GEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS — ETHERIDGE. 47 
geological formations, and the effects of the elements upon them, 
some of the boldest and most picturesque scenery in New South 
Wales is produced, rivalling even that of the Blue Mountains. 
At this point the gorge from escarpment to escarpment is not 
more than two miles wide, if it amounts to that. Particularly 
grand is the view, when the visitor, standing on any of the upper 
sharp turns of the road, looks up the valleys of the Wollondilly 
and Nattai above the junction; and probably one of the grandest 
outlines of the whole is that of the huge hill,* which frowns over 
the point of union of the two rivers. 
During the descent of the Queahgong road, and during the 
ascent a few days later, I endeavoured to trace a junction line 
between the Hawkesbury Sandstone and Coal-measures, in con- 
nection with the unconformity believed to exist between the 
two, but the base of the scarp is so piled with huge blocks, and 
covered with debris , and dense vegetation, that no clear section 
can be seen. The same difficulty seems to have impeded the 
Rev. W. B. Clarke, years ago, when he explored this valley, for 
he remarks : “ At the base of the Hawkesbury rocks, blocks 
fallen and accumulated so as to hide the junction. Dense vines, 
fig-trees, ferns and jungle, with pools of water.” About nine 
hundred to 1,000 feet down, or from seven to eight hundred feet 
above the river, shales make their appearance, interbedded with 
quartz conglomerates of the Hawkesbury Sandstone. Shales 
continue until about 1,300 or 1,400 feet have been reached on the 
descent, and it is somewhere between the two points indicated 
that the actual junction takes place. 
The Hawkesbury Sandstone consists of a coarse sandstone, 
yellow, red, or of purplish tints in colour, becoming very pebbly 
and conglomeritic towards the base. The bedding is practically 
horizontal, and the joiuts are numerous, causing displacements in 
large masses of rock. 
The first coal seam is met with at from 1,300 to 1,400 feet 
below the summit, or about three to four hundred feet above the 
river, at no great distance from the junction of the two series of 
rocks. In Clarke’s section the uppermost coal seam is given as 
at about nine hundred and fifty feet above sea level, or seven 
hundred and fifty feet above the Wollondilly. Mr. Cuneo has 
obtained Glossopteris in these measures. 
The only published information with which I am acquainted 
relating to this particular portion of Burragorang, besides Clarke’s 
“ Section ” already referred to, is a paper by the same Author 
* I may here remark on the paucity of names attached to such grand 
physical features in many districts, particularly the present one, and 
how conducive to exact physical and geographical description some 
well-devised scheme of nomenclature would be. 
