to the
original one, should mark the nation by which the survey was made; and in
compliment to a distinguished officer of the British navy, whose earnest
endeavours to relieve me from oppression in a subsequent part of the
voyage demand my gratitude I have called this cluster of islands SIR
EDWARD PELLEW'S GROUP.

The space occupied by these islands is thirty-four miles east and west,
by twenty-two miles of latitude; and the five principal islands are from
seven to seventeen miles in length. The stone which seems to form the
basis of the group is a hard, close-grained sand stone, with a small
admixture of quartz, and in one or two instances it was slightly
impregnated with iron; calcareous, or coral rock was sometimes found at
the upper parts, but the hard sand stone was more common. Where the
surface is not bare rock, it consists of sand, with a greater or less
proportion of vegetable soil, but in no case did I see any near approach
to fertility; yet all the larger islands, and more especially the western
side of Vanderlin's, are tolerably well covered with trees and bushes,
and in some low places there is grass.

As in most other parts of Terra Australis, the common trees here are
various species of the _eucalyptus_, mostly different from, and smaller
than those of the East and South Coasts. The cabbage palm, a new genus
named by Mr. Brown _Livistona inermis_, is abundant; but the cabbage is
too small to be an interesting article of food to a ship's company; of
the young leaves, drawn into slips and dried, the seamen made handsome
light hats, excellent for warm weather. The nutmeg was found principally
on Vanderlin's Island, growing upon a large spreading bush; but the fruit
being unripe, no accurate judgment could be formed of its quality.
Amongst the variety of other plants discovered by the naturalist, were
two shrubs belonging to the genus _Santalum_, of which the sandel wood,
used as a perfume in the East, is also one; but this affinity to so
valuable a tree being not known at the time, from the description of the
genus being imperfect, no examination was made of it with that object in
view.

All the larger islands seem to possess the kangaroo; for though none were
seen, their foot marks were perceptible in most of the sandy places where
I landed: the species seemed to be small. In the woods were hawks,
pigeons of two kinds, and some bustards; and on the shore were seen a
pretty kind of duck and the usual sea