16 Dr. Fitton on the Geology of' Australia. 



Tribulation, precipitous hills, bordered by low land, form the 

 coast; but the latter cape itself consists of a lofty group, with 

 several peaks, the highest of which is visible from the sea at 

 twenty leagues. The heights from thence towards the north 

 decline gradually, as the mountainous ranges approach the 

 shore, which they join at Cape Weymouth, about latitude 12° ; 

 and from that point northward, to Cape York, the land in 

 general is comparatively low, nor do any detached points of 

 considerable elevation appear there. But about midway be- 

 tween Cape Grenville and Cape York, on the mainland south- 

 west of Cairncross Island, a flat summit called Pudding- Pan 

 Hill is conspicuous ; and its shape, which differs from that of 

 the hills on the east coast in general, remarkably resembles 

 that of the mountains of the north and west coasts, to which 

 names expressing their form have been applied*. 



The line of the coast above described retires at a point which 

 corresponds with the decline of its level ; and immediately on 

 the north of Cape Melville is thrown back to the west; so that 

 the high land about that Cape stands out like a shoulder, more 

 than forty miles beyond the coast-line between Princess Char- 

 lotte's Bay and the north-eastern point of Australia. 



The land near Cape York is not more than four or five 

 hundred feet high, and the islands off that point are nearly of 

 the same elevation. 



The bottom of several of the bays, on the eastern coast, not 

 having been explored, it is still probable that rivers, or con- 

 siderable mountain streams, may exist there. 



Along this eastern line of shore, granite has been found 

 throughout a space of nearly five hundred miles ; — at Cape 

 Cleveland ; — Cape Grafton ; — Endeavour River ; — Lizard 

 Island ; — and at Clack's Island, on the north-west of the rocky 

 mass which forms Cape Melville. And rocks of the trap for- 

 mation have been obtained in three detached points among the 

 islands off the shore; — in the Percy Isles, about latitude 

 21° 40'; — Sunday Island, north of Cape Grenville, about lati- 

 tude 12°; and in Good's Island, on the north-west of Cape 

 York, latitude 10° 34'. 



The Gulf of Carpentaria having been fully examined by 

 Captain Flinders, was not visited by Captain King; but the 

 following account has been deduced from the voyage and charts 

 of the former, 1 combined with the specimens collected by Mr. 

 Brown, who has also favoured me with an extract from the 

 notes taken by himself on that part of the coast. 



* Jane's Table Land, south-east of Princess Charlotte's Bay, (about lat. 

 14° 30'),— and Mount Adolphus, in one of the islands (about' lat. 10° 40') 

 off Cape York, have also flat summits. — King MSS. 



The 



