Sketch of the Geology of the Coast of Australia. 1 5 



form, 1 believe, the only sources of information at present 

 existing in Europe, respecting the geological structure and 

 productions of the north and western coasts of Australia. 



In order to avoid the interruption which would be occa- 

 sioned by detail, I shall prefix to the list of specimens in Cap- 

 tain King's and Mr. Brown's collections, a general sketch of 

 the coast from whence they come, deduced, principally, from 

 the large charts*, and from the narratives of Captains Flin- 

 ders and King, — with a summary of the geological informa- 

 tion derived from the specimens. But I have thought it ne- 

 cessary to subjoin a more detailed list of the specimens them- 

 selves ; on account of the great distance from each other of 

 many of the places where they were found, and of the general 

 interest attached to the productions of a country so very re- 

 mote, of which the greater part is not likely to be often visited 

 by geologists. The situation of such of the places mentioned, 

 as are not to be found in the reduced chart annexed to the 

 present publication, will be sufficiently indicated by the names 

 of the adjacent places. 



General Sketch of the Coast. 



The north-eastern coast of New South Wales, from the la- 

 titude of about 28°, has a direction from south-east to north- 

 west; and ranges of mountains are visible from the sea, with 

 little interruption, as far north as Cape Weymouth, between 

 the latitute of 12° and 13°. From within Cape Palmerston, 

 west of the Northumberland Islands, near the point where 

 Captain King began his surveys, a high and rocky range, of 

 very irregular outline, and apparently composed of primitive 

 rocks, is continued for more than one hundred and fifty miles, 

 without any break ; and after a remarkable opening, about the 

 latitude of 21°, is again resumed. Several of the summits, 

 visible from the sea, in the front of this range, are of conside- 

 rable elevation: — Mount Dryander, on the promontory which 

 terminates in Cape Gloucester, being more than four thousand 

 five hundred feet high. Mount Eliot, with a peaked summit, 

 a little to the south of Cape Cleveland, is visible at twenty- 

 five leagues' distance ; and Mount Hinchinbrook, immediately 

 upon the shore, south of Rockingham Bay, is more than two 

 thousand feet high. From the south of Cape Grafton to Cape 



in 1815. It contains a brief and clear account of the proceedings of the 

 expedition ; and affords some particulars connected with the physical geo- 

 graphy of the places described, which are not to be found in the other 

 volumes. 



* These charts have been published by the Admiralty for general sale. 



Tribulation, 



