From the above account. it appears, I think,'evidently, that all
the tropical high ifles of the South-Sea have been fubjeCt to the' action
of volcanps. This is.ftrangly Confirmed by the aftual-igniyo-
mous mountains, .which t w e : obferved at Tofooa, Ambrrym, and
Tanna.
Pyritical and fulphureous fubftances; together with a few i'ron-
ftones and fome veftiges o f copper, are no doubt found in feveral o f
them : but the mountains o f New-Caledonia are the moft likely" to
contain the richeft metallic veins-;- and the.fame opinion, I fufpeS;
may be formed o f the mountains in N ew Zeeland. For the metallic
fubftances, in all the other volcanic ifles are probably deftrOyed
and fcorified by the violence o f the fubterrarteous fiie-T th&fe in
New-Caledonia and New-Zeeland feem to be as yet undifturbed, as
the fpecies of fofEls prevailing in thefe' two ifles are fubftances,
which mineralogifts have hitherto looked upon as primogenialj in
which all the metallic veins * o n ’ our globe are conftanfly found;
W e can offer nothing befides this general, but probable, conjecture;
as our fhort ftay, and the multiplicity of other bufinefs, prevented
us from enquiring more minutely into the nature o f the fdflil pro-
dudtions o f thefe ifles.
* I fpeak of veins only, and not of Batt-work or floors, which contain likewife fomctimes
■ metallic ores, 'but have an-origin different from that of the primogenial mountain's.
IV. MOUNE
A R T H Ak t L A N D S . 29
S' E C T. IV.
0 u N T A I N
T F we examine the ifles, vifited by us in the different feas, which
A we navigated, it will appear, that they all o u gh t'to 'b e confi-
dered as a range of fubmarine mountains : for, i f the bottom o f the
fea is to be looked upon as land, thefe ifles certainly are elevations
or rifing grounds; and therefore,' as they-are fo near one another,
and Jying in the feme direction-,' they can be nothing but chains of
mountains'. I will at prefent, therefore, only give an idea of the
various ranges of thefe fubmarine elevations, which fall under the
above defcription-.
When we were at the Cape of Good Hope, in November, ^1772,
we were informed, that the French had difcovered fome land in the
Southern Indian ocean, about the meridian- of Mauritius, and the
latitude of 48° South. After having gone beyond the antardhc circle,
we hauled up towards the above fituation, and found no landj
but, froth all concurring- circumftances, it- was highly probable,
that we had been at no great diftance from it. A t our return to the
Cape in March,' 1775 , we found there Capt. Crozet, who had made
a voyage on difcovery with the unfortunate Capt. Marion, and had
found
MOUNT
A IN S .