e
brackish, found nothing remarkable. Whether the water become thus tinged,
in its course down the hills, by earthy or metallic substances, or
acquire its colour from the roots and leaves of vegetables, I am unable
to decide; but think the former most probable.

All the islands are over-run with brush wood, amongst which, in the more
sheltered and less barren parts, are mixed a few stunted trees, which
seem to shed their bark annually, and to be of the heavy kind called gum
tree at Port Jackson. The brush wood overspreads even the rocks where it
can get the least hold; it is commonly impenetrable, and on the south and
west sides of the islands assumes a depressed, creeping form, strongly
indicative of the strength and generality of the winds from those
quarters. Many of the sandy parts are covered with the hassocks of wiry
grass, which constitute the favourite retreat of the sooty petrel; and at
the back of the shores, there is frequently some extent of ground where
the creeping, salt plants grow, and to which the penguins principally
resort. To this general account of the scanty vegetable productions of
Furneaux's Islands, may be added several low shrubs, and a grass which
grows on the moist grounds near the borders of the pools and fresh
swamps, and which, though coarse, might serve as food for cattle.

Of the animal productions of the islands, the list is somewhat more
extensive. Those for which they are indebted to the sea, are seals of two
kinds, sooty petrels, and penguins. The hair seal appears to frequent the
sheltered beaches, points, and rocks; whilst the rocks and rocky points
exposed to the buffettings of the waves are preferred by the handsomer
and superior species, which never condescends to the effeminacy of a
beach. A point or island will not be greatly resorted to by these
animals, unless it slope gradually to the water, and the shore be, as we
term it, steep to. This is the case with the islet lying off Cape Barren,
and with Cone Point; with parts of the Passage Isles, and the south end
of Clarke's Island; and at these places only, did I see fur seals in any
number.

The sooty petrel, better known at sea under the name of _sheerwater_,
frequents the tufted, grassy parts of all the islands in astonishing
numbers. It is known that these birds make burrows in the ground, like
rabbits; that they lay one or two enormous eggs in these holes, and bring
up their young there. In the evening, they come in from