It May Seem
Superfluous To Speak Of Soil And Timber Among Such Mountains As These;
Yet I Will Say That Except Where The Rocks Presented A Perpendicular
Face, And Along The Highest Ridges, The Soil Was Light And Good.
The
timber consisted of blue gum and stringy bark, and forest oak
[Note:
Casuarina torulosa.] of the largest dimensions: the gorges of the
valleys were covered with loose small stones, and in those gorges all the
trees which are usually found in places of a similar description
in the district of the Five Islands (with the exception of the red
cedar), were to be met with. The stones and rocks were mixed with
a considerable portion of quartz, and were generally in loose detached
masses of various sizes. The mountain from whence we first saw the ocean
was named Sea View Mount, and I should think might be distinctly seen by
ships at some distance from the coast.
September 24. - At eight o'clock the horses began to ascend the mountain,
and it was twelve before we reached the summit, a distance of exactly two
miles. How the horses descended I scarcely know; and the bare
recollection of the imminent dangers which they escaped, makes me
tremble. At one period of the descent, I would willingly have compromised
for a loss of one third of them, to ensure the safety Of the remainder.
It is to the exertions and steadiness of the men, under Providence, that
their safety must be ascribed. The thick tufts of grass and the loose
soil also gave them a surer footing, of which the men skillfully availed
themselves.
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