CORAL ROCK AND PUMICE PEBBLES. 53 



plain, separated from the open sea by one or two 

 detached hills of granite, 100 or 150 feet high. After 

 heavy rains, a little water-course traversing this is 

 likewise fall of good water. These two little plains, 

 although several feet above the reach of any possible 

 tide, and covered with grass and trees, both old and 

 young, are found just below the superficial covering 

 of sand to rest upon coral rock, or the recent con- 

 glomerate mentioned before, consisting of coral sand 

 compacted together into hard rock, with imbedded 

 fragments of corals and shells. At the head of the bay, 

 in the " seining cove/' this rock is again seen form- 

 ing a small flat, covered with trees, at the foot of the 

 granite rocks. It is seen in one or two places along 

 shore on the beach, where it frequently has nearly 

 the same inclination as the beach itself, but where it 

 is now much worn and broken by the sea washing 

 against it. Over the whole of these flats, among 

 the grass and under the roots of the trees, are found 

 pebbles of pumice. Wherever we have landed, from 

 Sandy Cape to this place, this singular fact has 

 been observed. At Sandy Cape pieces were brought 

 off to me larger than the fist ; but at Cape Upstart 

 and the neighbourhood they are generally about the 

 size of a walnut, well rounded, and smooth exter- 

 nally, light enough to swim in water, of an olive 

 green or grey colour in general. I have never 

 observed them at a greater height above the sea 

 than fifteen feet. They have never been seen float- 

 ing in the water nor lying on the actual beach, 



