GEOLOGICAL i'olNTS OF INTEREST. 237 



themselves up in despair. Subsequently, by the 

 intrepid exertions of Mr. Robinson, an active and 

 benevolent man, w^ho fearlessly visited by himself 

 the most hostile of the natives, the whole were in- 

 duced to act in a similar manner. They were 

 then removed to an island, where food and clothes 

 were provided them. Count Strzelecki states,* 

 that, " at the epoch of their deportation in 1835, 

 the number of natives amounted to 210. In 1812, 

 that is, after the interval of seven years, they mus- 

 tered only fifty-four individuals ; and, while each 

 family of the interior of New South Wales, un- 

 contaminated by contact with the whites, swarms 

 Avith children, those of Flinders' Island had, during 

 eight years, an accession of only fourteen in num- 

 ber !" 



The Beagle stayed here ten days, and in this 

 time I made several pleasant little excursions, 

 chiefly with the object of examining the geological 

 structure of the immediate neighbourhood. The 

 main points of interest consist, first, in some highly 

 fossiliferous strata, belonging to the Devonian or 

 Carboniferous period ; secondly, in proofs of a late 

 small rise of the land ; and lastly, in a solitary and 

 superficial patch of yellowish limestone or travertin, 

 which contains numerous impressions of leaves of 

 trees, together with land-shells, not now existing. 

 It is not improbable that this one small quany in- 

 cludes the only remaining record of the vegetation 

 of Van Diemen's Land during one former epoch. 



The climate here is damper than in New South 

 Wales, and hence the land is more fertile. Afii- 

 culture flourishes : the cultivated fields look well, 

 and the gardens abound with thriving vegetables 

 and fruit-trees. Some of the farm-houses, situated 



* Pliysical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's 

 Land, p. 354. 



