396 
SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
1S20. colour ; the basis is disposed in horizontal strata, 
Sept 6 . but the surface is covered with large amorphous 
rocks of the same character, that have evidently 
been detached and heaped together by some con- 
vulsion of nature: over these a shallow soil is 
sprinkled, which nourishes our old acquaintance 
spinifex, and a variety of plants, of which Mr. 
Cunningham collected more than twenty distinct 
known genera. The exposed surfaces of the 
rocks are coloured by the oxide of iron, which is 
so generally the case upon the northern and 
north-western coasts, that the name of Red 
Coast might, with some degree of propriety, be 
applied to a great portion of this continent. 
Mr. Hunter found a large quantity of bulbous- 
rooted plants; they proved to be a liliaceous 
plant, of the same species as those which we had 
before found upon Sims’ Island, the islands of 
Flinders’ Group on the eastern coast, and at 
Percy Island. 
A meridional altitude of the sun was obtained 
on the north side of the island ; and, before we 
embarked, the boat’s crew found fresh water 
enough to fill our barica: this was so unusual 
a discovery, that the island was complimented 
with a name which will serve rather to record the 
fact, than to distinguish it as a place where so 
important an article of refreshment may be pro- 
