195 



The Franklin Islands form a part of the pastoral lease 

 'of Mr. Lloyd, to whom I am indebted for information as 

 to his impressions of their climate, etc. They are uninhabited, 

 there being no fresh water upon them, but have been used 

 in the past as grazing for a few sheep. Since the 1914-15 

 drought they have not been grazed, and at present there is 

 little sign of disturbance owing to human occupation^ even in 

 and about the small stockyard erected near the anchorage. 

 The islands can seldom, if ever, have been visited by a botanist 

 before, and in their present condition it may be fairly assumed 

 that they present a reasonably complete exhibition of their 

 original vegetation. The influence of the white man is seen 

 in the presence of a few alien annuals, but in January these 

 were not much in evidence. 



Physiographic Features. 



No account of the general geology and physiography of 

 the Nuyt's group has been published. Howchin,(^) however, 

 has visited the islands eastward of Cape Catastrophe, and 

 from his account it would seem that Franklin Islands are 

 essentially similar. The islands described by Howchin rest 

 on a platform of remote age (Cambrian or Pre-Cambrian) 

 formed of an intricate series of metamorphic, volcanic, and 

 plutonic rocks of deep-seated origin. These old rocks lie a 

 few feet above or below sea level and represent a base level 

 of erosion, considered marine. On these platforms is a cap- 

 ping of very recent date (post-miocene) which consists of 

 wind-blown sand, formed at a time when the sea M-as retreating 

 south of the present coastline. This sand has become in- 

 durated owing to the action of rain water on its calcareous 

 cont-ents. 'In times immediately antecedent to the* present 

 the sea returned to its old areas, and is now washing away the 

 soft wind-constructed sandstones that were left in the line 

 of its former retreat." 



Tlie solution of calcareous matter in the soil and its sub- 

 sequent deposition, as the water evaporates, in the form of a 

 bed of travertine limestone below the surface is a marked 

 feature of such areas. 



The Franklin Islands, so far as it was possible to observe 

 them, agree with the type of geological formation described 

 above. The platform of the islands is granitic, on which rests 

 more or less consolidated sandstone. In one or two places 

 immediately above the granitic platform a thin deposit of 

 pebbles suggests the occurrence of a conglomerate. The cliffs 

 at the north-west end of East-ern Franklin are decidedly more 



(3) Howchin, AY., Proc, Roy. Geogr. Soc. S. Austr., x., pp. 

 '204-219, 1909. 



