Central Parts of Victoria, 5t 



are situated midway between the territories of two friendly 

 tribes, — the Mount ]Macedon and Goulburn, — Avho are too> 

 weak to resist the invasion of the more powerful tribes;- 

 many of whom, I was informed, travel hither several hun- 

 dreds of miles in quest of this invaluable rock. The hostile- 

 intruders, however, acknowledge and respect the rights of the 

 owners, and always meet them in peace. 



The phonolite is of great hardness, and is distinguished 

 from basalt by its greater specific gravity, its chemical com- 

 position being — silica, 67 ; alumina, 1 8 ; natrium, 7 ; calcium, 

 7. The surface of the stratum is very rugged, and of a 

 greenish colour. It is rather difficult of fracture ; otherwise 

 it is well adapted for metalling roads. 



The basalt formation extends about four miles westwards 

 of Lancefield, but is then interrupted by slate and milky 

 quartz, strongly indicative of auriferous strata. Still further 

 westward these are succeeded by dolerite, which extends 

 over Alexander's Head, Mount iVIacedon, and Dryden's 

 Monument. 



Dryden's Monument Is, as well on account of its geological 

 character as its sini^ular conformation, one of the most 

 remarkable spots in Yictoria, if not in whole Australia, and 

 were a careful and minute description of it made, accompanied 

 with good drawings, it would not fail to engage the attention 

 of every geologist. The approach to it presents a scene of 

 the most imposing grandeur. A massive wall of dolerite, 

 whose deep and sombre hue is in exquisite harmony with 

 the dark green of the eucalyptus, rises almost perpendicularly 

 above the loftiest of the trees, and imparts a striking majesty 

 to the Avhole view. The interest Increases at every step 

 approaching the monument, and a beautiful variety of rapidly 

 changing scenery is unfolded like a panorama before the 

 observer's eye. At the base about a thousand pyramidal 

 columns, from fifteen to thirty feet in diameter, and thirty to 

 one hundred feet in height, rise in bold relief from the sur- 

 face, and invest the hill, which is about a mile in circum- 

 ference, with an appearance not dissimilar to that of a 

 gigantic porcupine, or to a colossal representation of the 

 structure formed by the termes bellicosus. 



That this hill was foi^med by subterraneous agency, acting 

 at two separate periods, there can be little doubt. At the 

 first era of its formation a naked semicircular hill was raised; 

 and before sufficient time had elapsed to allow the surface to 

 cool and harden, and while it was yet in a plastic state, a 



