on the beach. Theſe rafts are only fit for croſſing the water when the ſea is very tranquil; otherwiſe they would ſoon be broken aſunder by the force of the waves. As the ſavages poſſeſs the art of hollowing the trunks of trees by means of fire, they might employ the ſame method to make themſelves canoes; but the art of navigation has made as little progreſs amongſt them as the reſt.
Having arrived at the extremity of the ſtrait, I found ſome fine cryſtals of feld-ſpath in ſeveral rocks of very hard ſand ſtone.
On the tops of the hills I met with the plant deſcribed by Phillips, in his account of his voyage to Botany-bay, under the name of the yellow gum-tree. As it was already in ſeed, I had no opportunity of examining the characters requiſite for determining its genus. To me it appears to belong to that of dracæna. The grains were contained in long ears, filled with a vaſt number of larvæ, which are afterwards metamorphoſed into ſmall phalenæ of the moth kind.
The gum-reſin which flows from this plant is very aſtringent, and might, no doubt, be uſed with advantage in medicine. The gummy principle with which it abounds, renders it more apt to mix with the fluids of the human body, and ought to give it a preference before many other aſtringents that are employed.
