224 



I was much astonished at the beautiful dark green and 

 vigorous appearance of the trees, considering that the season 

 had been evidently unusually dry ; but the cause must arise 

 from the great quantity of springs with which this country 

 abounds. On penetrating two feet into the earth, I found 

 the soil perfectly moist, and I feel confident that had I 

 penetrated a foot deeper, I should have found water. On the 

 beach I observed several small pools of water, and many 

 moist spots, which, in seasons of usual humidity, must be the 

 seat of active springs, issuing from the calcareous rocks that 

 bound them. The luxuriance of the vegetation on the imme- 

 diate beach is truly astonishing. It consists principally of 

 syngenesious plants, and a species of Hibiscus with peltate 

 leaves. Here I observed a beautiful pendulous Leptospermuniy 

 resembling, in its appearance and the situation which it pi'efers, 

 the weeping willow. An arborescent species of Acacia was 

 likewise seen associated with it. 



While examining the productions of a mass of cavernous 

 limestone rocks on the beach, I was astonished by observing 

 an extensive spring issue from beneath them, in width 

 about seven feet, running at the rate of three feet in a second. 

 The water was brackish, but is evidently fresh at some 

 periods of the tide. Its elevation is about three feet above 

 low water mark, yet at the lowest ebb its current was at the 

 above rate. The water was found, on being analysed, to be 

 of the same quality as that at Harrowgate. 



The soil on the North Head is sandy : its productions much 

 the same as that of the South. Two hundred yards from the 

 beach, the soil changes to a light red loam, improving, as the 

 hills are ascended, to that of a fine virgin earth. The valleys 

 separating these hills are, along the coast, of the richest de- 

 scription, as far as my observations led, and, inland, extending 

 to Pelican Point, beyond which their character was not ascer- 

 tained. These hills are admirably adajHed for the site of a 

 town, their elevated situation commanding a view of the whole 

 of Canning Sound, with the adjacent coast, the interior for 

 some distance, and the meanderings of the rivei'. Their lying 

 open to all breezes, too, is an additional advantage. 



