﻿1848. CAPE MAITLAND. 263 



night-watch the boats were suffered to ground on 

 the ebbing of the tide, and it was not till eight 

 o'clock that the water had flowed sufficiently to 

 permit of our embarking. We then stood across 

 Liverpool Bay with a very light breeze, and about 

 two o'clock had sight of the eastern coast near 

 Nicholson Island, the western shore being visible 

 at that time, but soon aftei^wards sinking below 

 the horizon. At half-past nine, p.m., we reached 

 the eastern shore, and encamped under the frozen 

 cliffs of Cape Maitland. This cape is an island, 

 and on the former voyage I passed through the 

 channel which divides it from the main. Its sur- 

 face is nearly level, the, soil is loam or clay, and 

 the cliffs which bound it are about eighty feet high, 

 and, being worn at the base by the action of the 

 waves, overhang the narrow beach by eight or ten 

 feet. Landslips are frequent, and occasion a frozen 

 surface to be constantly exposed to view. The 

 island does not differ from the neighbouring lands 

 in its subsoil being frozen : since permanent ground 

 ice is found everywhere at eighteen or twenty inches 

 beneath the surface. All access from below would 

 have been cut off by the overhanging cliff, were it 

 not for deep gullies which here and there afford a 

 steep path to the top. Vegetation was very scanty, 

 and throughout this voyage I observed that flowering 

 plants were more scarce, and the herbage generally 



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