Whale's Head and South Cape. 19 



drift, which were excavated by a company a few years 

 ago in search of coal, are there. 



The shafts, at the time of my visit, were full of water, 

 and water stood so deep in the low-roofed drift-way, that 

 I could not conveniently enter it, so as to examine the 

 coal ; but I found scattered around small fragments of 

 coal, of anthracitic character. 



The coal-beds at Recherche Bay, besides being inferior 

 in quality, have the additional disadvantage of dipping 

 under water, almost from the moment they are touched ; 

 and must necessardy be worked, if at all, at great com- 

 parative cost, — circumstances likely long to postpone 

 further mining operations there. 



Pity it is that Recherche Bay^ — one of the finest and 

 most capacious harbours in the Island — offers, except to 

 the ship-builder, scarcely any inducement to permanent 

 occupation. Few places in the Island are possessed of 

 picturesque beauty in the same degree. Its quiet bright 

 waters, and its sinuous shores, sloping upwards into 

 densely wooded hills, which only terminate in the dis- 

 tance in lofty peaks and ranges of bold and rugged 

 mountains, present combinations of the natural elements 

 of beauty but rarely met with. 



Sullivan's Point, at the north side of the entrance to 

 Recherche Bay, is composed of greenstone ; the point of 

 land standing out between the northern and southern 

 ports in Recherche Bay is of greenstone ; the extensive 

 promontory known as the Whale Head consists of green- 

 stone. The surf-beaten line of coast round the southern 

 half of South Bruni Island is also greenstone ; and there 

 can be little doubt that the islets, rocks, and reefs 

 studded in the intervening space — the Acteons, the 

 Black Reef, the Blind Reef, and the sunken rock of the 

 George III., &c., arc constituted of the same hard and 

 durable material. 



