in South Australia. 169 



geologist, I must premise that what I have to offer is but a little 

 thing in itself, and compared to what could be effected, scarcely 

 anything more than a few facts imperfectly generalised. 



The whole of South Australif is, however, with few excep- 

 tions, a vast array of metamorphic rocks. Whether at Cape 

 Jervis, in the South, where the slate rocks form huge and 

 majestic cliffs ; whether at Mount Lofty, near Adelaide, where 

 immense ridges are formed of schist slates and eurite ; or 

 whether at Mount Kemarkable, far north, the same phenomenon 

 of metamorphism is constantly represented, and the intervening 

 country everywhere gives the same appearance, with all the 

 various gradations of form, colour, or mineral structure. To 

 attempt to sum up all the evidence here offered, would require 

 the patient investigation of ages : we can only make remarks 

 on peculiarities here and there, and bring them before the notice 

 of those better able to form theories from facts. Some twelve 

 months ago, I was for some time residing not very far from 

 the celebrated Burra Mines, and for some time occupied myself 

 in recording the wonders of the rocks to be seen there. I saw 

 enough to convince me that all the mineral deposits, whether 

 iron, or copper, or lead, of that rich mining country, were all 

 found amongst rocks that had been once stratified, but had 

 since been altered by heat. One phenomenon however, I saw, gave 

 me ample room for speculation, and occupied my attention for 

 a considerable time, and being something more curious and 

 singular than anything I have observed in this country, I wish 

 to make it the subject of a paper to the Institute. I repeat, 

 however, that it is but a small thing in itself, perhaps hardly 

 wortli more than a passing notice. 



About four miles south of the little township of Clare, in the 

 hills which render Minaro, Shiligolee Creek and the vicinity so 

 beautifully picturesque, one notices a most singular appearance 

 along those hills which extend their ridges in a northerly direc- 

 tion. On every hill and in the gaps where the chain is for a 

 moment broken, ascending and descending, there is a band of 

 broken stone about two yards, or sometimes less in width, which 

 is traceable without the smallest interruption, as long as the 

 chain continues. These bands present the appearance of a road- 

 way metalled with large fragments of stone, and though they are 

 found on every chain of hills which runs in the same direction, 

 they never run along the summit, but always a little to the right 

 or left. As seen from the top of a hill they form so prominent 

 a feature in the landscape that they cannot escape attention, and 

 their regularity, their uniform width and compact appearance 



