NEW SOUTH WALES. 259 



grown. The diameter of some of them is about two and a half feet, 

 and the whole mass is completely petrified. They are quite black, 

 except where bleached by exposure. 



The Illawarra district extends from Woolongong to Shoalhaven, 

 and is the most interesting portion of Australia to visit. In this 

 small coiripass is found some of the most remarkable of the sandstone 

 scenery, and there is also an opportunity of viewing a basaltic forma- 

 tion, which is no where else to be found in the colony. 



Kiama is remarkable for the number of deep and wild caverns, 

 through which the sea forces a passage to the distance of one hundred 

 3'ards or more, sweeping along at a furious rate ; and when the noise 

 of its progress has nearly died away, loud thunderings are heard 

 rushing through its vaults. The Blow-Hole of Kiama Point, is 

 already a place of some celebrity, and it merits to be so. A subterra- 

 nean passage of about twenty feet broad by eighteen high, receives 

 the advancing wave, which passes quietly along for two hundred feet. 

 It then meets a basaltic wall, against which it dashes with a sullen 

 roar, and passes upwards, through a narrow opening above, rising at 

 times to a height of one hundred feet, throwing off innumerable jets 

 in all directions, and which fall around in ever-changing forms. 



Some of the basaltic scenery about Kiama, will bear comparison 

 with the far-famed Giant's Causeway, and the rocks of Staffa, if it 

 does not surpass them, united as it is with the luxuriant and splendid 

 forests of palms, tree-ferns and the woody creepers of the tropics. 



About Shoalhaven, is one of the largest and finest farming and 

 grazing districts in the colony. Its scenery is extremely picturesque, 

 particularly when viewed from the summit of Coolomgata. The 

 broad Shoalhaven river is seen to the southward, flowing through 

 rich meadows and farms, enclosing a delta; while the deep and 

 sinuous bays with which the coast is indented, and which enclose 

 innumerable islets, appear like a crowded cluster of lakes. 



To the north, a wide verdant plain extends to a mountain bluff, 

 called Broughton's Head. Through this the Broughton river winds, 

 and beyond it is seen the Illawarra mountain range. 



On a wide platform around Woolongong Point, are to be seen at 

 high-water mark, globular concretions, that resemble cannon-balls in 

 appearance. They vary in size, from one inch to four in diameter, 

 and are very compact and tough. They generally contain some 

 foreign body, and in about a third of them, Mr. Dana found a single 

 fossil shell, in a beautiful state of preservation. For a full detail of 



