72 Richmond and Jerusalem. 



Jerusalem on the eastern side of the Coal River, forming 

 high flat-topped hills, which are separated by deep and 

 rather precipitous cross valleys. 



In the hard sandstone, which flanks and caps some of 

 the hills on the eastern side of the valley in which the 

 village of Jerusalem stands, the same characteristic 

 features obtain ; and there, in beds immediately adjoining, 

 they are succeeded by impressions of Pecopteris {Oleiche- 

 nites) odontopteroides and Ausiralis, as figured by Strze- 

 lecki, and indicative of the proximity of the coal-measures. 



The saliferous sandstone in which the shallow lagoons 

 occur known as the Salt-pans, near Ross, is likely to 

 prove identical with that which I have been describing. 



In t-he earlier times of the Colony, settlers collected 

 salt for domestic use in the caverns along the line of the 

 Richmond hills ; and, up to a comparatively recent date, 

 persons in the neighbourhood of Ross were in the habit 

 of scraping together the thick saline efflorescence which 

 from time to time in the summer season coated the dried- 

 up floor of the Salt-pans. 



Upon the whole, it seems fair to infer from the analo- 

 gies of the formation, that it may in course of time be 

 found to contain, as in England, thick deposits of salt 

 in a compact and crystallized state. 



Proceeding from Richmond to Jerusalem, with the 

 Coal River on the right, there runs, at a distance of one 

 to three miles, along the left a continuous chain of green- 

 stone hills, which are only partially interrupted about 

 Gunning's Sugar-loaf and Native Corners. 



The floor of the valley consists for the most part of the 

 overlying yellow sandstone : but at many points the 

 greenstone has penetrated from below or been laterally 

 projected from the hills, forming a series of rounded 

 eminences in the very heart of the low ground. Many of 

 these rises are covered with sandstone ; and the sandstone 

 is seen skirting the sides of many of the hills. 



