67
which were, I believe, mostly identical in species with those of the palæozoic formation of New South Wales. Eastward of where the coal was found was a widely spread granitic district, with trap, &c., and east of that again a "desert of sand." On approaching the hills from the coast it is said that the red sandstone was seen stretching on the adjacent hills horizontally for a long distance.[1] It appears, then, that in this latitude we have a repetition of the same facts as at Swan River, with the addition of a small patch of palæozoic rocks, amongst the granites, &c. of the hills, and the variation of the red sandstones spreading some way up on to the hills, instead of being confined to the flats of the coast.
Captain Grey[2] in his Journal describes Gairdner's Range (between Herschel Range and the coast) capped by ironstone for 14 miles, being the same, no doubt, as that seen by me on the hills near Swan River. He likewise mentions recent limestone with recent fossil shells and sandy dunes as forming the islands at the mouth of Sharks Bay (vol. i. p. 333 to 408), and speaks of the same limestone as forming the coast as far south as Gantheaume Bay, and
- ↑ The height of the hills hereabouts from the descriptions of Captains Grey and Stokes appears to be about the same as that of the hills near Swan River, namely, from 700 to 1000 feet.
- ↑ Journals of Expedition of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia during the years 1837, 8, 9, &c. &c., by George Grey, Esq. Capt. 83rd Regiment.
