Till', lii'lACON SANDS'i'ONI'', 435 
lar as is known, sea vvalcr liati no pari tn tins t^rral scrit-s 
ol tlt'|)()si Is. Yf( (lie t II nia U- varlctl a( ( ( )i il in;; I ( > hoi li 
place and linu-, lor in (lie Hcartlinorc tlislritl tlicrc aic 
many coal heels aiul lliick sliaK- ileposils, niai kin^ prohahly 
a luiniiJ clinialc and a marshy 1 opo^ra |>liy. TJicsc con- 
tlilions were icpeatcd in a smaller tle^ree in I lie (iranil<' 
I larhon r disl ric ( and lo 1 lie noi ( li. Tli ron^dion I I lie 
whole area I here m nsl have heen ra pitl, i 1 not la r^^e, 
rivei's, lor (he sandstone in places contains ^anall po( kels 
and hands ol coarse conj^loinerale a si^n either ol 
coastal sea a<'tion or ol rapid rivers. 
l'"oi- this period, tlierelore, we may not lie lar wroii^j^ 
if we imai^ine a lantl somewhat approaching in comlilions 
the Southern Sahara or the outskirts ol the (lohi Desert. 
Too much em]diasis must not lie laiti upon its desert 
character, however, lor onr only evidence lor that is the 
wind-hlown appearance ol the saildgi'ains, aiul the ahsciice 
ot fossils in t he sandstone itself. 'I'he same ( < nidi t ions 
jM'ohahly lu'ld over what is now the Ross Sea and the 
( I real It c Harrier, these hcint;- I or met I at a miu h la ter 
periotl. The Heac()n Sandstone series is the most 
im portan t yet Ion ml in thai (| nati ran t ol the A n 1 a it I ic, 
lor it is not only the latest sedimentary deposit ol ;iiiy 
magnitude, hut it undonhletlly has lock'etl up in it gi'cat 
stores ol lossil evidence wJiicli have as yet hardly heen 
touched hy g(.'o!ogisls. 
In the ahsence ol lat er sed in len I a ly tlepojats, the 
morc^ recent liistory of Vittoria I. ami is somewhat 
hy pol het ical, hut one very delin i t e p-eriod slantis out, 
marked hy a geological phenom<-iion lor whit li there arc 
% V -i 
