SCIBNTIFIC EXCURSIONS IN NEW HOLLAND. 279 
Port Jackson, in which is situated the town of Sidney, is 
exceedingly varied by a great number of small bays and 
diminutive islands, clothed with luxuriant vegetation, and 
conveying the idea of a rich and fertile soil. The rocks, 
Which may be seen in various directions, are composed of 
quartzose limestone, of coarser or finer grain, and more or 
less tinged with oxyde of iron. 
Proceeding towards Botany Bay, the traveller soon finds 
himself surrounded with sand-hills of trifling elevation, on 
Which grow shrubs and low trees, chiefly consisting of Euca- 
lyptus, and other indigenous Myrtacee, Acacias, the Proteaceae, 
Petrophila, Isopogon, Lambertia, Grevillea, Banksia, Hakea, 
and Persoonia. The Grass tree (Xanthorrhea) gives a pecu- 
liar character to many spots, and Zamia australis is no less 
striking. Lampocarya and Gahnia command attention by 
their lofty spikes or brown panicles; they prevail in the 
marshes which fill up the depressions between the hills. 
The Epacridee, Styphelia, Lysinema, and Sprengelia, are con- 
Spicuous for the brilliancy and profusion of their blossoms; 
and many Rutacee are equally showy ; for instance, the beau- 
tiful Correa speciosa, Crowea, and the species of Boronia. 
I also noticed some handsome Orchidee, particularly Cory- 
“anthes fimbriata ; but there are not many of them in flower 
time, 
The north shore is the richest, the soil being better, and it 
Producing a great number of Acacias. Casuarinais abundant, 
and of several kinds ; and the Gum Trees (Eucalyptus) attain 
* greater development: their peculiarly growing foliage and 
smooth white bark give these trees a very marked aspect. 
the virgin soil there is no turf whatever, though the 
Graminee are abundant and varied. 
The essential character of this Flora resides, in the great 
ty, in a small extent of country, of its genera and 
species, which are nearly all woody, and adorned with large, 
bright, and numerous, and strikingly, shaped flowers. At the 
of my arrival, not a drop of rain had fallen for eighteen 
Months; thousands of sheep and oxen had consequently 
