190 Notes on the 



served, however, that the quartz reefs trend to the east of 

 north. About fifteen miles N.W. from Messrs. Ramsay and 

 Gaden's station, I came upon a country entirely of serpen- 

 tine. The rock is soft, and might be used for ornamental 

 purposes. Between the lofty ranges of naked rocks extend 

 long wide flats of rich black soil, well grassed, and abounding 

 in springs, the waters of which taste strongly of magnesia; 

 and, I may also add, affect the bowels. Petrifaction, or 

 rather incrustation, is ever going on. The surface is, in 

 many places, strown with grains of magnetic iron, exceed- 

 ingly round and polished. Under the rich black soil is a 

 stratum of white earthy matter, apparently a deposit of mag- 

 nesia from the springs : the heat of the ground is continually 

 evaporating the water, the magnesia held in solution being 

 left in the soil. 



Passing Mr. Radford's station, which is about 25 miles 

 N. W. from Messrs. Ramsay and Gaden's, the serpentine 

 formation continues for five or six miles, when some basalt 

 appears in dykes. Further north, and near Mr. Henning's 

 station, the formation is granitic. Rising out of the flat 

 country of rich black soil on the west of the granite, and half 

 a mile from it, is an isolated low range of little hills, com- 

 posed entirely of iron ore (supposed to be chrome-iron), so 

 rich that small portions of the ore are readily lifted by a mag- 

 net. Millions of tons of this ore could be obtained without 

 any trouble or expense, beyond the operation of lifting it into 

 drays. This range is distant from Broad Sound about twenty 

 miles, and is near to Marlborough Creek, a tributary of the 

 Fitzroy. Half a mile west from the position of the iron ore, 

 is a singular hill 'called "Redcliff;" evidently of volcanic 

 origin. What appeared to me as remarkable, however, is, 

 that with scorise at its base, and a brown or reddish igneous 

 rock at its summit, on the hill itself are patches of clay-slate 

 of a light colour, apparently un-metamorphised. Near the 

 top are round and oval masses of magnesia. 



The country in this neighbourhood is a first-class " cattle 

 country." The cattle, on this the farthest north and furthest 

 west station, look well, and though they have only been on 

 the run a few months, are in fine condition and seem re- 

 markably healthy. The sheep on the various stations do not 

 look so well as they ought ; the fault, I am inclined to 

 think, not of the country, but of the shepherding. They 

 seem very healthy. There is abundance of "yolk" in the 

 fleece. The climate is certainly not too warm for sheep ; but, 



