Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/155

] contrast with the dark trap ranges. The southern extremity rises to nearly 300 feet, gradually sloping down towards the north. Prismatic columns, mostly five and six angled, appear in places through the pile of loose fragments with which the hill is covered. The fragments of slate on this hill are much marked by red concentric lines, apparently caused by oxide of iron. In crossing over the Isthmus from the head of Cumberland Bay to the N.W. coast, several pieces of coal occurred scattered about a watercourse, but none in situ, although, had circumstances permitted its being followed up, a bed would no doubt have been discovered not far distant.

"On this coast, being the weather shore, the quantity of debris at the base of the hills is enormous, forming a steep slope of 300 to 500 feet, down to the black ledge of basalt on which the sea breaks. The whole is covered by a carpet of vegetation, intersected by numerous watercourses and cascades, rushing down from the trap range of mountains above, rendering it an almost impassable bog, in which the party sank knee-deep at every step. A bay was found to bound it, and all further progress to the westward."

The vegetable productions of this island cannot fail to be of more than ordinary interest to the botanist. So remote from any shores from which birds of passage might convey the seeds of their