246 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



geographical position of Winter Island, and on such of its natural produc- 

 tions as I have not had an opportunity of mentioning in the preceding part 

 of this narrative. 



Winter Island is ten miles and a half in length from N.W.b.N. to S.E.b.S., 

 and its average breadth from eight to ten miles. It is what seamen call rather 

 low land ; the height of the S.E. point, which I named Cape Fisher, out of 

 respect to our chaplain and astronomer, being seventy-six feet, and none of the 

 hills above three times that height. The outline of the, land is smooth, and 

 in the summer, when free from snow, presents a brown appearance. Several 

 miles of the north-west end of the island are so low and level that, when the 

 snow lay thick upon it, our travellers could only distinguish it from the sea 

 by the absence of hummocks of ice. 



The basis of the island is gneiss-rock, much of which is of a grey colour, 

 but in many places also the feldspar is so predominant as to give a bright 

 red appearance to the rocks, especially about Cape Fisher, where also some 

 broad veins of quartz are seen intersecting the gneiss ; and both this and 

 the feldspar are very commonly accompanied by a green substance, which 

 we took to be pistacite, and which usually occurs as a thin lamina adhering 

 strongly to the others. In many specimens these three are united, the 

 feldspar and quartz displaying tolerably perfect crystals. In some of the 

 gneiss small red garnets are abundant, as also in mica-slate. In lumps of 

 granite, which are found detached upon the surface, the mica sometimes 

 occurs in white plates, and in other specimens is of a dirty brown colour. 

 There are several varieties of mica-slate, and some of these have a bril- 

 liant metallic appearance like silver ; those which are most so, crumble 

 very easily to pieces. The most common stone next to those already 

 mentioned is lime, which is principally schistose and of a white colour. 

 Many pieces of this substance on being broken present impressions of 

 fossil-shells, and some have also brown waved lines running quite through 

 them. Nodules of flint occur in some masses of lime, but they are not 

 common. Iron pyrites is found in large lumps of black stone, tinged 

 externally with the oxide of iron ; it is here and there met with in small 

 perfect cubes. To this list I shall only venture to add grey and red sand- 

 stone ; and refer to the Appendix for a more detailed account of the 

 mineral productions of the island. Of those of the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms I have already, in the course of the foregoing narrative, given all 

 the information we could collect. 



