112 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA ch. 



were consignments of sheep and cattle going 

 down the line, to be killed in Zeehan or one of 

 the other mining towns. 



The easiest way of reaching the west coast is 

 by a series of light railways, which run up into 

 the mountain from Burnie on the north coast, 

 and extend as far as Strahan on Macquarie Har- 

 bour. As shown on the rough geological chart 

 the west coast mountains form a broad strip 

 stretching the whole length of the island ; these 

 mountains are composed mainly of metamor- 

 phosed schists and slates of probably Archaean 

 and Cambrian age, so that we are dealing here 

 with a very ancient block of land that has not 

 been submerged to any extent since it was first 

 elevated. The detailed mineralogy of this district 

 is exceedingly complicated, and it is doubtful if 

 so many different kinds of mineral ores can be 

 found within so confined a space in any other 

 country in the world. The two most important 

 mines are the Mount Bischoff tin mine near 

 Waratah, and the Mount Lyell copper mine at 

 Queenstown, but between these two, which are 

 only about fifty miles apart, are scattered a 

 multitude of little mines where silver, lead, 

 copper, tin, and gold in small quantities, are 

 worked. 



Over the whole of the west coast district we meet 

 with totally different conditions from the rest of 

 Tasmania, and indeed from those in Australia in 

 general ; first and foremost the rainfall here is about 



