KING GEORGE S SOUND. 239 



south, the broken land and water, forming many 

 intricate bays, was mapped with clearness before 

 us. After staying some hours on the summit, we 

 found a better way to descend, but did not reach 

 the Beagle till eight o'clock, after a severe day's 

 work. 



February Ith.—The Beagle sailed from Tasma- 

 nia, and, on the 6th of the ensuing month, reached 

 King George's Sound, situated close to the S.W. 

 corner of Australia. We stayed there eight days', 

 and we did not, during our voyage, pass a more dull' 

 and uninteresting time. The country, viewed from 

 an eminence, appears a woody plain, with here and 

 there rounded and partly bare hills of gi^anite pro- 

 truding. One day I went out with a party, in hopes 

 of seeing- a kangaroo-hunt, and walked over a good 

 many miles of country. Everywhere we found 

 the soil sandy and very poor : it suppf)rted either 

 a coarse vegetation of thin, low brushwood and 

 wiry grass, or a forest of stunted trees. The scen- 

 ery resembled that of the high sandstone platform 

 of the Blue Mountains ; the Casuarina (a tree some- 

 what resembling a Scotch fir) is, however, here in 

 greater number, and the Eucalyptus in rather less. 



In the open parts there were many grass-trees 



a plant which, in appearance, has some affinity with 

 the palm ; but, 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 

 gi-een colour of the brushwood and other plants, 

 viewed from a distance, seemed to promise fertili- 

 ty. A single walk, however, was enough to dispel 

 such an Ulusion; and he who thinks with me will 

 never wish to Avalk again in so uninviting a country. 

 One day I accompanied Captain Fitz Roy to BaJd 

 Head, the place mentioned by so many navigators, 

 where some imagined that they saw corals, and 



