ABSTRACT
Aug. f 21st 0 The Island of Tanna is about 6 or 8 leagues long from NW to SE; its breadth I can as yet, say nothing of.2 The hills of it, as far as appears from its cliffs towards the Sea, are a clay-Marie with Marie-& Chalk-Stones mixed. This lies in Strata of 6 Inches more or less, pretty horizontal or very little deviating. In a few places I found a soft black Sandstone, composed of the Ashes spread by the Volcano & a kind of Clay; here & there appeared the Substance called Rottenstone, which is a brown clayey Tripoly. This Rottenstone, I believe, is mixed with the above Sandstone, for I found where one Stratum left off, there the other gradually began ie the Rotten Stone was first quite pure, 8i more & more mixed with Sand. This Sand is as beforeinentioned, a Slag ejected by the Volcano; it is black & contains small glossy, shining particles, just as if the black Pumice-Stone were broken into Atomes.3 This Sand covers all the beaches & I may say all the Surface of the Island, being only mixed with some Mould, & in this Soil all the plants vegetate & thrive exceedingly well, for we found here all kinds of plants as big as in other places: the only difference is that the Trees & plants stand not so fast rooted as in other
1 Whether they left on account of the aforegoing affair is unclear. Cf. Journals, n, 498.
