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The thunder rolled and cracked and pealed like the trump of doom, whirlwinds tore round, lifting dust and even stones high into the air, and in a low, continuous undertone rose the hiss of the rushing rain. I put my hand before my eyes to shield them from the terrible glare, and looked beneath it towards the lists of iron-stone.

To the westward, the decline of country was more observable than ever; and the hills on both sides of the river, were lower and more distant from it. Those upon which we found ourselves were composed of iron-stone, were precipitous towards the river in many places, of sandy soil, and were crowned with beef-wood as well as box.

Its breadth varied from 160 to 200 yards; and only in one place, where a reef of iron-stone stretched nearly across from the left bank, so as to contract the channel near the right and to form a considerable rapid, was there any apparent obstruction to our navigation.

From Guildford to the foot of Green Mount, the country presents a vast plain of cold clayey soil, unfit for cultivation, and though covered with scrub, affording very little useful herbage. On ascending the hill, we come upon what is generally called the iron-stone range, which extends nearly to York, a distance of forty miles.

Upon crossing this region deep gorges or valleys are met with, through which flow brackish or salt-water streams, and shading these are found the tea-tree and the bastard gum. The steep banks which inclose the valleys, through which the streams take their course, and which until lately we had found of an oolitic limestone, now exhibited granite, quartz, sandstone or iron-stone. June 23.

On the shore we found great quantities of a red jasper, or iron-stone, the same which occurs throughout the coast, from Killinek to South river, not as a stratum, but in lumps, and generally below high water mark. The Esquimaux who landed on the continent reported, that about two miles inland, there was much low wood. 14th.

Two small stones were taken, one a piece of white quartz, the other a piece of iron-stone, and struck together smartly; the few sparks that flew out were thrown upon a kind of white down, found on the willows, under which was placed a lump of dried moss. It was usually a considerable time before they succeeded in catching a spark, but once caught they had no difficulty in blowing it into a flame.

In the upper part these elevations appeared red from the red sandy soil, gravel, or iron-stone grit which were generally found upon their summits. They had all steep precipitous sides, which looked very white in the distance, and were composed of a chalky substance, traversed by veins of very beautiful gypsum.

It, therefore, necessarily follows, that the contraction of the iron-stone, in order to form septa, and the filling of these cavities with spar, had proceeded pari passu; and that this operation must have been brought about by means of fusion, or by congelation from a state of simple fluidity and expansion.

The strata in this space consist, in general, of sand-stone, coal, lime-stone or marble, iron-stone, and marl or argillaceous strata, with strata of analogous bodies, and the various compositions of these.