in South Australia. 89 



before the deposits were upheaved to their present position ; 

 and from the fact that the same stone, lying in the same 

 manner farther inland, contains fossils of existing species, 

 I have little doubt that it is of the same age as the very recent 

 beds spoken of before, as existing all round the coast. 



The current from which the deposits under consideration 

 arose must have been of very wide extent, and have deposited 

 its sediment very equally, because the upheaval which has 

 raised the land portion, has given rise to rocks of the same 

 height all along the shore, sometimes at a considerable dis- 

 tance from it. Thus there is an archipelago of small rocks 

 encircling Guichen Bay, which rise out of the sea like 

 patches of table land, and a reef called Cape Jaffa Keef is a 

 chain of such flat-topped rocks, which run twelve miles out 

 to sea. I have said that the stone is soft and friable, and 

 that the sea easily corrodes it away. Many singular instances 

 of this decomposition are perceptible. At a small distance 

 from Cape Lannes there is a narrow strip of tubular rock, 

 narrower at the middle than at the ends. The surf has 

 undermined the centre part, so that a natural bridge of stone, 

 supported by two buttresses, is now the result. Again, the 

 constant action of water has made deep caves at the bottom 

 ■of some of the cliffs, and in some instances the beating water 

 has bored a sort of chimney up to the surface, giving rise to 

 the well-known blow holes. One of these is pretty large, 

 and when the tide is high, and a heavy swell on, the spray is 

 dashed to a considerable height out of the dry rock, with 

 a roar that may be heard a long way off. But there is, per- 

 haps, no more singular effect visible than that which is caused 

 by the action of the spray in those rocks most exposed to its 

 influence. The tops of such are covered with pinnacles as 

 delicate and varied in form as reef coral. A mere description 

 could scarcely do justice to the strange appearance they pre- 

 sent. It seems at first sight as if the rocks were covered 

 with slender stone shrubs, tapering gradually to a point, or 

 as if the roof of a cave, studded with stalactites, were turned 

 upside down and placed on the sea coast. Anything but 

 spray must have long ago broken them to pieces, and even 

 then, how they have been spared, while the surrounding rock 

 has been worn away, does not appear very plain. It would 

 appear to me that they must be the result of concretions 

 of the lime and sand, caused by the percolating of water 

 through the beds prior to upheaval. This would, and did in 

 fact, in other places harden certain portions, and enable them 



