14
TASMAN'S PENINSULA.
[Chap. I.
1841
is deeply indented with bays and promontories, and contains about 120 square miles of surface, chiefly mountains, varying in elevation from 700 to 3000 feet. It is for the most part thickly wooded with the Eucalyptus globulosa, E. robusta, E. piperita, E. myrtifolia; Acacia decurrens, A. affinis, A. melonoxylon, A. saligna, A. verticillata; Zerea and Alsophila, in the hills and gullies. In many parts, particularly on the coast, are Casuarinæ, Banksiæ, and the Exocarpus cupressiformis; in this respect agreeing with the other parts of the island. There are very few coniferæ, if any, of any magnitude.
"The nature of the soil varies with the neighbouring rocks. The basaltic hills, in those parts which I have visited, are covered, as in the neighbourhood of Hobarton, with a good-bodied clay, chiefly of a red tint, encumbered with masses of basalt, in a more or less forward state of degeneration. The chief ranges are of this description at the summit. In the lower levels sandstone often crops out, having the basalt overlying and subjacent. Indeed, basalt may be said to be the prevalent rock. The peninsula of Point Puer is formed of an indurated clay, containing fossil remains, consisting chiefly of marine shells, gorgoniæ, corals, &c. I have found a vertebra imbedded. I think it is the cervical vertebra belonging to an animal about the size of a sheep. I cannot now find it amongst the specimens. On this rock rests clay, varying in purity from the finest pipe-clay to ochre. In this alluvium are found silicious fossils of two species of shells, similar to those fossilized