Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/436

392 the former rising in magnificent columns at Cape Pillar, Cape Raoul, and Fluted Cape, and capping Mount Wellington. Granite occurs in Ben Lomond; and near Lake St. Clair forms the basis of the Western range, crested by quartz. Serpentine is found in the asbestos hills. Argillaceous slate associated with micaceous and siliceous schist, appears near George Town, on the banks of the Tamar. Limestone and sandstone are very generally diffused over the island. Coal is abundant, occupying two coal-fields; that of the valley of the South Esk, and the Jerusalem formation, including Richmond and Tasman's Peninsula. It has been found south of Ben Lomond; and traces of it have been met with across the island.

The total thickness of the coal deposits amounts to about one hundred and fifty feet; and that of the whole of the stratified rocks together, to upwards of two thousand, more than half of this being occupied by the sandstone alone. The coal bed at Jerusalem is more than eight hundred feet above the level of the sea, having the sandstone superincumbent.

At Richmond, abundance of rich iron-ore occurs. Copper, lead, zinc, and manganese are also found. The principal fossiliferous deposits are at Mount Wellington, Richmond, Jerusalem, and Tasman's Peninsula. Silicified trunks of trees, often beautifully opaline, appear imbedded in a vertical position in vesicular lava, on Macquarie plains. Raised beaches, containing shells, occur at various altitudes; from which we may infer that there has been a progressive upheaval of the land.

In the Australian limestone caverns, remains of extinct mammalia have been found: the Dasyurus, Hypsiprymnus, Phascolomyx, Thylacinus, and Macropus, apparently types of existing marsupial animals; whilst others, as those extraordinary forms, Diprotodon, and Nototherium, are wholly unknown.

In my geological rambles in the vicinity of Hobart