CAP, SING, MOON. ]9 



which rises near its summit, and found by its 

 side a number of interesting plants. The general 

 surface of the mountain, and indeed of every 

 part of the island of_^Hong Kong, that I was 

 able to visit, is remarkably barren, although in 

 the distance it appears fertile, from a fern which 

 I believe to be the Polypodium trichotomum of 

 Koempfer, which supplies the place of other 

 plants. I ascended about one thousand feet, 

 and returned by a path which passed over a 

 small hill, or rather mound, differing in struc- 

 ture from all the rocks in its neighbourhood, 

 being composed of a very friable stone of a red- 

 dish white colour, much resembling disinte- 

 grated feltspar. On reaching the shore, I ex- 

 amined the rocks by the waterfall, where they 

 are exposed in large surfaces, and found them 

 composed of basaltic trap, exhibiting in some 

 places a distinct stratification, in others a con- 

 fused columnar arrangement. It is also divided 

 into distinct, well-defined, rhomboidal masses, 

 separated from each other by very obvious seams, 

 in which I frequently found cubic crystals of 

 iron pyrites."* 



The further progress of the ship was ex- 

 tremely tardy, from calms and adverse winds, 

 so that we did not reach the Cap, sing, moon 

 * Abel's China, 4to. pp. 60, 61. 



C2 



