AtfNIYERSAHY ADDRESS. 37 



the ocean on one side and an eruptive mountain on the other, 

 offers little expectation except to persons easily satisfied. The 

 Mont d' Or deposits are accompanied by Euritic porphyries. At 

 Koe, Mons. Gamier noticed the same hind of sparkling semi- 

 crystals of quartz after rain, "while I have noticed in our own 

 sandstones to which he refers, quoting what I have stated of it 

 in mention of what he calls " The great Hawkesbury." Erom 

 Mont d'Or to the plain of St. Louis, the hills of Carboniferous 

 sandstone alternate with Euritine, which is described as a sedi- 

 mentary rock accompanying the coal, and difficult to distinguish 

 from true " eurite." In passing from Koe to Paita, the por- 

 phyries were found coloured by a green matter not determined 

 at the time, but appearing to contain Nickel. (See Annates des 

 31mes, tome xii. p. 55.) 



The extension of the coal formation along the south coast is 

 shown on the map which I have coloured after Mons. Gamier, and 

 placed on the table, for the purpose of illustrating the subject. 



The Micaschists in the North which we first noticed, form the 

 eastern boundary of a plain, in which the river Diahot, the 

 largest in the island, rises from the auriferous locality already 

 mentioned. On the left bank of this river coal is again found. 

 It is also the habitat of copper, which is now giving promise of 

 some consideration. 



Near Noumea (cm Bois Leclerc) calcareous sandstones occur 

 oftentimes in spheroidal masses, and in the centre of the spheres 

 a fossil appears, which Mons. Munier considers to be identical 

 with an undescribed new species of Pinna, belonging to the Upper 

 Neocomian of Erance (Green-sand of England). This sandstone 

 abuts on the felspathic sandstones. 



Between Noumea and Pont-des-Erancais, a bluish argillaceous 

 limestone, contemporary with the porphyries, contains geodes of 

 carbonate of lime and nests of black waxy clay, strongly impreg- 

 nated with bitumen, probably the result of distillation from coal 

 since the inroad of the porphyries, which have altered the lime- 

 stone and induced a concretionary spherical structure. 



