1836.] 



Keelgherries and Koondahs. 



203 



In the hollow, which intervenes between this and the next hill, are 

 seen some loose blocks of basalt, whose fracture is glimmering ; it 

 decomposes into the usual yellow ferruginous clay (No. 62). The awful 

 precipice of the next mountain, facing Kaitee Valley, is formed of the 

 same rock as the first ; but the granite, particularly on the sides, 

 abounds more with mica than the first (No. 63) ; and, in those blocks 

 where the last mentioned mineral is in large quantities, the garnets 

 disappear (No. 64). 



The formation of these hills, from this place to the Farm, is the 

 same as what we have just described, with the exception that, when 

 arrived halfway down the descent towards the bungalow, on the con- 

 vexity of the hill, we meet with a basaltic dyke (just above the Burghar's 

 village called Koondatyippa), which cuts the declivity of the hill in a 

 direction ~N. E. and S. W., from the eastern ravine, where the village 

 stands, to the one where the colophonitic rock is found. The outgo- 

 ings of this trap, are basaltic hornblende, with a glimmering frac- 

 ture, on account of the small needle-shaped crystals of augite it con- 

 tains (No. 65). This basalt decomposes into the usual clay, so often 

 mentioned (No. 66). It is more than probable, that the erratic 

 blocks of trap, found in the ravines and low flats of this valley, 

 chiefly proceed from this dyke. On both sides of this trap, the pro- 

 jecting rocks are of the granite, which forms all the hills in the vicinity, 

 and the basalt does not seem to extend further than the ravine, close 

 to, and east of, the masses of the colophonitic rock. 



Returning to the Kaitee pass, if, instead of descending, we turn to 

 the right, after a few hundred yards, we come to a huge rounded 

 mass of rock, forming the summit of the hill on the south side of the 

 pass. This is the commencement of the range, which is in the same 

 direction as Kaitee's southern ridge (or rather, it diverges a little to 

 N. E. and S. W.), and so shutting the head of the valley to the N. W. 

 This little range is formed of two hills only, having the same height as, 

 or perhaps greater than, that of the Kaitee eastern chain. Merely 

 looking to the mass, which crowns this hill, a geologist sees, 

 at once, that the rock must be granitic, by its being split in all 

 directions, by numerous, irregular fissures, dividing the surface 

 into rhombs, cubes, and all sorts of angular figures. The compo- 

 sition of the rock is the usual aggregate of felspar, hornblende, 

 garnets, quartz, and a few plates of mica (No. 67). This last, mi- 

 neral is not so constant an ingredient as the others ; and when the 

 rock loses also the garnets, it becomes sienitic granite, which is 

 found near the summit, and in loose masses on the declivity of these 

 two hills. But in the highest parts of the first hill, the rock has no 

 hornblende, and the felspar, assuming the colour of faded leaf, becomes 



