COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
]6.5 
that derived any advantage from our visit. Of is22. 
the productions of this island, he makes the fol- Jan. 14 . 
lowing brief remarks:— ‘‘ It is surprising that 
an island, situated at so short a distance from 
the south-west coast, should bear so small a 
feature of the characteristic vegetation of King 
George’s Sound, as not to furnish a plant of its 
several genera of Proteacece or Mimosece, and but 
a solitary plant of Leguminosce, It would there- 
fore seem that these families are confined to 
the shores of the main, particularly about King 
George’s Sound, where we have just left them 
in the greatest luxuriance and profusion. Among 
the botanical productions of this island, there is 
no plant of so striking a feature as the callilris, 
a tree of about twenty-five feet high, with a 
short stem of three feet in diameter; it much 
resembles the pirns cedrus, or cedar of Leba- 
non, in its robust horizontal growth ; it is found 
abundantly over the island, and within a few 
yards of the sea-beach. The island is formed 
by a succession of small hills and intervening 
valleys ; and although the soil is very poor, being 
principally a mixture of quartzose sand, and a 
large proportion of marine exuviae, yet this tree 
grows to a considerable size, but covering the 
surface of the island, gives it a monotonous ap- 
pearance, which is, however, occasionally relieved 
