Western Victoria. 67 



dips out of sight under pleistocene limestone about two miles 

 to tlie west of Cape Grant. 



Another volcanic flow occurs at Cape Nelson. The 

 traveller from Portland strikes the south end of Nelson 

 Ba}^, at a point about two miles from the lighthouse. He 

 there finds himself standing on the brink of an amphi- 

 theatre of limestone cliffs, almost vertical, and in height 

 from 150 to 200 feet. 



The beach which fringes the centre of the bay disappears 

 towards its two seaward extremities, and here the lofty 

 cliffs are undercut by the waves. Hereabouts also, there is 

 a slight bend in the line of cliff, low down on the salient 

 angle, of which a bed of black lava is a conspicuous feature 

 in the buff coloured wall. It is about three or four feet 

 thick ; it appears to be about thirty feet above the sea level, 

 and it dips inland, i.e., to the south-west, at an angle of 

 about six degrees. The same bed re-appears in the next 

 jutting point, which is distant about 800 yards to the south. 

 A second flow appears below it, some twenty feet thick of 

 limestone lying between the two beds. The bottom flow^ 

 forms the base of the cliff. Here again, the dip of the flow 

 is inland (south-west), but the angle is about ten degrees. 

 (See sketch T.) 



As the cliffs were inaccessible, I had to make my observa- 

 tions from above, at a distance of about 250 yards. 



The lava again creeps up the cliff from under foot 

 as we proceed south, and it forms its base, from this 

 point outwards, all round the cape. I was able to 

 descend and examine it only at one point, and that was 

 under the lioljthouse. The cliff there is ISO feet high. The 

 upper 100 feet consists of a current bedded calcareous sand- 

 stone (termed by me limestone, for brevity), and the lower 

 80 feet of black lava, the latter formation apparentl}^ sub- 

 dividing again into two major divisions, each about 40 feet 

 thick, and each made up of several flows. The lava forms 

 two platforms, and the cliff has a proflle shown in the sketch. 

 (See sketch M.) 



The under surface of the limestone is as level as a shelf, 

 and in some places, it projects over the lava as much as 

 20 and 25 feet. (See sketch J.) The latter weathers the 

 faster of the two rocks, and its face is tattooed with the 

 concentric rings of bi'own and yellow, characteristic of the 

 decay of lava. From the centres of many of these boulders 

 nodules of darker rock project, and a great number of 



F 2 



