COAL DEPOSITS. A69 
sandstone of some districts, there are a few sprinklings of galena 
and iron sand, and thin seams of argillaceous and hematitic iron; 
these are all the metallic minerals it is known to contain. Some 
masses of brown hematite were detected by the writer in the hills 
southwest of Puenbuen, lying loose in the side hill, though evidently 
from some source near by. They are sufficient to warrant at least a 
few hours’ exploration. Galena is said to cover the surface of a bluff 
called Hassen’s Wall, yet only in trifling quantities. 
The prevalence of salt springs in New Holland was noticed by the 
early navigators. This is the predominant character of the inland 
waters throughout Australia; it is stated that more than half the wells 
sunk in New South Wales afford brackish, unpalatable water. Many 
of the northern tributaries to the Hunter are described as brackish, 
except when flooded by the rains. The Darling, west of the Dividing 
range, is in the same manner brackish at low water. Most of the 
waters, both eastern, western, and southern, where this sandstone for- 
mation prevails, are more or less saline in the dry séasons. 
The salt, however, is not uniformly diffused; for streams rising in 
the same region are unlike in this respect, one being pure, while the 
other is saline. This is true of two rivulets in Illawarra a few miles 
north of Wollongong, whose sources are near one another on the 
Illawarra range. There are some accredited instances of the dis- 
covery of mineral salt in the sandstone. Some of the salt lakes of the 
interior have their waters denser than those of the ocean, and their 
shores are covered with plants peculiar to salt regions. 
11 COAL FORMATION, 
Although in our general division of the subject we have separated 
the sandstone above the coal from the coal formation, this separation 
is hardly apparent in nature. In all portions of the country, where 
examined by the writer, the two form an unbroken series, differing 
only in the interpolation of distinct coal beds in the latter. The divi- 
sion is deemed convenient for description, and is, therefore, adopted, 
although the whole properly belongs to one prolonged epoch. 
Geographical Extent.—The coal series appears in view in the neigh- 
bourhood of Newcastle, at the mouth of the Hunter, and occurs at 
numerous localities along the valley or plain bordering this river, as 
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