7(i

E X r E 1) 1 T 1 O N " TO JAPAN.

and is rounded down as if it had been exposed to the attrition of the sea or some other cause ;it is 576 feet high from the level of the sea. From it, a high ridge called the Backbone ex-tends to the head of the hay, and then branches out in several directions on the southern partof the island. Half a mile to the northeast is another peak (B), hut it is not more than 250feet high ; its formation and general appearance are similar to the last. Near the most north-eastern point of the island is a third peak (C), which rises rather more abruptly than the othertwo, to the height of 800 feet; it is covered almost to its summit with jungle-weed and a thickundergrowth of trees. From it a mountain ridge extends in an easterly direction towards Buck-land island, and is the boundary to a plain which begins at the base of the peaks just described,and extending to the sea on the north. The plains sloping towards Port Lloyd are traversedat several places by deep ravines, which, during rainy weather, serve as outlets to the mountain-streams, hut are entirely dry during the summer months. Most of them contain large con-glomerate boulders, which at first sight appear to he sandstone, hut on a close investigationprove to he several kinds of trap-rock. They, no doubt, were rolled down from the brokenpeaks, and were worn round by the attrition of the water and sand to which they have for agesbeen exposed. That portion of the island which is between the head of the bay and Bucklandstraits is not more than about one mile wide, and differs in some respects from that alreadynoticed ; it is not so fertile, the vegetation is less luxuriant, and the rocks present a differentcharacter. Near the central part is what I conceive to bo the crater of an ancient and extinctvolcano, as many facts tend to demonstrate. The form of the surrounding hills is peculiar ;large masses of scorim and cinders are found all around ; along the sea are beds of hardenedlava resting upon each other, occasionally interstratified with layers of sand, scorire, and cin-ders. The trees are small and stunted, and the ground in many places barren and unproduc-tive, in consequence of the soil being thin and readily dried out during long droughts. Afterthis, small valleys, plains, and hills of various heights, extend to the east and north, when theisland again becomes much wider. The two peaks called the Paps here rise, the one to 1,000,and the other to 1,100 feet above the level of the sea. On the one side, at the base, is a deepvalley, which is about a mile in length and half a mile in breadth, and a stream of running waterpasses through the middle of it. On the other or north side is a very deep ravine, with precipi-tous trap-rocks rising up hundreds of feet, and at the bottom precipices 20 and 30 feet high,over which a small stream of water falls. On the southeast of the mountains large slopingplains are formed, which extend nearly to Fitton’s bay, and are covered with beautiful forestsof palms.

The whole island is, undoubtedly, of volcanic origin, as all the geological facts which can becollected tend to prove, and its general conformation and lines of hills give strong evidence.Ancient craters at this time can readily be traced ; trap-rock forms its basis, and also thehighest peaks ; basaltic dykes passing through beds of sand ; scorira and cinders, amygdaloidand greenstone, in considerable quantities, are found at many places ; and I have succeeded intracing strata of old lava along the sea-coast, and other parts where deep sections of rock wereexposed. In a ravine, running from peak 0, we discovered a sulphur spring, the odor and tasteof which gave the strongest proof that it was highly impregnated with hydro-sulphuric gas.Iron pyrites‘(bisulphuret of iron) in abundance are also found at several places. The vegeta-tion of this island is such as is found in nearly all volcanic countries under similar latitudes.Its luxuriance appears to he in consequence of the mineral ingredients, iron, potash, soda,lime, alumina, and silica, being in such proportions as to supply its demands.