GEOLOGY. 
173 
Cape Lisburne is composed of two remarkable promontories. The south-western 
one rising- abruptly, is covered with loose grey stones, divested of the smallest trace of 
vegetation; the north-eastern one rising gradually, and although thinly clad with 
verdure, it forms a striking contrast to the grey head of the other. The first rises from 
the sea in distinct strata, dipping south-west at 58° , and consisting of layers of swine- 
stone in its central and harder projecting portions, and of soft friable slate and shale in 
its worn and more retiring sides. The front of the second is rugged and shelving, 
with its stratification very indistinct. It is partly covered with vegetation, and with 
fallen masses of grey flint, which, with some mixture, apparently of swine-stone, con- 
stitutes its chief bulk. It is easily accessible, and rises to about 1000 feet from the 
level of the sea, being some way back higher than its companion. Both stretch their 
ridges inland to the south-east. 
Specimens. 
No. 1. Black argillaceous slate, filled with slightly fractured terebratulae, forming the 
thin strata of the north-east side of the first promontory. 
No. 2. Tubiporite, in black swine-stone ; in a separate block at the bottom of No. 1. 
No. 3. Tubiporite and small terebratulas, in black swine-stone ; same locality as No. 2. 
No. 4. Terebratulas and radiated head of encrinite, in compact dark swine-stone. 
No. 5. Columnar madreporite. 
The highly elevated country and mountainous ridges cease to the north-east of 
Cape Lisburne, and the coast-line forms a deep and extensive bay, skirted by a low 
beach, fronting a flat filled with lagoons, for about fifty miles north-east of the Cape. 
The land rises from the beach all along this bay by low earthy cliffs, and then by very 
gradual acclivities. About thirty-five miles from Cape Lisburne, I found hills running 
north-eastward and composed of sand-stone, dipping at an angle of nearly 25° to the 
south-south-west, with gently sloping and generally verdant backs. Exposed strata 
form the ridges, and are perpendicular for several feet on the north-west front. Under 
the perpendicular strata on the north-eastern declivities of the lower ridges, coal pro- 
trudes, and is mixed more or less with the alluvial soil. 
At Cape Beaufort is a high ridge, in which a narrow vein of ooal is exposed, about 
a quarter of a mile from the beach. It is slaty, burns with a pure flame and rapid con- 
sumption. Probably the quality improves at some depth, and extensive beds of it may 
occur in the neighbourhood. The upper part of this eminence exhibits perpendicular 
faces towards the sea, and is strewed with broken blocks of slaty sand-stone, containing 
carbonised impressions of reeds, both fluted and plain, generally flat. Imbedded nodules 
of horn-stone, quartz, iron-clay, and chert or Lydian stone, with fibrous veins of calca- 
reous spar frequently lie between the thin layers ; the sand-stone itself is generally of 
a reddish grey colour; it rises to its highest elevation at Cape Beaufort, viz. about 300 
feet above the level of the sea. This cape seems to constitute a boundary between the 
hilly ranges above described to the south-west, and the low plains, intersected with 
lagoons and lakes, which extend on the north-east of it as far as the eye can reach. 
2 A 
