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1798             on this point the numbers exceeded what we had before we met with. The
February       terror of the young cubs, who had not yet dared to take the water, afforded us a good deal of amusement; they huddled in together among the rocks, putting up a dozen noses through the cavities and expressing their fears of their tormenters by piteous looks and moans. One of the elder would sometimes assume courage enough to bark in a tremulous tone, and indeed {became} very fierce on our walking away from them: We killed as many large ones as there was time to skin whilst taking the bearings, and then ran to the south end of the easternmost of the two islands, on our way back. I would wished to have gone round the island of Cape Barren, and so have returned to the west end of it to Preservation Island; but our situation in point of time made it necessary to return by the nearest way.
    The two conic formed eminences on Rocky Point, are of the same stone, which seemed to compose the beds of all these islands, and is a solid, white granite, with small black specks in it; and the uncovered patches about the peak and other parts of the high land, make it probable, that they are likewise vast bodies of a like substance. It was in few places that any other kind of stone was met with; some black and grey slate were almost the exceptions. These were universally placed in the strata, whose position was perpendicular or nearly so; but between the strata the granite in [illegible] had insinuated itself, and in two instances