WELLINGTON VALLEY.

In the year 1830, after I had traced out the new line of descent from the Blue Mountains to the interior country by the pass which I then named Mount Victoria, I extended my survey to the heights beyond Wellington Valley.  This includes a rich alluvial tract watered by the river Bell, one of the principal tributaries of the Macquarie, and is about 170 miles to the westward of Newcastle.  It is bounded on each side by a compact calcareous rock resembling the mountain limestone of England and rising on the east side to about 100 feet above the Bell.

On the west side of this valley hills of greater elevation, consisting of a red sandstone and conglomerate, extend parallel to the limestone; and on the east side of it is another range composed of trap-rocks.  The basis of a tract still further eastward, dividing the watershed of the interior from that which sends its streams to the sea is, as has been already observed, of granite.

The limestone presents a naked and rugged surface composed of pointed, weather-worn blocks between which are small crevices leading to caves and fissures.  From these crevices a warm air ascends, accompanied by a smell peculiar to the caves.  The worn aspect of the external rock, resembling half-dissolved ice, is very remarkable, particularly near the largest caverns.

An account of the survey of these caves was communicated to the Geological Society in a paper read on the 13th of April 1831, of which an abstract was published in its Proceedings, but the particulars respecting the animal remains found by me have derived great additional importance from the discoveries made by Professor Owen since my return to England.  I may be excused therefore for again calling attention to the situation of those curious caves respecting which the following details are now published with the consent of the Council of the Society.

LIMESTONE CAVERNS.

The entrance to the caves of Wellington Valley is in the side of a low hill and 65 feet above the adjacent alluvial flat.  It consists of two crevices between large blocks of limestone in one side of a hollow about 12 feet deep; and which has evidently been widened by water. (Plate 41.)

DESCRIPTION AND VIEW OF THE LARGEST.

We first descended the fissure at the mouth of the large cave, and then clambered over great rocks until, at 125 feet from the entrance, we found these inequalities to be covered by a deep bed of dry, reddish dust, forming an even floor.  This red earth lay also in heaps under lateral crevices, through which it seemed to have been washed down from above.  On digging to a considerable depth at this point, we found a few fragments of bone, apparently of the kangaroo.  At 180 feet from the mouth is the largest part of the cavern, the breadth being 25 feet and the height about 50 feet.  The floor consisted of the same reddish earth, but a thick stalagmitic crust extended for a short distance from a gigantic stalactite at the further end of the cavern.  On again digging several feet deep into the red earth here we met with no lower layer of stalagmite nor any animal remains.