370 
Geology of Russia and Australia. 
general line, not far from the meridian, through 30 degrees of 
latitude, in Tasmania and New Holland and New Guinea, having 
their highest points at an altitude of from 5000 to 6000 feet above 
the sea; with an axis of chloritic and talcose schist, and quart¬ 
zites, with occasional limestones of Silurian age, in which occur 
metallic ores and gold in veins of quartz. Moreover granitic 
rocks of a comparatively younger age break through them. 
As on the flanks of the Ural, the carboniferous formation 
reposes, so in this country occurs the very same order of deposits. 
It is therefore highly probable, that besides the lead and copper 
which exist in the Blue Mountain ranges, auriferous sands will be 
found in the rivers flowing from them. Indeed, gold occurs not 
only in the veins of quartz which traverse the schist, but in the 
black striated cubes of pyrites so common in the Bathurst country. 
Nor ought there to be any astonishment, if hereafter it be disco¬ 
vered that platinum also exists in New South Wales. In respect 
of all other phenomena, the dividing ranges of New Holland are 
similar to the Ural, with the exception that the slope in this hemis¬ 
phere is to the west, and the escarpment edges of the deposits to 
the east, and let it be observed that the general direction of the 
South Australian mineral ores, is nearly, if not (on the large scale), 
actually parallel with the greater chain to the eastward. New 
South Wales will, probably, on some future day, be found wonder¬ 
fully rich in metals. 
So far as has yet been ascertained, the drift of the Ural moun¬ 
tains seems to have its parallel in that of Australia, which is all 
local, and much of it fluviatile, deposited at the ancient mouths 
of the present rivers, when the country was at a lower level. Such 
is the undoubted origin of the gravel beds of the Penrith and 
Windsor districts. The phenomena pointed out by Captain Sturt 
render it far from improbable that the interior depressed area of 
Australia is of similar character to the great Aralo-Caspian country. 
From facts communicated to the Geological Society, Sir R. I. 
Murchison has already adopted the same view as the present, 
respecting the probable mineral wealth of Australia. He has 
even gone so far, in a letter addressed to Sir C. Lemon, and which 
is published in the last number of the Philosophical Magazine, 
