_ Central Parts of Victoria. 57 
are situated midway between the territories of two friendly 
tribes,—the Mount Macedon and Goulburn, — who are too 
weak’ to resist the invasion of the more powerful tribes; 
many of whom, I was informed, travel hither several hun- 
dreds of miles in quest of this invaluable rock. The hostile 
intruders, however, acknowledge and respect the rights of the 
owners, and always meet them in peace. 
The phonolite is of great hardness, and is distinguished 
from basalt by its greater specific gravity, its chemical com- 
position being—silica, 67 ; alumina, 18; natrium,7; calcium, 
7. The surface of the stratum is very rugged, and of a 
greenish colour. It is rather difficult of fracture; otherwise 
it is well adapted for metalling roads. 
The basalt formation extends about four miles westwards 
‘of Lancefield, but is then interrupted by slate and milky 
_quartz, strongly indicative of auriferous strata. Still further 
westward these are succeeded by dolerite, which extends 
over Alexander's Head, Mount Macedon, and Dryden’s 
Monument. 
Dryden’s Monument is, as well on account of its geological 
character as its singular conformation, one of the most 
‘remarkable spots in Victoria, if not in whole Australia, and 
were a careful and minute description of it made, accompanied 
with good drawings, it would not fail to engage the attention 
of every geologist. The approach to it presents a scene of 
the most imposing grandeur. A massive wall of dolerite, 
whose deep and sombre hue is in exquisite harmony with 
the dark green of the eucalyptus, rises almost perpendicularly 
above the loftiest of the trees, and imparts a striking majesty 
to the whole view. The interest increases at every step 
approaching the monument, and a beautiful variety of rapidly 
changing scenery is unfolded like a panorama before the 
observer’s eye. At the base about a thousand pyramidal 
columns, from fifteen to thirty feet in diameter, and thirty to 
one hundred feet in height, rise in: bold relief from the sur- 
face, and invest the hill, which is about a mile in circum- 
ference, with an appearance not dissimilar to that of a 
gigantic porcupine, or to a colossal representation of the 
structure formed by the termes bellicosus. 
That this hill was formed by subterraneous agency, acting 
at two separate periods, there can be little doubt. At the 
first era of its formation a naked semicircular hill was raised; 
and before sufficient time had elapsed to allow the surface to 
cool and harden, and while it was yet in a plastic state, a 
