Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/150

76 at the time), thirty yards in length from N. to S., and contracted in the centre to six yards, occupies the depression at the summit, round which piles of fragments of prismatic basalt arise on the east and west to about fifty feet, sloping towards the north and south, where gaps are left. Perfect basaltic columns, some of them ten and twelve feet between the joints, being generally five or six angled prisms, are inclined round the acclivity of the cone, intermixed with piles of broken fragments, exhibiting the same prismatic structure. At a deep gorge, six feet wide, on the north side of the mountain, these columns are beautifully arranged. The narrow isthmus between the head of Christmas Harbour and the N.W. coast, scarcely a mile across, consists of low ridges, with intervening swampy ground, and two lakes: the rocks are amygdaloid, with superincumbent basalt.

"The primary objects of the two expeditions up this bay in boats having been to explore the N.W. or weather shore by an overland journey across the Isthmus, at the head of Cumberland Bay, the rapid movements of the party, amidst the most unfavourable weather, seldom afforded an opportunity for more than general remarks on the geological structure of the country passed through.

"On leaving Christmas Harbour two bays were passed,—'Foul Haven,' and 'Mussel Bay;' the