Page:A sketch of the physical structure of Australia.djvu/81

69 Captain Stokes and other voyagers, that the country is an absolute flat, scarcely raised above the level of the sea, a sandy desert covered by salsolaceous plants, and fronted by lines of sand dunes running along the beach. Of such a country all we can say is, that the probabilities are in favour of its being of tertiary or still more modern formation.

VII. NORTH AUSTRALIA.

Under this appellation I shall include all the country from about Roebuck Bay to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

From Roebuck Bay to Collier Bay we have still some doubtful ground. Captain Stokes gives the following descriptions of localities in this district. "Point Emeriau, tall white cliffs springing from black rocks tinged with red," p. 83. "Cape L'Evêque, red cliffy point, 60 feet high," p. 94, "Small bight, near Point Swan, cliffs rise 70 to 90 feet, bases resting on masses of the same white sandstone as themselves, together with ferruginous rocks described by Darwin as a superficial highly ferruginous sandstone, with concretionary veins and aggregations," p. 108. "On the banks of Fitzroy river yellow sandstone cliffs, 16 feet high, and coarse red sandstone with quartz pebbles, together with a mound of loose white sand," p. 148. In King's Sound, at Port Usborne, are "rugged sandstone ranges, with dark valleys," p. 161,—"the country