Port Albany.

Somerset, March 1st, 1865.

Sir,—­My former reports to you having been, to a certain extent, necessarily taken up with matters of detail in reference to the formation of the new settlement of Somerset, and that object being now in such a state of completion as to enable me to say that it is fairly established, so far as the comfort and safety of the present residents are concerned, I now do myself the honor to lay before you the result of such general observations as I have been able to make on what may be termed general matters of interest.

2.  The portion of the country to which my observations will particularly apply is that which, I think, may correctly be termed the “York Peninsula proper,” and comprises the land lying to the northward of a line drawn from the estuary of the Kennedy River, at the head of Newcastle Bay, to the opposite or north-west coast.  The general course of the Kennedy River runs in this line, and from the head of the tideway to the north-west coast the breadth of land does not exceed six miles.  The mouth of the river falling into the sea a short distance to the southward of Barn Island will be nearly met by the western extremity of this line.

3.  The land on the neck thus formed presents singular features.  There is no defined or visible water shed; a succession of low irregular ridges, divided by swampy flats, extends from coast to coast, and the sources of the streams running into either overlap in a most puzzling manner.  The large ant-hills which are spread over the whole of this country may be taken as sure indicators of the nature of the soils; on the ridges a reddish sandy loam, intermixed with iron-stone gravel, prevails; on the flats a thin layer of decomposed vegetable matter overlays a white sand, bearing ‘Melaleuca’ and ‘Pandanus’, with a heavy undergrowth of a plant much resembling tall heath.  Nearly every flat has its stream of clear water; the elegant “pitcher” plant grows abundantly on the margins.  The timber is poor and stunted, chiefly bloodwood and ‘grevillea’; and the grass is coarse and wiry.

4.  Leaving this neck of barren and uninteresting country, the land to the northward rises, and a distinct division or spine is formed, ending in Cape York.  From it, on either side, spurs run down to the coast, frequently ending in abrupt precipices overhanging the sea; in other places gradually declining to the narrow belt of flat land which occasionally borders the shore.  The formation is, I may say, entirely sandstone, overlaid in many places by a layer of lava-like ironstone.  Porphyry occurs occasionally in large masses, split and standing erect in large columns, at a distance resembling basalt.  The sandstone is of the coarsest quality, almost a conglomerate, and is soft and friable; exposure to the air might probably harden it if quarried, when it would be available for rough building.  The ridges, with very few