Richmond and Jerusalem. 73 



Nearly opposite to Gunning's Sugar-loaf (the TittaraU 

 of the Aboiigines), masses and nodules of a ferruginous 

 clay abound : a mile or two nearer to Richmond, the 

 sandstone has been converted, probably by heat and the 

 proximity of igneous rocks, into a very hard compact 

 siiicious-looking grey rock, with a conchoidal and semi- 

 splintery fracture. 



It is said that pieces of coal have been picked up 

 about the Native Corners ; and a person named Blink- 

 worth, residing on his own small property five miles 

 south of Jerusalem, says that a seam of coal exists in a 

 bend of the Coal River opposite to his house. About a 

 quarter of a mile nearer to Jerusalem a seam of 

 carbonaceous matter, of a greyish-black colour, and 

 friable granular structure, crops out in the bank through 

 which the road has been carried. 



From Richmond to Gunning's Sugar-loaf the surface 

 of the country rises slightly and evenly : from that to 

 Blinkworth's the undulations are numerous, and the 

 ascent is considerable : from Blinkworth's to the summit 

 of the high ground which overlooks the village of Jeru- 

 salem, at a distance of one to two miles, there is an 

 acclivity progressively increasing in steepness through 

 several hundred feet. 



The greater part of this ascent has been cut along the 

 sides of the hills on the west side of the Coal River 

 valley, which is there very narrow, and the road is good. 



The cuttings along the road-side exhibit interesting 

 sections of the upper brown sandstone near the point 

 where it is superposed on the true carboniferous and 

 greyish-white sandstone. In the brown sandstone there 

 occur many seams of lignite and imperfectly mineral- 

 ised coal, which show themselves in the form of a streak 

 or layer of soft culm-like matter more or less intermixed 

 with clay, and in not a few instances containing impres- 



