182 THE ATLANTIC. [chap. iv. 



greatly interested in our visit, owing to a report wliicli liad 

 reached Stanley that some seams of graphite and workable beds 

 of coal had been found at Port Sussex, on the other side of the 

 island. Although from the little I had seen and read of the 

 geology of the islands, and still more from the appearance of 

 the specimens shown me by Colonel D'Arcy, I felt pretty well 

 assured that the quest would be fruitless, to satisfy the gov- 

 ernor and the agent of the Falkland Islands Company I asked 

 Mr, Moseley, who was glad of the opportunity of seeing more 

 of the country, to ride across and ascertain the true state of 

 affairs. His observations justified our previous opinion. The 

 whole of the east island, and probably the greater part of the 

 west island also, consists of sedimentary rocks of paleozoic age ; 

 in the low grounds, clay-slate and soft sandstone, aud on the 

 ridges hardened sandstone passing into the conspicuous white 

 quartzites. The beds of so-called coal were simply very bitu- 

 minous beds among the clay-slates, sometimes becoming a sort 

 of culm, w^hich might possibly answer to mix with coal and 

 burn in a smithy fire, like the bituminous slates in the Bala 

 series of Tyrone and Dumfriesshire, but which could never be 

 worked with advantage. The graphite was only the blackest 

 samples of the same material. 



Mr. Moseley brought back a fine lot of fossils from the sand- 

 stone, the beds and their contents having very much the appear- 

 ance of the ferruginous sandstones of May Hill or Girvan. 

 The species of Orthis, AtryjM, and Sjnrifer are different ; and 

 as there are no graptolites in the schists, it is probable that the 

 whole series belongs to a somewhat later period, possibly the 

 base of the Devonians. But if Mr. Moseley did not find coal, 

 he brought home, slung at his saddle-bow, what was of much 

 greater interest to us — the skull and a great part of the skeleton 

 of a rare little whale belonging to the genus Xiphius. 



The Falkland Islands consist of the older paleozoic rocks, 

 Lower Devonian, or Upper Silurian, slightly metamorphosed 



