GEOLOGICAL REMARKS. 



579 



the granite from the greenstone and mica slate districts, is through- 

 out thickly strewed with islands, which reduce the channel in 

 some parts to a mile, and, in one place, to not more than fifty- 

 yards in width. Here, of course, the tide sets with great strength. 

 Several vessels, however, have passed through it under sail ; and 

 one ship, a whaler belonging to Messrs. Enderby, working through 

 the Strait, and finding much difficulty in passing to the westward;* 

 bore up, and, the wind being fair and the distance to sea only fifty 

 miles, ran through it without accident. The land to the westward 

 of the Barbara Channel is high and rugged ; and although in the 

 vallies, ravines, and sheltered nooks, there is no want of vegeta- 

 tion, yet, in comparison with the eastern part of the Strait, it has 

 a very dismal and uninviting appearance. It was called by Sar- 

 miento, ' Santa Ines Island' ;* but Narborough called it, ^ South 

 Desolation ; it being/ as he says, ' so desolate land to behold. 'f 



Clarence Island, which is fifty-two miles long and twenty-three 

 broad, although equally rocky, is much more verdant in appear- 

 ance. The uniform direction of the headlands of the north shore 

 of the island is remarkable. Upon taking a set of angles with the 

 theodolite placed upon the extremity of the west end of Bell Bay, 

 opposite to Cape Holland, the most prominent points to the south- 

 east, as far as could be seen, were all visible in the field of the 

 telescope at the same bearing. The same thing occurred on the 

 opposite shore of the Strait, where the projections of Cape Gallant, 

 Cape Holland, and Cape Froward, are in the same line of bearing; 

 so that a parallel ruler placed on the map upon the projecting 

 points of the south shore, extended across, will also touch the 

 headlands of the opposite coast. 



The eastern island, which had been previously called, and of 

 course retains on our chart the name of King Charles South 

 Land, extends from the entrance of the Strait to the outlet of the 

 Barbara and Cockburn Channels, at Cape Schomberg. The 

 northern part partakes of the geological character of the eastern 

 portion of the Strait. The centre is a continuation of the slate 

 formation, which is evident at a glance, from the uniformity of the 

 direction of the shores of Admiralty Sound, the Gabriel Channel^ 

 and all the bays and mountain ranges of Dawson Island. The 

 south shore, or seaward coast line, is principally of greenstone, 

 * Sarmiento, p. 180. t Narborough's V^nag-e, p. 78 



