46 
crests of Mount Victoria, others from spots a considerable distance 
from the highest points, issuing from crevices and hollows all round 
the two peaks. By 7 or 8 o’clock this steam always formed a dense 
cumulus over and about the top of the mountain, which looked like a 
thundercloud, and completely hid it from view. . . . Flame was 
not at any time seen by us on Mount Victoria, nor could we obtain 
from the natives any information regarding it.” 
This district was visited by Captain Moresby and his officers, who, 
after rounding Cape Nelson before nightfall on 5th of April, 1874, 
“ w ^re very much impressed by the fine picturesque appearance of 
Mounts Victoria and Trafalgar.” They do not appear to have noticed 
the emanation of either steam or smoke. 
At several places, and at different times during our Mount Suck- 
ling expedition, volumes of steam and smoke could be seen issuing 
from both the sides and summit of the mountain, and upon two occa- 
sions the clouds, hovering over the summit, were brilliantly illuminated 
after nightfall. The earth slips described by the Administrator are 
probably the narrow gullies excavated ont of a mass of fragmental vol- 
canic material ; such gullies I found to be characteristic of those tuu 
cones which I examined in the islands of the D’Entrecasteaux Group. 
From the previous descriptions, we thus see that the volcanic 
phenomena of British New Guinea present all phases, its produces arc 
scattered over almost the whole length, and in one or two cases, over the 
whole breadth of the Possession. It may be interesting to note that 
Vulcan Island (Long. 145 E.) on the north coast of New Guinea was 
active when Dampier passed in 1700; D’Entrecasteaux found it 
fuming in 1793 i but in D’Urville’s time, 1827, it was extinct, and I 
can find no record of its having made itself felt since that time. 
THE SEDIMENTARY FORMATIONS. 
If the elevated coral reef masses and the volcanic phenomena of 
New Guinea are such as to first command the attention of the geologi- 
cal observer further consideration very soon relegates them to a 
subordinate position. 
The various sedimentary rocks of British New Guinea are well 
developed in many portions of the territory, but with few exceptions 
they do not appear to have been very much studied, hence their 
mutual relationships are not as yet fully understood. Like all other 
scientific work in extensive and partially explored countries, geological 
enquiry is bound for a long time to result in neither more nor less than 
a series of unconnected observations, which, as systematic geological 
surveys proceed, will be co-ordinated, and gradually fill up the blanks 
