A DEPOT FOR STEAMERS. 133 



the neig-hbourhood of the various points ; however^ 

 it is completely sheltered from any wind which may 

 be experienced on this part of the coast. 



On several occasions I landed on Albany Island^ 

 and walked over the place. It is three miles in 

 lengthy and one in greatest breadth^ its outline irre- 

 gular from the immber of bays and small rocky 

 headlands. On its western side the bays are small^ 

 and the shores generally steep and rocky^ with 

 sandy intervals^ the banks being covered with 

 brush of the usual Australian intertropical cha- 

 racter. The rock here is either a stratum of iron- 

 stone in irreo'ular masses and nodules cemented 

 together by a ferruginous base^ or a very coarse 

 sandstone^ almost a quartzose conglomerate^ forming 

 cliffs^ occasionally thirty feet or more in height. 

 The latter stone is suitable for rough building pur- 

 poses^ such as the construction of a pier^ but is 

 much acted on by the weather. On the northern 

 and eastern sides the bays are large and generally 

 sandy^ with the land sloping down towards them 

 from the low undulating hills^ which compose the 

 rest of the island. These hills are either sandy or 

 covered with ironstone gravel* over red clay. They 



* A sample of this ironstone picked up from the surface has 

 furnished materials for the following remarks, for which I am 

 indebted to the politeness of Warrington W. Smyth, Esq., of the 

 Museum of Practical Geology. 



" On examining the specimens which you presented to our 

 Museum, I see that thev consist for the most part of the red or 



