THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 473 



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 quarry 

 includes 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. Agriculture flourishes: 

 the cultivated fields look well, and the gardens abound with 

 thriving vegetables and fruit-trees. Some of the farm- 

 houses, situated in retired spots, had a very attractive ap- 

 pearance. The general aspect of the vegetation is similar to 

 that of Australia ; perhaps it is a little more green and cheer- 

 ful; and the pasture between the trees rather more abun- 

 dant. One day I took a long walk on the side of the bay op- 

 posite to the town : I crossed in a steamboat, two of which 

 are constantly plying backwards and forwards. The ma- 

 chinery of one of these vessels was entirely manufactured in 

 this colony, which, from its very foundation, then numbered 

 only three and thirty years ! Another day I ascended Mount 

 Wellington; I took with me a guide, for I failed in a first 

 attempt, from the thickness of the wood. Our guide, how- 

 ever, was a stupid fellow, and conducted us to the southern 

 and damp side of the mountain, where the vegetation was 

 very luxuriant ; and where the labour of the ascent, from the 

 number of rotten trunks, was almost as great as on a moun- 

 tain in Tierra del Fuego or in Chiloe. It cost us five and a 

 half hours of hard climbing before we reached the summit. 

 In many parts the Eucalypti grew to a great size, and com- 

 posed a noble forest. In some of the dampest ravines, tree- 

 ferns flourished in an extraordinary manner; I saw one 

 which must have been at least twenty feet high to the base 

 of the fronds, and was in girth exactly six feet. The fronds 

 forming the most elegant parasols, produced a gloomy shade, 

 like that of the first hour of the night. The summit of the 

 mountain is broad and flat, and is composed of huge angular 

 masses of naked greenstone. Its elevation is 3100 feet above 

 the level of the sea. The day was splendidly clear, and we 

 enjoyed a most extensive view ; to the north, the country ap- 

 peared a mass of wooded mountains, of about the same height 

 with that on which we were standing, and with an equally 



