210 Dr. Rink on the 



the ingredients necessary for fertility, as clay, sand, mica, and carbo- 

 nate of lime. Hence there is not one single spot uncovered with high 

 tree jungle. But there is no doubt, that with the exception of some 

 steep parts of the mountains, the Islands would be very well adapted 

 for the cultivation of those plants to which the climate is suited. 



On the coasts of the southern Islands pieces of pit-coal are very 

 often found ; I frequently picked up some myself, and the natives 

 when on fishing excursions, found it in the most diversified places, 

 and brought me many specimens, they were all rolled and seemed to 

 have been exposed to the action of the waves for a long time. Some 

 of them had the appearance of very good coals ; and I suppose, those 

 brought to you by Capt. Lewis, from the Islands, have been of this 

 description ; but many of them had evidently the fibrous texture of 

 wood, and when burnt, they produced a strong smell of pyroligneous 

 acid. The great interest attached to the question of good coals on 

 the Islands, induced me principally on this account to examine the 

 rocks of sandstone and clayslate ; and at last I found several traces 

 of it, both in the sandstone and in the clayslate. These traces con- 

 sisted in thin streaks of coal in the rocks, sometimes exceeding the 

 thickness of one inch, but of no considerable extent, and in nodule 

 formed pieces, imbedded in the soft sandstone. But the principal 

 indications for good coals, as shales and impressions of cryptogamous 

 plants, were entirely wanting, though the high inclination of the 

 strata, and the many steep cliffs, gave sections of a long series of 

 beds of different periods. I am therefore induced to believe, that 

 the coals are belonging to a more recent period. Whether there are 

 some large beds of this mineral or only those detached parts here 

 and there derived from drift wood, can only be decided when the 

 Islands are somewhat cleared and fit for being more minutely 

 examined. As, from the generally high inclination, nearly every 

 bed of the strata must somewhere reach the surface, much might 

 therefore be expected from a regular Geological Survey ; it would of 

 course be out of the question to make boring experiments before 

 examining in the way proposed. 



I now at length come to some remarks on the recent geological 

 history of the Islands, I mean their increasing by corals and by the 

 gradual rising of the land by subterranean forces. All these Islands, 



