178 KIXG GEORGE'S SOOXD chap. 



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 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 

 seEL The day was splendidly clear, and we enjoyed a most 

 extensive view ; to the north, the country appeared a mass of 

 wooded mountains, of about the same height with that on 

 which we were standing, and with an equall}' tame outline ; to 

 the south the broken land and water, forming many intricate 

 bays, was mapped with clearness before us. After staying 

 some hours on the summit we found a better waj' to descend, 

 but did not reach the Beagle till eight o'clock, after a severe 

 day's work. 



February jth. — The Beagle sailed from Tasmania, and, on 

 the 6th of the ensuing month, reached King George's Sound, 

 situated close to the S.W. corner of Australia. \^e stayed 

 there eight days ; and we did not during our voyage pass a 

 more dull and uninteresting time. The country, viewed from 

 an eminence, appears a woody plain, with here and there 

 rounded and partly bare hills of granite protruding. One day 

 I went out with a party, in hopes of seeing a kangaroo-hunt, 

 and walked over a good many miles of country. Everywhere 

 we found the soil sandy, and very poor ; it supported either a 

 coarse vegetation of thin, low brushwood and wirj' grass, or a 

 forest of stunted trees. The scenery resembled that of the 

 high sandstone platform of the Blue Mountains ; the Casuarina 

 (a tree somewhat resembling a Scotch fir) is, however, here in 

 greater number, and the Eucalyptus in rather less. In the 

 open parts there were many grass-trees, — a plant which, in 

 appearance, has some affinity with the palm ; but, instead of 

 being surmounted by a crown of noble fronds, it can boast 

 merely of a tuft of very coarse grass-like leaves. The general 

 bright green colour of the brushwood and other plants, viewed 

 from a distance, seemed to promise fertility. A single walk, 

 however, was enough to dispel such an illusion ; and he who 

 thinks with me will never wish to walk again in so uninviting 

 a country. 



