352 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 



isted worthy the name of " soil." The subjacent rock 

 is a softish sandstone, sometimes red, sometimes 

 white, sometimes quite friable and powdery, at others 

 harder and tougher. It contains many irregular 

 concretionary nodules and masses of a kind of iron- 

 stone, which sometimes occur in such abundance 

 as to almost obliterate the sandstone, and form 

 a heap of irregular concretionary lumps, with little 

 appearance of bedding or lamination. These masses 

 of ironstone, when found in the cliffs, generally form 

 small headlands, the sandstone having been worn 

 away on each side. The sandstone itself is regularly 

 stratified, and lies apparently in a perfectly horizon- 

 tal position. The surface of the ground around the 

 settlement, except in the swamps and lowest hol- 

 lows, is composed wholly of the detritus of these 

 rocks, without any apparent mixture of vegetable 

 soil. It consists of a sand full of small ironstone 

 nodules. In the untouched parts of the adjacent 

 bush, the sand was compact and the ground strewed 

 with these small nodules, which, in appearance, re- 

 sembled pebbles. Scarcely a blade of grass, and 

 little or no under-growth of any kind, was to be 

 seen over large tracts. The forest, or " bush," ge- 

 nerally looked like a badly-kept gravel- walk, on 

 which small gum-trees were growing. Here and 

 there was a little straggling grass, now all brown 

 and burnt up ; but, literally, within half a mile of 

 the settlement, I do not think enough green stuff of 

 any kind could at this time be found to keep a cow, 



