450 KING GEORGE'S SOUND. [CHAP. xix. 



a plant which, in appearance, has some affinity with the palm ; 

 out, instead of being surmounted by a crown of noble fronds, it 

 can boast merely of a tuft of very coarse grass-like leaves. The. 

 general bright green colour of the brushwood and other plants, 

 viewed from a distance, seemed to promise fertility. A single 

 walk, however, was enough to dispel such an illusion ; and h*> 

 who thinks with me will never wish to walk again in so unin- 

 viting a country. 



One day I accompanied Captain Fitz Roy to Bald Head ; the 

 place mentioned by so many navigators, where some imagined 

 that they saw corals, and others that they saw petrified trees, 

 standing in the position in which they had grown. According 

 to our view, the beds have been formed by the wind having 

 heaped up fine sand, composed of minute rounded particles of 

 shells and corals, during which process branches and roots of 

 trees, together with many land-shells, became enclosed. The 

 whole then became consolidated by the percolation of calcareous 

 matter ; and the cylindrical cavities left by the decaying of the 

 wood, were thus also filled up with a hard pseudo-stalactitical 

 stone. The weather is now rearing away the softer parts, and 

 in consequence the hard cwt.s of the roots and branches of the 

 trees project above the surface, and, in a singularly deceptive 

 manner, resemble the stumps of a dead thicket. 



A large tribe of natives, called the White Cockatoo men, 

 happened to pay the settlement a visit while we were there. 

 These men, as well as those of the tribe belonging to King 

 George's kSound, being tempted by the offer of some tubs of rice 

 and sugar, were persuaded to hold a " corrobery," or great 

 dancing-party. As soon as it grew dark, small fires were lighted, 

 and the men commenced their toilet, which consisted in painting 

 themselves white in spots and lines. As soon as all was ready, 

 large fires were kept blazing, round which the women and chil- 

 dren were collected as spectators ; the Cockatoo and King 

 George's men formed two distinct parties, and generally danced 

 in answer to each other. The dancing consisted in their running 

 either sideways or in Indian file into an open space, and stamp- 

 ing the ground with great force as they marched together. Their 

 heavy footsteps were accompanied by a kind of grunt, by beating 

 their clubs and spears together, and by various other gestioula 



