1866.] CLARKE AUSTRALIAN CANNELS. 445 



the country to Windsor, Wilberforce, and to the river Hawkesbury, 

 where, at a distance of forty miles from its river- sources, this 

 drift is found in solitary pebbles. 



At Penrith there is an accumulation of them to the depth of 

 several feet on the river-bank. Emu Plains and the bed of the 

 Hawkesbury are covered by them (and Lapstone Hill takes its name 

 from their presence) as high up as 400 feet. 



At Cox's basin, where the Warragamba joins the Nepean, there 

 is also an island formed of drift, in which porphyry, hardened sand- 

 stones, and coal occur. But it is remarkable that there is in these 

 accumulations very little, if any, granitic rock besides porphyry, and 

 no basalt or other trap ; whilst in the trappean ash which occurs at 

 Cox's basin and in the Kowmery Eiver, a feeder of Cox's Eiver, por- 

 phyry and bastard granite are imbedded. 



Nothing can so clearly mark the origin of the deep ravines by 

 continual washings and erosions (probably after some dynamical 

 action had fissured the country) as the fallen blocks of the plateau, 

 and the pebbles which cover the surface of the country in the line 

 of drainage. 



8. Reedy Creek. — On the eastern arm of the fork at Mount York, 

 which is now called Mount Dixon, there exists a bed of very rich 

 iron-ore ; and iron also occurs near the head of the Reedy-Creek 

 valley, which extends to the west. Below the ironstone occur sand- 

 stones, shales, and coal-beds ; but at the level of the valley the Cannel 

 stretches across it, and when I first visited it seemed to consist of 

 blocks of from 6 to 12 inches thick. Kow that the seam has been 

 opened and worked into the boundary ranges, it is found much 

 thicker than was anticipated. 



The section is as follows : — feet, inches. 



Ironstone 3 



Shale 1 



Eicb Cannel 4 



Cannel Coal, less rich 6 



5 9 



The Cannel dips about east by north at from \° to 2°, or about 1 

 in 35 ; in places it is fuU of fronds of Glossopteris, and a plant 

 branching after the manner of Aster ophylUtes, which lies in perfect 

 unrumpled order ; it also puts on a prismatic structure, and has 

 a flat but well-marked conchoidal fracture. The shales are im- 

 pressed with Vertehraria, Glossopteris, and Gangemojpteris (M'^Coy). 

 The Cannel passes into true bituminous coal in parts of its course ; 

 and the shales in contact are earthy, but very inflammable. The 

 toughness is remarkable. The produce of the rich Cannel is from 

 150 to 160 gallons of oil (realizing 100 gallons of pure oil) and from 

 1700 to 1800 cubic feet of gas to the ton. This seam appears, by 

 borings commenced in the vicinity of Mount Victoria and to the east 

 of the flrst workings, to be extremely variable in dimensions and 

 composition. At the Sugar-Loaf, part of the Mount Victoria range, 

 a seam was pierced which is but 2 feet thick. It is supposed to re- 



