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NOTES OE SOME GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

 THE WEST COAST. 



By A. Montgomery, MA. 



During a short visit to the mines of the West Coast in 

 March of this year, I was able to make a few cursory 

 observations of some geological features of the ground 

 travelled over ; and a few notes and remarks on these I have 

 the honour to lay before you to-night. Travelling, as I 

 was, rapidly, and for the set purpose of visiting the mines in 

 the shortest possible time, I could not delay long enough to 

 study the numerous interesting questions that presented 

 themselves, and in this paper you will find that I rather state 

 problems than contribute much towards their solution. By 

 calling attention to points requiring elucidation, I hope that 

 the numerous visitors to these till lately almost unknown 

 districts who may have a taste for geological observation, 

 may be induced to notice and record any facts that they may 

 come upon that will throw light upon them. All facts thus 

 noted and made known are stones cut ready for the hand of 

 the builder, who will in time rear them into a noble temple 

 of knowledge. In a newly-opened country we must first 

 collect facts, however disconnected they may be; generalisa- 

 tions from them and complete knowledge will follow in due 

 course. If these jottings, then, serve as foundations for more 

 elaborate work, they will serve their end to the utmost of my 

 hope. 



On this occasion my route lay from Strahan to Mount 

 Lyell, thence to the Howard Plains and back to Strahan, 

 then on to Trial Harbour, Mount Zeehan, and Mount 

 Hundas, then overland by Corinna and the Heazlewood silver 

 field to Waratah. It was only such features as were 

 apparent on the roadside that I could see at all. The keys 

 to numerous questions to which I could give no answer may 

 have been lying close at hand, hut I could not delay to search 

 for them. 



The most interesting subject for geological research on the 

 West Coast appears to me to be the relation to one another 

 and to the sedimentary formations of the numerous igneous 

 rocks, and the influence exerted by these upon the mineral 

 contents of the mining districts. These igneous rocks 

 comprise granite, greenstone, serpentinous greenstone, basalt, 

 and a doubtful rock which may be diorite. Granite forms 



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