Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 2.djvu/499

Rh others, Okkak and Hopedale, in lat. 58° 43′, and 55° 36′. Hence they have made several excursions, and last year doubled Cape Chudleigh, in lat. 60° 20′, and descended on the opposite or western side of the promontory as far as lat. 58° 36′.

The missionaries, assiduously occupied with the great aim for which they are sent, may be supposed to have but little time for objects of mere science; they have however not been neglectful of the opportunities their stations afforded, but have improved them as far as their abilities allowed. They have kept meteorological tables of the barometrical and thermometrical variations, a tolerably complete flora has been collected; they have from time to time sent specimens of the minerals of the country; and their diaries and verbal accounts furnish some idea at least of the principal mountains on the coast. It is to be regretted that their observations are of such a nature as to throw little light on the geology of the country; even the specimens sent have not always their habitats affixed, or get confounded on board of the vessel. The general aspect of the country is else such as to promise interesting results, and the examination of the different strata is not liable to those obstructions from the enveloping mantle of vegetation and alluvial mould which so often baffle all research in our countries. According to the descriptions of those who have had an opportunity of contemplating this inhospitable region, it consists almost entirely of barren rock, towering in craggy eminences, on which even the hardy lichen in vain endeavours to fix a habitation; for moisture enters the rock with its fibres; the intense cold of winter congeals that moisture, and the summer's thaw precipitates the loosened fragment with its tenant to

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