408 
The Geology and Physical Aspect 
heads, as if to defy the wasting effects of time; others again, 
are mere barren heaps, whose flinty structures have successfully 
resisted these effects. The grassy rises have a similar general 
outline to those of a stony character. In examining one of these, 
from which a neighbouring settler obtained an impure description 
of limestone, I perceived that this limestone formed a stratified 
deposit, enveloping the side of this hillock, and that its composi¬ 
tion and appearance were similar to a limestone deposit, which I 
afterwards met with at a salt lake in the neighbourhood of Lloyd’s 
Inn, to the westward of Karangamite. I examined many other of 
these grassy rises, at places where the numerous wombats of that 
part of the country had excavated their dwellings. These cavi¬ 
ties were pierced through a stratum of about two feet thick, con¬ 
sisting of small stones, the debris of trap formations, which had 
evidently formed the bed of some sheet of water, and was not dis¬ 
similar in composition to the strand or beach of a romantic lake 
of brackish water, situated a little to the eastward of Lloyds’. 
Mr. Medley, of Colac, informed me that the wombat in that 
locality invariably burrowed beneath this description of sandstone. 
This animal is not met with in many localities of Port Phillip, 
though in general extremely abundant in those places which it 
does frequent. I have seen its indications in several localities 
where a good soil overlays a stratum of limestone, and enables it, 
by piercing through or into the bed, to furnish its dwelling with 
a roof. The rare occurrence of stratified formations on the sur¬ 
face, at least in conjunction with abundant grass, may account 
for the few localities taken up by the wombat. 
Salt Lakes .—These are very numerous throughout the western 
part of Port Phillip. The water is remarkably shallow, and the 
surface of many is quite dry during the summer months. The 
only one possessing any depth of water is Karangamite, by far 
the largest of these lakes, which is said to be very deep about the 
south western angle, where the waters are bounded by the stony 
rises; the greater portion of this lake, however, is only from a 
few inches to a yard in depth. Several rivers flow into this and 
other salt lakes, but they have no outlet. The taste of the water, 
especially in summer, is extremely saline, and large quantities of 
