340 
On Marine Deposits 
of a man’s head, and the drifts were about a cable’s length 
in width; the pumice so closely packed that the water 
could scarcely be seen through. The nearest distance 
from Tristan d’ Acunha was about 18G leagues, and the 
farthest was about 256 leagues. On the 26th March 
there was no current, and no bottom with 130 fathoms. 
Polehampton, who also quotes the case, conjectures that 
the pumice must have fallen in showers.* 
When or where the eruption happened, will for ever 
remain unknown ; but the same doubt exists about the 
occurrence of pumice on the east coast of New South 
Wales. Flinders, and after him other authors, mention 
the occurrence of pumice on the shores of Moreton Bay, 
Jervis’ Bay, and other parts of the coast; and Pumice 
Stone River takes its name from the discovery. I have 
traced this drift pumice along the shore from the Hunter 
to the Illawarra, in various places: it invariably lies on 
the north side of the little bays and indentations of the 
coast, as at Bondi Bay, near Sydney, and in Jervis’ Bay, 
as if it had apparently been lodged by a wind from the 
south. But near Red Head, south of Newcastle, it lies 
above high-water mark in the sands of the shore, as if 
blown in from the east. The Rev. C. P. N. Wilton 
says, it always is found in greater quantities after an 
east wind. 
The conjecture is, that it floats from New Zealand, as 
in Cook’s Strait considerable quantities are found, the 
product of Mount Egmont. 13r. Dieffenbach, whom I 
asked about it, told me that the pumice of that locality 
could not find its way to the east in the way supposed. 
Capt. P. P. King, R. N., mentions, in his “ Survey of 
the intertropical parts of Australia,” that, on the 2nd June, 
1818, large quantities of pumice-stone were seen floating 
on the water about lat. 11° 43' S., and long. 129° 47' E.; 
* Vol. iv., p. 105. 
