Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/137

1832.] the natives, collected by G. A. Robinson, from Barren Island, where he had left them, we proceeded by an intricate channel, to Woolnorth, where we became the guests of Samuel Reeves, the Superintendent of this part of the establishment of the V. D. Land Company. Here we were welcomed also by their surgeon, James Richardson, who studied his profession under a friend of mine in Leeds; and who frequently accompanied us in our walks in this neighbourhood.

There are only a few weather-boarded buildings at Woolnorth, which is on the north coast, near Moandas Point, and not far from Cape Grim. Much of the country in this neighbourhood is basaltic, and some of the soil is a fine red loam. To the west, the land is low and swampy, but a considerable, grassy marsh is under drainage.—While walking over this marsh, a large leech crawled up my clothes, and bled me so quietly, that I was unconscious of its intrusion until it droped off. These animals live among the roots of long grass, &c. in moist ground: their mouths are oval, and they give much less pain in biting than the leeches of Europe.—There are some large rocks of white quartz in this direction; and on the coast, the clay-slate formation emerges in a form resembling Turkey-stone, and is useful for hones. The low ground near the coast is open, grassy forest, of small Gum-trees, Honey-suckles, &c. and on the sand-banks, there are large round bushes of a remarkable, oval-leaved Corroea.—Short bushes cover some parts of the interior land, and the hills of the west coast are grassy. On these some Merino sheep are fed, but the climate is rather too moist for them.

At Cape Grim, some of the upper portions of the cliffs, are soft sandstone, but their most striking portions are basalt, some of which is columnar. In these cliffs there are caves, formed of slender columns of basalt, of a bluish colour, converging to a sort of keel above and below.—At the foot of the cliff, there is a rugged flat, over which the sea breaks furiously, when the wind lays strong on the shore, which is often the case. The whole scenery is in harmony with the name of the place.

The Islands at this extremity of Bass's Straits are