256 HOTHAM ISLAND. 



One of the most recent displays of submarine 

 action, extending above the surface, which has 

 appeared in those seas, is 



HOTHAM ISLAND. 



That island, or rather the symptoms of its form- 

 ation were first observed on the 10th of July, 

 1 83 1 ; though on the preceding day quantities of 

 charred sea plants, and dead fish were observed 

 floating on the surface; and sounds resembling 

 that of thunder were heard. Shocks of earth- 

 quakes had, indeed, been felt by ships passing 

 the same spot on the 28th of June ; but there was 

 then no appearance at the surface of the sea. At 

 about eleven o'clock on the 10th, Captain Carrao, 

 who commanded a Sicilian brig, and was then 

 about twenty miles off Cape St. Mark, observed 

 the water, at the distance of a gun-shot, in a 

 state of agitation. A portion, more than a hun- 

 dred fathoms in diameter, rose up to the height 



