Shore Formation of Corio Bay, near Geelong. 35 



"I directed my companion's attention to the fact, and 

 to the certainty that at no very distant period this line 

 of shells must have formed the beach. This stratum was 

 so far consolidated as to render its removal, except by 

 the pick, very difficult. 



" I was working with my knife, to detach some of the 

 shells, when the lime-burner joined us. On seeing how 

 I was engaged, and overhearing; the conversation with 

 my companion, he said, 'I found a bunch of keys yesterday, 

 just where your honour is picking the shells.' ' Keys 1 ' I 

 said. ' Keys, your honour/ he replied. ' What can you 

 mean?' I enquired. ' Yes, here,' he said, laying his hand 

 just upon the shellbed. I asked him 'Where are they?' 

 'Up at the hut, your honour,' he replied. 'Let me see 

 them,' I said. He immediately left the excavation and ran 

 up the bank to his hut, returning a minute or two after- 

 wards with two keys, each about two inches in length, 

 which he handed to me, saying that there had been 

 three, but that the children had been playing with them, 

 and he could only lay his hand upon the two. There could 

 be no question but that they were keys, very little, if any 

 way corroded with rust, very similar to those of the present 

 day, except that they were a little longer in the shank, and 

 the wards smaller than is now usual. The latter were not 

 only distinguishable, but were partially filled and encrusted 

 with the calcareous matter upon which they had lain. They 

 were just of the description still used for a box or trunk, or 

 seaman's chest, and I should judge from the form that they 

 were not more than a hundred or one hundred and fifty 

 years old at most. The position in which they were found 

 gave me the impression of their having been dropped on the 

 beach at the time when the shellKed formed the shore line. 



" I am thus circumstantial, in order to convey to the mind 

 the feeling of certainty that I have entertained from the 

 first, that there could be no doubt as to the fact, that these 

 three keys (probably only originally tied together) were 

 found at the time and in the position I have stated. 



" I immediately took a rough measurement of the over- 

 laying soil, which consisted of a compact bed of dark brown 

 sandy loam, tinged with iron, underlying a thin layer of 

 vegetable mould. This overlay was about 15 feet in thick- 

 ness, and the height of the old shelly beach above the 

 present high water mark about 10 feet, and the distance 

 from the actual shore being about 40 feet inland. I was 



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