PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 31 



formation, and do not appear at the surface to be chap. 

 very extensive, or to promise any very large supply v«^w 

 of fuel. This observation applies only to that part October 

 of the coast which lies in the vicinity of Conception 

 and the port, a large proportion of which is composed 

 of diluvial depositions. 



We are informed by a visiter to this country, 

 that limestone is found at Conception, and is used 

 by the inhabitants for whitewashing their houses ; 

 but this is evidently a mistake, as the natives col- 

 lect shells, and calcine them for that purpose ; be- 

 sides, in no part of the bay or vicinity of Concep- 

 tion could we perceive limestone, or even hear of its 

 existence. A gentleman pointed out a place to the 

 northward of Tome Bay, where, he said, it occurred; 

 but, on examination, only clay-slate, chert, and green- 

 stone were found. 



As the geology of Conception will appear in an- 

 other place, I shall merely observe here, that in the 

 secondary sand- stone a variety of petrifactions occur, 

 of wood, shells, and bones, formed by an infiltration 

 of siliceous and calcareous matter. The little island 

 of Quinquina presents alternate horizontal strata of 

 pebbles, sand-stone, and petrified substances, princi- 

 pally of wood, and vertebral and other bones of the 

 whale. On the opposite shore a fossil nautilus was 

 found, which measured three feet in diameter. Upon 

 the beach, in several parts of the bay, there are ridges 

 of magnetic iron-sand which the waves have thrown 

 up : they are seen adhering together, apparently by 

 mutual attraction. 



The abundance of shell-fish in Conception entices 

 a great many birds within the bay. The shore is 

 occasionally thronged with them and the shags 



