118 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. VHI. 



until now. Immediately outside the harbour, Ke-lung Island 

 is a very striking object, and a fine landmark for the entrance, 

 from which it is distant only two and a quarter miles. It is 

 a steep conical rock, rising 580 feet above the .level of the 

 sea. I had no opportunity of landing upon it, and cannot, 

 therefore, speak with certainty as to its geological structure ; 

 but from its peculiar form, and from the fact that between it 

 and the mainland there is everywhere 30 to 35 fathoms 

 water, I should suppose it to be probably volcanic. I more 

 than once passed within a mile of it, and could see no signs 

 of sandstone ; nor are there any trees upon it, as there are 

 upon the sandstone shores of the harbour. 



Looking back towards Ke-lung, one could not fail to be 

 struck with the appearance of the coast northward of the 

 harbour, which consists of a series of ascending strata, dip- 

 ping south at an angle of 15°, and hoUowed at the outcrop 

 northwards with valleys extending as far as the eye could 

 reach. The conformity of the lines is very remarkable, and 

 they are continued at the back of the harbour in the distance ; 

 but it cannot be observed on the southern side. 



Immediately north of Ke-lung we met with a group of 

 three islands — Pinnacle, Craig, and Agincourt — ^little, if 

 ever, visited, and of which no description has been given. 

 The fiirst of these, Pinnacle Island, is of a remarkable form, 

 and has received the native name of the Chair-bearers, from 

 the fact of the outline faintly resembling a Chinese sedan 

 borne between two men. It is a perfectly bare craggy rock, 

 with a tall pinnacle at either end, against which the waves 

 dash furiously, sending the spray a hundred feet high. The 

 rock was whitened with the excrements of sea-birds, and I 

 had no opportunity of a close inspection. 



On approaching Craig Island great flocks of birds flew 



