immediately at the back was high, and its northern and
southern extremes were cliffy. I named it CAPE JERVIS, and it was
afterwards sketched by Mr. Westall. (Atlas Plate XVII. View 12.)

All the cliffs of Kangaroo Island seen to the west of the anchorage had
the appearance of being calcareous, and the loose stones scattered over
the surface of Kangaroo Head and the vicinity were of that substance; but
the basis in this part seemed to be a brown slate, lying in _strata_
nearly horizontal, and _laminae_ of quartz were sometimes seen in the
interstices. In some places the slate was split into pieces of a foot
long, or more, like iron bars, and had a shining, ore-like appearance;
and the _strata_ were then further from the horizontal line than I
observed them to be elsewhere.

A thick wood covered almost all that part of the island visible from the
ship; but the trees in a vegetating state were not equal in size to the
generality of those lying on the ground, nor to the dead trees standing
upright. Those on the ground were so abundant that in ascending the
higher land a considerable part of the walk was made upon them. They lay
in all directions, and were nearly of the same size and in the same
progress towards decay; from whence it would seem that they had not
fallen from age, nor yet been thrown down in a gale of wind. Some general
conflagration, and there were marks apparently of fire on many of them,
is perhaps the sole cause which can be reasonably assigned; but whence
came the woods on fire? That there were no inhabitants upon the island,
and that the natives of the continent did not visit it, was demonstrated,
if not by the want of all signs of such visit, yet by the tameness of the
kangaroo, an animal which, on the continent, resembles the wild deer in
timidity. Perhaps lightning might have been the cause, or possibly the
friction of two dead trees in a strong wind; but it would be somewhat
extraordinary that the same thing should have happened at Thistle's
Island, Boston Island and at this place, and apparently about the same
time. Can this part of Terra Australis have been visited before, unknown
to the world? The French navigator, La Perouse, was ordered to explore
it, but there seems little probability that he ever passed Torres'
Strait.

Some judgment may be formed of the epoch when these conflagrations
happened from the magnitude of the growing trees; for they must have
sprung up since that period. They were