have a most singular appearance, as though covered with thousands of
roots, twisted together into a species of network.

A SINGULAR CLIFF.

A similar curiosity is to be seen on Bald Head, in King George's Sound,
so often alluded to by former navigators, and by them mistaken either for
coral, or petrified trees standing where they originally grew. Bald Head
was visited by Mr. Darwin, in company with Captain Fitzroy, in February
1836, and his opinions upon the agencies of formation, so exactly
coincide with those to which I attribute the appearances at Arthur's
Head, that I cannot do better than borrow his words. He says--page 537,
volume 3, "According to our views, the rock was formed by the wind
heaping up calcareous sand, during which process, branches and roots of
trees, and land-shells were enclosed, the mass being afterwards
consolidated by the percolation of rain water. When the wood had decayed,
lime was washed into the cylindrical cavities, and became hard, sometimes
even like that in a stalactite. The weather is now wearing away the
softer rock, and in consequence the casts of roots and branches project
above the surface: their resemblance to the stumps of a dead shrubbery
was so exact, that, before touching them, we were sometimes at a loss to
know which were composed of wood, and which of calcareous matter."*

(*Footnote. For more exact details the reader should consult Mr. Darwin's
volume on Volcanic Islands.)

THE NATIVES.

We were much struck during our stay by the contrast between the natives
here, and those we had seen on the Beagle's former voyage at King