1827. 



204 VOYAGE TO THE 



soniana, and the cycas ; though they are sometimes 

 bare^ or at most clothed with a diminutive and useless 

 May, vegetation. It not unfrequently happens that small 

 precipices occur near the summits of the hills, and 

 that large blocks of a coral-like substance are seen 

 lying as if they had been left there by the sea. This 

 substance, of which all the rocky parts of the island 

 that we examined were composed, is a cellular or gra- 

 nular limestone, bearing a great resemblance to coral, 

 for which it might easily be mistaken. It has a very 

 rugged surface, not unlike silex macliere. Lieutenant 

 Belcher found sandstone of a loose texture, enclosing 

 balls of blue marl, and in one instance interstratified 

 with it in alternate seams with the coral formation. 

 This formation constituted part of a reef, dry at low 

 water. In the marl he foimd cylindrical and elongated 

 cones, similar to the belemnite, of a light colour, and 

 occasionally crystallizations of calcareous spar. 



The precipices inland, as well as those which form 

 cliffs upon the coast, are hollowed out beneath, as if 

 they had been subjected to the action of the waves. 

 Upon the sea-coast this has no doubt been the case, 

 and the Capstan Rock, spoken of before, presents a 

 curious instance of its effect ; but it is not quite so 

 evident that the sea has reached the cliffs near Abbey 

 Point, as they are separated from it by a plain covered 

 with vegetation, and the violence of the waves is broken 

 by reefs which lie far outside them. 



The soil in the vicinity of Napa-kiang is generally 

 arenaceous and marly, but to the south-east of Abbey 

 Point there is a stratum of clay, which, in consequence 

 of its retaining moisture better than other parts of the 

 isoil, is appropriated to the cultivation of rice. 



The greater part of the island is surrounded by reefs 



