us stone was so imperfectly formed that small
shells and bits of coral might be picked out of it. This fact, with the
saltness of Sleaford Mere and of a small lake on the south side of the
port, accords with the coral found upon Bald Head and various other
indications before mentioned to show that this part, at least, of Terra
Australis cannot have emerged very many centuries from the sea, the salt
imbibed by the rocks having not yet been all washed away by the rains. In
the mountains behind Port Jackson, on the East Coast, at a vastly
superior elevation, salt is formed in some places by the exhalation of
the water which drips from the grit-stone cliffs.

Port Lincoln is certainly a fine harbour; and it is much to be regretted
that it possesses no constant run of fresh water, unless it should be in
Spalding Cove, which we did not examine. Our pits at the head of the port
will, however, supply ships at all times; and though discoloured by
whitish clay, the water has no pernicious quality, nor is it ill tasted.
This and wood, which was easily procured, were all that we found of use
to ships; and for the establishment of a colony, which the excellence of
the port might seem to invite, the little fertility of the soil offers no
inducement. The wood consists principally of the _eucalyptus_ and
_casuarina_.

Of the climate we had no reason to speak but in praise; nor were we
incommoded by noxious insects. The range of the thermometer on board the
ship was from 66 deg. to 78 deg. and that of the barometer from 29.4 to 30.20
inches. The weather was generally clouded, the winds light, coming from
the eastward in the mornings and southward after noon. On shore the
average height of the thermometer at noon was 76 deg..

The _latitude_ of our tents at the head of Port Lincoln, from the mean of
four meridian observations of the sun taken from an artificial horizon,
was
34 deg. 48' 25" S.

The _longitude_, from thirty sets of distances of the sun and stars from
the moon (see Table IV. of the Appendix to this volume), was
135 44 51" E.

These observations, being reduced to Cape Donington at the entrance of
the port, will place it in latitude 34 deg. 44' south,
longitude 135 561/2' east.

No corresponding observation of the solar eclipse appears to have been
made under any known meridian, and from the nature of ci