.. long new_.
It is not to be supposed that a hasty visit could enable the party
to explore the mineralogical resources of the country. It appears,
however, by a list of the soils and rock formations in Captain
Stirling's report, that he brought home specimens of copper ore, of
lead ore with silver, and also with arsenic, two species of magnetic
iron, several varieties of granite, and chalcedony, and of limestone,
with stalagmite incrustations, &c. The high cliffs of Cape Naturaliste
abound with large masses of what Mr. Fraser calls "an extraordinary
aggregate," containing petrifactions of bivalve and other marine
shells, every particle of which was thickly incrusted with minute
crystals. Here, too, he says, veins of iron of considerable thickness
were seen to traverse the rock in various directions; and he speaks of
the caverns formed in the minacious schistose between the granite
and the limestone, as something very extraordinary. They contained
rock-salt in large quantities, forming thick incrustations on every
part of the surface, beautifully crystallized, and penetrating into
the most compact parts of the rock.
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