453 Dr James Macaulay on the Physical Geography^ 



He describes it* as " a formation of* sand, extending over 

 about eight acres, through which protrude branches of coral, 

 with ramifications of different sizes, some not half an inch, 

 others four or five inches in circumference." The top pieces 

 are soft, and easily reduced to powder ; the lower are more 

 compact in texture. Sea shells abound over the whole surface. 

 Captain Flinders also visited the locality. t A French naviga- 

 tor, Peron, accounts for the formation in the same way that 

 some have supposed that of Oanigal to have been formed. He 

 supposes X that " shells cast on shore are decomposed, and 

 having lost a portion of their carbonic acid, approach to the 

 state of the lime used in some calcareous cements ; and in this 

 state unite into a compost with quartz, and form incrustations on 

 the surfaces of plants. As the wood is destroyed, the mass 

 becomes gradually a mere sandstone, and nothing but an arbo- 

 rescent form indicates the ancient state of vegetation." 



Of the formation in South Africa, Mr Clarke Abel gives an 

 account in his Chinese Journal. " Somewhat to the eastward 

 of Simon's Town is a large bank, which rises from the sea to 

 the height probably of a hundred feet, and seems to have been 

 formed by an accumulation of shells and sand brought up by 

 the south-east wind. On this bank a great number of cylin- 

 drical bodies lie scattered about, and at first sight resemble 

 the bones of animals bleached and disorganized by exposure to 

 the air. On a closer examination, many of them are found to 

 be branched, and others are discovered rising through the soil, 

 and ramifying from a stem beneath thicker than themselves. 

 Their vegetable origin immediately suggests itself, and is con- 

 firmed by further inquiry." 



Mr Abel says,§ that he " compared a specimen from New 

 Holland with those from the Cape, and could trace no essen- 

 tial difference in their external character, and that, when sub- 

 jected to a similar chemical analysis, they gave precisely simi- 

 lar results. As this specimen," he adds, " has a remarkable 



* Vancouver's Voyage, vol. i. p. 48. Ed. 4th. 1798. 

 t Flinders' Voyage, vol, i. p. 63. 



X Quoted in Abel's Narrative of a Journey to China, p. 308. 

 § Abel's Narrative, p. 311. 



