SINGULAR CLIFF. 57 



generally speaking, north and south. It appears to 

 suhside towards the north, and its greatest elevation 

 is nearly 2,000 feet. The cliffs of the coast at the 

 mouth of Swan River, have a most singular appear- 

 ance, as though covered with thousands of roots, 

 twisted together into a species of net-work. A 

 similar curiosity is to be seen on Bald Head, in 

 King George's Sound, so often alluded to by former 

 navigators, and by them mistaken either for coral, 

 or petrified trees standing where they originally 

 grew. Bald Head was visited by Mr. Darwin, in 

 company with Captain Fitz-Roy, in February 1836, 

 and his opinions upon the agencies of formation, so 

 exactly coincide with those to which I attribute 

 the appearances at Arthur's Head, that I cannot do 

 better than borrow his words. He says, — page 

 537, vol. 3, " According to our views, the rock was 

 formed by the wind heaping up calcareous sand, 

 during which process, branches and roots of trees, 

 and land-shells were enclosed, the mass being after- 

 wards consolidated by the percolation of rain water. 

 When the wood had decayed, lime was washed into 

 the cylindrical cavities, and became hard, some- 

 times even like that in a stalactite. The weather is 

 now wearing away the softer rock, andin consequence 

 the casts of roots and branches project above the 

 surface : their resemblance to the stumps of a dead 

 shrubbery was so exact, that, before touching them, 

 we were sometimes at a loss to know which were 



