Geological History during Tertiary Epoch. 
107 
page 620) is interesting as being descriptive of geological pheno- 
mena in Britain analogous to those which form a very marked 
feature in Victoria : — 
“Another and striking piece of evidence (i.e. f as to the long 
continuance of volcanic action during Miocene times among the 
Hebrides) is given by the well-known Scur of Eigg. That 
island consists of nearly horizontal sheets of basaltic rocks, like 
those of Mull, resting unconformably upon oolitic rocks. After 
their eruption, they must have been long exposed to the wasting 
agencies of the atmosphere. A valley was cut out of them, and 
its bottom was watered by a river which brought down shingle 
and sand from the distant Cambrian mountains of the north-west. 
These changes must have demanded a lengthened lapse of time, 
yet they took place during an interval in the volcanic history of 
the island. The igneous force which had been long dormant 
broke out anew, and poured several successive coulees of vitreous 
lava (pitch-stone) down the river-bed. In this way the channel 
of the stream came to be sealed up, but the samo forces of waste 
which had scooped out the channel continued their operations. 
The hills which had bounded the valley crumbled away, and the 
lava currents that filled the river-bed, being much harder than 
the surrounding rock, were enabled in a great measure to resist 
the degradation. Hence the singular result now appears that the 
former hills have been levelled down into slopes and valleys, 
while the ancient valley occupies the highest ground in the neigh- 
bourhood, and its lava current stands up as the well-known pre- 
cipitous ridge of the Scur of Eigg. The gravel and drift-wood 
of the old river-bed are still to be seen under the rocks of the 
Scur.” 
After the pouring out of the Older Volcanic lava-flows, a 
partial submergence appears to have taken place, as we find 
marine deposits of the Upper Tertiary or Pliocene period fringing 
the country, and ofteu overlying the Older Volcanic rocks up to 
elevations of nearly 1,000 feet. 
The sandy ferruginous beds of Tom’s Cap, in Gippsland, and 
those extending from Melbourne to Frankston, belong to this 
class. 
This would appear to have been the last important downward 
movement of the Victorian land, which seems to have subse- 
quently risen gradually with a few minor oscillations to its 
present status. 
The upper portions of the rivers which formed the deep leads 
of the western section of the colony — such as those of Ballarat, 
Daylesford, &c. — of the Upper Tertiary epoch, were probably 
flowing contemporaneously with those of the Miocene era, but not 
being filled by the Older Volcanic lava-flows, held their course 
uninterruptedly to a later date. The mountains in those localities 
