236 ‘ J. MILNE CURRAN. 
on the surface two miles north of Swanvale, between Inverell and 
Glen Innes, and on the western slopes of the range already — 
referred to. 
Wherever sapphire is abundant in New England drifts, 
these drifts can be traced up into basaltic hills, or to areas where 
- basalt has been extensively denuded. It might be argued that 
this points to the sapphire being derived from the wash underly- 
ing the basalt, and not from the basalt. The specimen exhibited 
is an answer. Moreover when a Tertiary deep lead is preserved 
alongside a Pleistocene, or recent drift, the latter will often have 
sapphires, while the deep lead may contain little or no sapphire. 
The degradation of a basaltic area seems a necessary condition 
for the presence of sapphire. Tumberumba is a case in point. — 
At Tumberumba we have a deep lead preserved along side, but at 
a higher level than the present river. I could not get any 
evidence of sapphire being found in the deep lead. But in the 
present river valley, which holds detrital materials derived from 
a basaltic area, the sapphire is found. I have it too on the 
authority of Mr. Parkins, who has a long experience of the district 
and is a collector of minerals, that sapphire is found only when 
the creeks cut through or drain basaltic country. 
I have examined many small tin “surfacings” on Cope’s Creek. 
One of these worked at Stanburra yielded nearly every gem stone 
found in New England, but no sapphire. An examination showed 
that this tin-bearing country was granite, and that it showed no 
drifted or transported rocks, that the granite had decomposed i 
situ, setting free the tin-stone and gems. There was no sapphire, 
but there was also no basalt. In studying the country about 
Inverell, one is forcibly impressed with the fact that basalt is 
the source of the sapphire that is found hereabout so abundantly. 
To the south of Swanbrook, at Elsmore, Newstead, the prin- 
cipal localities for sapphire are the creeks that head towards 
basaltic hills such as the White Rock. At Swanbrook and the 
country to the north extensive sheets of basalt have suffered 
atmospheric degradation and decay. Paradise Creek, another 
