Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/86

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from its great acclivity, we went onward to the two smaller islands No. 4; and from the top of the easternmost, a third Cumberland Island, marked k2, was distinguished, and the following amongst many other bearings, were taken.

There is no shelter amongst the northern Percy Isles against east winds; but ships may pass between them, taking care to avoid a rock which lies one mile northward from the Pine Peak, and is dry at low water. Nothing was seen on these islands to merit more particular notice; and their forms and situations will be best learned from the chart.

On returning to the ship at nine in the evening, I found lieutenant Fowler had quitted the shore with his tents and people, the holds were completed with water, and both vessels ready for sea.

No. 2, the largest of the Percy Isles, is about thirteen miles in circumference; and in its greatest elevation perhaps a thousand feet. The stone is mostly of two kinds. A concreted mass of different substances, held together by a hard, dark-coloured cement, was the most abundant; I did not see either coral or pumice-stone in the composition, but it otherwise much resembled that of Aken's Island in Shoal-water Bay, and still more a stratum seen at the north-west part of Long Island: it was found at the tops of the highest hills, as well as in the lower parts. The second kind of stone is light, close-grained, and easily splits, but not in layers; it is of a yellowish colour, and probably argillaceous.

The surface of the island is either sandy or stony, or both, with a small proportion of vegetable soil intermixed. It is generally