of the Coast of Victoria. 3 



Otway,* where a bank of sand runs for about a quarter of 

 a mile east and west, at a nearly uniform height of 50 feet, 

 much resembling a railway embankment. 



The height of the coast dunes varies somewhat. Around 

 Anderson's Inlet I saw them from 200 to 250 feet high ; at 

 Cape Otway the extreme height appears to be about 200 

 feet ; whilst the Rev. J. E. T. Woods has recorded certain 

 dunes on the coast of South Australia, between the mouth 

 of the River Glenelg and Cape Bridge water, as high as 300 

 feet, extendino- three or four miles inland, and fast encroach- 

 ing on habitable ground, t At Cape Otway the dunes 

 extend some two or three miles inland, frequently in the 

 form of small sandy hummocks surrounding a basin-shaped 

 depression without outlet, resembling the " cups " of the 

 Cape Schanck district.^ 



The sand varies in colour from white to yellow, in places 

 very siliceous, whilst at others silex is in the smallest pro- 

 portion, the general mass then consisting of fine fragments of 

 Echini spires, Polyzoa, pieces of shells, Foraminifera, and 

 sponge spiculse, with little or no stratification. § 



In describing the high sand hills on the eastern side of the 

 Aire River, Mr. Wilkinson says that the sand washed up on 

 the shore is swept away by the strong south-westerly gales, 

 and carried to the north-east, up a gradual but irregular 

 incline, for about three-quarters of a mile, when it falls over 

 a steep bank some 50 feet high, burying trees and shrubs in 

 its progress, || and thus covering up the face of the country. 



Mr. Wilkinson kindly communicated to me some observa- 

 tions taken by Mr. H. Ford, of Cape Otway, relative to the 

 angle of the steepest slope of the sand hills. The result of 

 eleven observations is as follows— 30°, 31°, 32°, 30°, 33°, 30°, 

 32°, 35°, 36°, 32°, 35°. It will be observed that the average 

 angle of inclination is 32°, the greatest 36°, the least 30°. 

 The greatest angles were just at the top of inclined surfaces, 

 where the least thing would set sand in motion. 



The sand dunes seldom contain whole or perfect" shells, or 

 large organisms of any kind, although Mr. Ford found in the 

 dunes two miles to the east of Cape Otway lighthouse, bones 

 of animals, flint chips, a sharpened stone tomahawk, and 



* Report on Geology of Cape Otway District, 1865, p. 26, 

 f Geological Observations in South Australia, 1862, p. 219. 

 J Wilkinson, op. cit., p. 28. 



§ Geological Observations in South Australia, 1862, p. 189, 

 |] Wilkinson, op. cit., p. 28. 



B 2 



