17 



No. II. 



WHALE'S HEAD AND SOUTH CAPE. 



Hohart Town, \^th September, 1848. 

 Sir, 



•I HAVE the honor to report, for the information of 

 His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, the results of 

 my examination as to the coal between the Whale's Head 

 and the South Cape. 



It seems probable that this coal deposit extended 

 originally in the direction of Recherche Bay towards 

 Southport. 



In the section of the sandstone cliffs, immediately 

 adjoining the station at Southport, there is a seam of 

 black carbonaceous shale overlying beds of schistose 

 clay and sandstone, and overlaid by yellowish white 

 sandstone. 



The dip of these beds is S.W., at an angle of 15°. 



About three-quarters of a mile to the west of the 

 Station the sandstone is underlaid by massive beds of a 

 bluish clay, having in' it numerous, but rudely defined, 

 impressions and traces of vegetable matter. 



In the sandstone, immediately over these clayey beds, 

 I found fragments of coarsely silicified wood, and of 

 wood fossilized by iron and silex together . 



Imbedded deep in the clay rock itself I met with a large 

 rounded boulder of well-characterised granite, having its 

 felspar of a yellowish colour, and it arnica black. I am 



c 



