COLONIAL GEOLOGY. 
221 
(the mouth of which is some fifteen miles north of the line forming the 
upper margin of the map), once ran on uninterruptedly to Bass Straits, 
the intervening portion of country being then dry ground. Such tradi- 
tion of a depression having taken place during the human period scarcely 
accords with the observed facts of the land being still in process of eleva- 
tion, and of the lower spots near Melbourne having been, until very lately, 
the bottom of estuaries. Peradventure, the story may be referred to 
another source. The entrance to the bay is exceedingly narrow, not 
much over two miles in width. The rocks on both sides are identical, and 
were probably at one time continuous. If this continuity existed for any 
lengthened period after the adjacent shores had arisen above high-water 
mark, it is evident the waters of the ocean would be shut out completely, 
and what is now the Bay of Port Phillip must have existed as a huge salt 
lake. No large rivers debouching into tliis, and numerous shoals exist- 
ing in every portion, it is easy to conceive that the waters would grow 
gradually shallow, and that many spots would become dry land ; the 
whole forming a large swamp, through the centre of which a chain of 
lakes might have stretched themselves to what is now the channel running 
between Points Nepean and Lonsdale, satisfying nearly every requirement 
of the aboriginal legend. The barrier separating the two waters might, 
in time, be broken through by waves and tempests. This done, the rush 
of tide during its flux and efflux would speedily form a channel ; and the 
area, after having existed as a hunting-ground for the savage aboriginal 
inhabitants, would be transformed into a commodious harbour, sheltering 
the ships of a great and civilized nation. 
The cliffs, and most part of the surface-rock of the Schnapper Point dis- 
trict, are of a somewhat modern Tertiary grit, identical with that found 
near Brighton ; very ferruginous, occupied in many places by patches of 
lignite, but for the most part not higlily fossiliferous, although in certain 
localities numerous conglomerated shell-beds are by no means of rare 
occurrence. To the wearing away of these upper Tertiary rocks into a 
precipitous coast-line, the watering-place owes its reputation for picturesque 
scenery ; althougli, from their wide extent, and from the fact that the lower 
beds are covered up, the country immediately inland is rendered singu- 
larly uninteresting to a geologist. 
At two spots, however, respectively two miles north and south of 
Schnapper Point Pier (one of thcni being closely adjacent to the Carbonife- 
rous beds previously alluded to), is a considerable outcrop of a much older 
stratum, generally pronounced to be Eocene, and contemporaneous with that 
upon whicli is erected the European capitals of London, Paris, and Vienna. 
The southern of these outcrops is very prettily situated. For nearly two 
miles the upper and red cliff" runs parallel with the coast, at a distance of 
some 200 or 300 yards inland ; on the coast itself a second cliff" is noticed, 
worn into the most fantastic forms, and between the two is an intervening 
valley, resembling in some sliglit degree, at certain points, the famous 
Undercliff" of the Isle of Wight! The real or fancied similitude to the above 
well-known spot has, perhaps, induced many persons to refer the valley at 
Schnapper Point to the same origin as that giving rise to the features inci- 
dental to the soutliern coast of the " beautiful island." A very slight ex- 
amination will show that this local theory is an erroneous one. The upper 
or ferruginous strata are comparatively friable and easily denuded, whilst 
the lower and Eocene beds are either compact argillaceous limestone, or 
clay of great tenacity. The coast rising — as the whole coast has certainly 
4one — the upper beds would be eaten away more readily than the lower ; 
