62 
indeed, that in smelting the iron would combine with the 
silica and form a slag. 
If the ore can be obtained pure, or free from an excess 
of silica, the iron-smelter might make an experiment at 
this place with every prospect of success. 
The creeks near Nowr-nowr flow over a solid mass of 
red jasper, and some of the fragments in the creek are as 
bright as vermilion-colored sealing wax. 
Precious stones are found in Gippsland; but no sys¬ 
tematic search has been made for them. 
At Stockyard Creek, specimens of the emerald, topaz, 
and zircon, have been collected; and sapphires have 
been obtained at Cross-over Creek, Upper Boggy Creek, 
in the basin of the River La Trobe, and in the basin of the 
Tarwin. 
As far as we have been able to ascertain, no carbon¬ 
aceous rocks different in age from those occurring at 
Cape Patterson and Cape Otway have been discovered; 
and no seams of greater thickness than those already 
opened in the western fields. 
It is not at all improbable, however, that the equivalents 
of the Tasmanian Glossopteris beds may be found on the 
north-eastern side of the great area of carbonaceous rocks 
that extends from Griffith’s Point to Tom’s Cap. If they 
occur here at all they will be explored with difficulty, as 
there is a considerable thickness of newer rocks to be 
pierced before they could be reached. 
We have appended to this report a Table showing the 
extent of the areas occupied by the several rock for¬ 
mations, and some account of the character of soils 
belonging to each, and also the barometrical observations 
recorded at various points between Bairnsdale and Myrtle- 
ford. 
