The Day Was Splendidly Clear, And We
Enjoyed A Most Extensive View; To The North, The Country
Appeared A Mass Of Wooded Mountains, Of About The Same Height
With That On Which We Were Standing, And With An Equally
Tame Outline:
To the south the broken land and water, forming
many intricate bays, was mapped with clearness before
us.
After staying some hours on the summit, we found a
better way to descend, but did not reach the Beagle till eight
o'clock, after a severe day's work.
February 7th. - The Beagle sailed from Tasmania, and,
on the 6th of the ensuing month, reached King George's
Sound, situated close to the S. W. corner of Australia. We
stayed there eight days; and we did not during our voyage
pass a more dull and uninteresting time. The country,
viewed from an eminence, appears a woody plain, with here
and there rounded and partly bare hills of granite protruding.
One day I went out with a party, in hopes of seeing a
kangaroo hunt, and walked over a good many miles of country.
Everywhere we found the soil sandy, and very poor;
it supported either a coarse vegetation of thin, low brushwood
and wiry grass, or a forest of stunted trees. The
scenery resembled that of the high sandstone platform of the
Blue Mountains; the Casuarina (a tree somewhat resembling
a Scotch fir) is, however, here in greater number, and
the Eucalyptus in rather less. In the open parts there were
many grass-trees, - a plant which, in appearance, has some
affinity with the palm; but, instead of being surmounted by
a crown of noble fronds, it can boast merely of a tuft of
very coarse grass-like leaves.
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