much taller than at the Douglass. Mulga and other lesser 

 shrubs seem to thrive tolerably well on the flats around its 

 banks. Crossing the Davenport Creek we soon found our- 

 selves treading again on the blue clays of the secondary era, 

 which here overlie for several miles to the west the rocks 

 of primitive age, forming, as it were, the inside half of a rude 

 parallelogram against the old rocks of the Mount Margaret 

 Range on the west and those of the Douglass and Blackfellows' 

 Quarry country on the south. 



The rocks constituting the eastern side of Mount Margaret 

 Eange have a strike of about 30° west of north, and the trend 

 of the range itself is nearly north and south. After crossing 

 Hope Creek and approaching nearer the range we began 

 distinctly to observe the outcrop of the harder beds as 

 they showed in bold relief along the mountain side, presenting 

 a most magnificent aspect under the rays of a declining sun. 

 On arrival at the spring at the cattle yard we found the streams 

 from the detached hills to the west had cut a gorge through 

 the eastern side of the range immediately south of the spring, 



