Volume I Part 28 (2/2)

Captain King, in answer to the above states, that some of the islands within the reef have beaches of broken coral; and, as an instance, he refers to Fitzroy island

I will, myself, here adduce what may be deeht, will go far to weaken the arguht forward in favour of the subsidence of the North-East coast of Australia I found a flat nearly a quarter of a mile broad, in a quiet sheltered cove, within the cape, thickly streith dead coral and shells, for, in fact, a perfect bed of theh-waterit, also a few feet above high-waterathis, for about the width of one hundred and fifty feet, was a wall of coral with two feet water on it; and immediately outside, five fatho off The annexed woodcut will better explain e have here endeavoured to bring before the reader

SECTION OF THE COAST

This small coral-strewed flat where our observations were made, and the results of which are as follows; latitude 19 degrees 42 3/4 rees 36 1/2 ton, is surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills Had it been on the seaward side of the Cape, I ine that it could have been thrown up by the sea in its ordinary action, or when suddenly disturbed by an earthquake wave; but as the contrary is the case, it seemed impossible to come to any other conclusion, than that an upheaval had taken place The whole of Cape Upstart is a granite mass, and its crests are covered with boulders, some of which have rolled down and form rather conspicuous objects on the shores and points of the bay

PUMICE STONE

Near the North-West extreh-waterthe appearance of belonging to a recent eruption, which seeree with the opinion expressed by the Reverend WG Clarke in the Tasmanian Journal He considers, and I think justly, that its origin may be in the Solomon, New Caledonia, or some other of the volcanic islands to the east of Australia, from whence it drifted, as it has been found on all parts of the coast, to the southern portion of which it has doubtless been carried by the current Captain Wickham did not remark any above the entrance of the river he explored, on the western side of the bay, which bears out the opinion I have above expressed A curious fact, mentioned by Mr

Clarke is, that one piece, perfectly water-worn, was found upon a high mountain, full twenty-five miles inland from the mouth of Clarence River

Was this carried thither by one of the natives, or does it indicate that pumice drifted to this part of the continent at a time when, if ever, it was on a level with the ocean? I further remarked in this place, many of the land shells coreat difficulty in attaining the loftiest point of the Cape, which I found to be two thousand feet high From thence our party commanded a view of the whole of the bay, and discovered that ere, strictly speaking, standing upon an island, a sh land, and connecting the bays on the eastern and western side of Cape Upstart

The break in the hills seen by Captain King, and supposed to indicate an opening, has been already alluded to On reaching the su the head of the plain which stretched from the shores of the bay On its southern side rose Mount Abbott; but one of theabout forty-fivelevel hill, with a peak at its northern extrehbourhood, as far as I could judge with the spyglass, seemed to be of the same formation with Cape Upstart

We found this a convenient stopping-place for vesselseasily procured The latter is found in a considerable reservoir fed by two strea a mile within the mouth of the bay From appearances, I should say it would yield an abundant supply at any season of the year

NATIVES SURPRISED

There were a few natives loitering about on Cape Upstart e arrived; and I think we should have coht into which they were accidentally thrown A boat's crew on landing surprised a small party, which instantly dispersed in various directions

A lad, however, instead of escaping with the rest, stowed hiranite Every endeavour was place; biscuit was offered hiely with his teeth at the hand that held it Finding all atteave his coht, was sufficiently terrible to take thehbourhood These natives used nets similar to those I had seen on the North-West coast, and in their , in a remarkable manner, the ones employed by Europeans

PLANTS AND ANIMALS

In the valley, just within Cape Upstart, a few pal; and in other places, the never-failing Eucalyptus, of srowth Certain bulbs were also found, apparently of the same species as those on the Percy Isles; several of which we removed and presented to the Botanical Garden at Sydney, where we afterwards had the gratification of seeing theustifoliu to the Narcissus, but are in themselves a new order of plant)

A few quails were shot of the sae kind as that found on all other parts of the continent, also one or two pheasant cuckoos They did not differ froh nearly five degrees further south A very large pigeon was also shot, rese in colour the common blue rock, but without a bronze mark We had not seen this species before; it was a very wary bird, and was found in the rocks

(Footnote Centropus phasianellus Gould)

NEW KANGAROO

But the greatest prize our sportsaroo, of a new kind

(Footnote Deposited in the British Museuthe north coast of Australia)

It th of body froth of tail froht 8 1/2 pounds Its colour was a slate or light grey on the back, and dirty yellow or light brown on the belly; extreth, fro in a tuft On the back of the hind legs the hair is longer than on any other part of the body The nails on the hind feet were short, covered with long hair, and did not project over the pulpy part of the foot, which is well cushi+oned and rough, giving a fir rocks The head was small, and sharp towards the htly rounded, the eyes black, and the forearms very short In this anied sue in the clefts of the rocks

June 30

In the afternoon we left the anchorage we had been the first to occupy, and standing out of the bay, were ed outline Cape Upstart presents The huge boulders scattered over the crest of the hills, give it the appearance of a vastit out in bold relief against the sky We stood over North-West for the opposite shore, and closing to within three ular low point for the coastline to the North-West of Cape Upstart; and by 9 PM rounded its northern extre Green, at a distance of sixthen to pass about four ht our soundings only varied from 17 to 19 fathoms

MAGNETICAL ISLAND