lEON OEE AND COAL DEPOSITS AT WALLEEAWAKG. 89 



Seam No. 3. — This seam has a thickness of 4 feet 9 inches, 

 ■with a 3-inch parting, leaving 4 feet 6 inches of coal. 



It is rather a brighter and more tender coal than the others, 

 and will probably be found well adapted for household purposes. 



It occurs at a height of about 76 feet above the seam No. 2 

 or 6 ft. 6 in. bed, while that in turn is about 118 feet above 

 the seam No. 1 or 17 ft. 6 in. bed. 



Clay band No. 1 is situated some 12 feet above this No. 3 

 seam or 4 ft. 6 in. bed, and the other two clay bands are a little 

 higher still. 



One of the seams of coal crops out on the Mudgee Eoad 

 about 2\ miles distant, but as I did not take the levels this 

 requires confirmation. This seam is worked, apparently on no 

 large scale, by levels driven in from the road side. 



Limestone. 



Limestone. — Between the iron ore deposits and the coal seam 

 outcrops there is seen an outcrop of limestone abutting against 

 Devonian or Upper Silurian slates. Both t\\e slates and the lime- 

 stone are here standing at a high angle. The limestone does not 

 show the dip so distinctly as the slates, for the lines of bedding 

 have been almost completely obliterated, but the dip appears to 

 be about 75° to the eastward, and the strike nearly N. & S. 



At the junction of the tw^o the limestone has evidently under- 

 gone much disturbance and is much brecciated, and includes 

 within it fragments of the slate. Some of the included slate con- 

 tains small crystals of iron pyrites disseminated through it. 



In colour the limestone is of a bluish-grey or slate«colour, much 

 veined with white calcite. The slate-coloured portions break with 

 a slight crystalline appearance, but the calcite veins show the 

 rhombohedral cleavage of that mineral on a large scale. 



Its extension can be traced for a long distance to the north. 



Not far from the small quarry -which has been opened out in 

 this limestone on Brunt's Creek, perhaps a hundred yards or so 

 to the right hand after crossing over the creek, there is the 

 opening to a fissure in the limestone. On the surface, just level 

 with the ground, there is a small somewhat circular opening, 

 surrounded and overgrown by grass and bushes — so much over- 

 grown that it is almost completely hidden. This is probably the 

 entrance to a cave in the limestone, for they usually afford no 

 more indication of their presence than such a grass-grown 

 aperture. The opening is only wide enough to allow of a man 

 lowering himself some four or five feet, but from that point a 

 narrow fissure can be seen to descend for some depth. Diligent 

 search might prove that there are other openings, and the cave 

 to be of some extent — and there is of course a very fair chance of 

 its being found to contain animal remains; so that I hope Mr. 



