496 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
thousand feet. My own excursions have enabled me to study the 
rock in the Hunter Valley at Newcastle, and at Puenbuen, near 
Paramatta at Pennant and Prospect hills, and at various points in 
Illawarra and the adjoining country towards the Kangaroo Grounds. 
Illawarra afforded the most interesting views of basaltic cliffs; and 
some of the basaltic scenery about Kiama will bear comparison with 
the rocks of Staffa. The following sketch is from that region. 
There are many similar scenes along the cliff to the north of that 
place, exhibiting the character of the rock and the effects of the sea. 
At one place, where the prevailing rock is sandstone, there is a deep 
channel, but eight feet wide, cutting into the shore bluff about one 
hundred and fifty yards, like an artificial canal of great depth. The 
sea swashes along at bottom, and with every tide is beating in surges 
against the rocks at its head. It was made by the removal of a 
basaltic dike through the action of the waves. At another place, 
a dark cavern, eight or ten feet wide, extends into the cliff a hun- 
dred yards or more. ‘The sea dashes in below, and may be heard 
hurrying on, for a while—becoming nearly still—when suddenly, a 
sound like thunder roars through the cavern, as the water strikes the 
farther walls, and a few rays of light are seen amid the darkness, 
sparkling from scattered foam. At the entrance, the cave is sixty feet 
high, and half-way up, the rocks have fallen together and made an 
upper story or chamber, into which the traveller may venture, and 
looking down through the openings enjoy the exhilaration of the 
scene. 
One of the most interesting spots to the amateur occurs in the cliff 
of Kiama Point ;—it is a blow-hole like those of the Pacific, though 
peculiarly grand when in full blast. The entrance to the subterra- 
