East Coast, Sf V. D.s Land.] INTRODUCTION. cxxxi 
gave 4,0° 28' for the latitude of Hamilton's Road. The longitude IS Flinders. 
ig' 20" west of Cape Barren ; and therefore should be 14,8° 6' east 
of Greenwich. It is high water in the road, according to Mr. 
Hamilton's report, half an hour before the moon passes over the meri- 
dian ; but from what I observed, without paying particular attention 
to it, the tide did not appear to flow so late by an hour : the medium 
rise was about seven feet, as at Port Jackson. 
Well tasted fresh water is collected, at certain seasons, in small 
pools near the east end of Preservation Island ; but that which drains 
from the rocks was first used by the Sydney-Cove's crew, until 
several of them died. Small runs or pools of water are to be found 
almost every where under the high parts of Cape-Barren Island, 
and it is probable there may be some upon Clarke's Island ; but at 
the Passage Isles we found it difficult to obtain wherewithal to satisfy 
our thirst. 
The stone of which the southern, and probably the whole of 
Furneaux's Islands are composed, is mostly a whitish granite, but 
sometimes inclining to red; and is full of small, black specks. 
Quartz seems to have a more than usual share in its composition, and 
we occasionally found crystals of that substance upon the shores. 
The black specks were thought to be grains of tin, and to have 
communicated a deleterious quality to the water used by the ship- 
wrecked people. The exceptions to the general prevalence of 
granite were few : they consisted of some black, and some grey 
slate, in thin strata, placed nearly perpendicular to the horizon; but 
even here, the granite had pervaded the fissures of the strata ; and, 
in two instances, a substance which, from its appearance, I supposed 
to be a toad stone, had insinuated itself. 
Some of the trees on Preservation Island had partly undergone a 
peculiar transformation. The largest of them were not thicker than 
a man's leg, and the whole were decayed ; but whilst the upper 
branches continued to be of wood, the roots at the surface, and the 
trunks up to a certain height, were of a stony substance resembling 
