206 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 
thus described by Capt. m'clintock: " Near Cape Rennell We 
passed a very remarkable rounded boulder of gneiss or granite; 
it was six yards in circumference, and stood near the beach, and 
some fifteen or twenty yards above it; one or two masses of 
rounded gneiss, although very much smaller, had arrested our 
attention at Port Leopold, as then we knew of no such forma- 
tion nearer than Cape Warrender, 130 miles to the northeast; 
subsequently we found it to commence in situ at Cape Granite, 
nearly 100 miles to the southwest of Port Leopold. The granite 
of Cape warrender differs considerably from that of North 
Somerset, the former being a graphic granite, composed of gray 
quartz and white feldspar, the quartz predominating, while the 
latter, a North Somerset granite, is composed of gray quartz, 
red feldspar and green chloritic mica, the latter in large flakes. 
Both the granite and gneiss of north somerset are remarkable 
for their soapy feel.' 
' To the east of Cape Bunny, where the Silurian limestone 
ceases, and south of which the granite commences, is a remark- 
able valley called Transition valley, from the junction of 
sandstone and limestone that takes place there. The sandstone 
is red, and of the same general character as that which rests 
upon the granitoid rocks of Cape warrender and at Wolsten- 
holm sound. Owing to the mode of travelling, by sledge on 
the ice, round the coast, no information was obtained of the 
geology of the interior of the country, but it appears highly 
probable that the granite of North Somerset, as well as that of 
the other localities mentioned, is overlaid by a group of 
sandstones and conglomerates, on which the Upper Silurian 
limestones repose directly. A low sandy beach marks the term- 
ination of the valley to the northward, and on this beach were 
found numerous pebbles, washed from the hills of the interior, 
composed of quartzose sandstone, carnelian and Silurian lime- 
  
