like those seen in the coral beds beneath the
surface of the sea; a circumstance which should seem to bespeak this
country to have emerged from the ocean at no very distant period of time.
This curious fact I was desirous to verify; and his description was
proved to be correct. I found, also, two broken columns of stone three or
four feet high, formed like stumps of trees and of a thickness superior
to the body of a man; but whether they were of coral or of wood now
petrified, or whether they might not have been calcareous rocks worn into
that particular form by the weather, I cannot determine. Their elevation
above the present level of the sea could not have been less than four
hundred feet.

But little calcareous matter was found elsewhere than on the southern
shores. In Oyster Harbour a rather strongly impregnated ironstone
prevails, but mixed with quartz and granite; and in some parts of both
harbours a brown argillaceous earth was not uncommon.

The soil of the hills is very barren, though, except near the sea coast,
generally covered with wood; and that of the plains at the head of
Princess-Royal Harbour has been described as shallow, and incapable of
cultivation. In the neighbourhood of Oyster Harbour the land was said to
be better, especially near the rivulet which falls into the northern
corner; and on the borders of a small lake, at the back of the long beach
between the two harbours, the country was represented to be pleasing to
the eye and tolerably fertile.

The timber trees of the woods consist principally of different species of
that extensive class called _gum tree_ by the colonists at Port Jackson,
by botanists _eucalyptus_. They do not grow very large here, and the wood
is heavy and seldom fit for other than common purposes. Amongst the
plants collected by Mr. Brown and his associates was a small one of a
novel kind which we commonly called the pitcher plant. Around the root
leaves are several little vases lined with spiny hairs, and there were
generally found to contain a sweetish water, and also a number of dead
ants. It cannot be asserted that the ants were attracted by the water,
and prevented by the spiny hairs from making their escape; but it seemed
not improbable that this was a contrivance of nature to obtain the means
necessary either to the nourishment or preservation of the plant.

Amongst the animal productions the kangaroo and cassowary hold the first
ranks. The kangaroo appeared to be