108 WEIGH AND GRAZE ON A ROCK. 



versed in the science of geology to offer any spe- 

 cific theory to account for the appearances I have 

 described : the cliffs were rent and cracked in a 

 thousand different ways, and taking into considera- 

 tion their strange and wrecked appearance, together 

 with the fact that lightning is known to vitrify sand, 

 may we not thus get a clue to the real agency by 

 which these results have been produced ?* 



February 10. — The weather was thick and 

 gloomy, and it rained fast ; but, having completed 

 our survey and observations, and the wind being 

 favourable, it was resolved to get under weigh with- 

 out further loss of time. 



In the very act of weighing, the ship's keel 

 grazed a sunken rock, of the existence of which, 

 though we had sounded the bay, we had been, till 

 that moment, in ignorance I He only who has felt 

 the almost animated shudder that runs through the 

 seemingly doomed ship at that fearful moment, can 

 understand with what gratitude we hailed our 

 escape from the treacherous foe. 



In passing out, we named two low small rocky 

 islands, lying north of Point Swan, and hitherto 

 unhonoured with any particular denomination, the 



* Since this was written, I have consulted my friend, Mr. 

 Darwin, who has kindly examined a specimen I brought away. 

 He pronounces it " a superficial highly ferrugineous sandstone, 

 with concretionary veins and aggregations." The reader should, 

 however, consult Mr. Darwin's work on the 'Geology of Volcanic 

 Islands,' p. 143. 



