152 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
I was about to be precipitated into the abyss below. An instantaneous 
effort procured my safety; I seized the specimens, and descended with 
them in triumph. On the summit I also gathered many Lichens and 
Hypna. We kept the ridge of the mountain for a considerable dis- 
tance, and were enchanted with the rich vegetation which everywhere 
springs out of the clefts of the voleanie rocks. Mr. Macgillivray col- 
lected many Mosses, and a species of Jungermannia ; also four species 
of Land-shells, a Vittarina, a Bulimus, and two Helices. There are no 
reptiles nor beetles on Sunday Island, and but a few birds. We heard, 
at intervals, the pleasant notes of the Parson-bird, and we saw two 
kinds of Mutton-bird; one is large, and Mr. Macgillivray has given it 
a name, the other is Puffinus assimilis. The mountain-ridge produced 
- Veronica salicifolia, and a pale blue-flowered Lobelia, both which are 
also found at New Zealand; likewise an Orchideous plant. We reached 
a projecting point, whence we obtained a spleudid prospect of deep ra- 
vines, full of vegetation, craggy rocks grey with Lichens, and a beauti- 
ful freshwater lake. The sun had set long ere we regained the ship. 
On Monday, the 24th of July, we quitted Sunday Island, aud ar- 
rived at Minerva Reef on the lst of August, and after surveying it, 
. proceeded to Moala, one of the Fiji Islands. Here the natives were 
not at all hostile, so that we (Mr. Macgillivray and J) went on shore: 
they kept begging for pipes, but, to our surprise, made no request for 
tobacco, nor cared to take it,——a circumstance which was explained 
when we visited their villages, and saw bunches of the plant suspended | 
against the native huts. These people raise a very good kind of to- 
bacco, for smoking. One of the natives accompanied us in an excur- 
sion up a small brook, where grew large trees of Erythrina Indica, and 
yellow-flowered Eugenia, many interesting Grasses and Ferns, especi- 
ally Lastrea and Pteris, two kinds of Marchantia, and numerous shrubs, 
entwined with several species of Convolvulus. Tt somehow occurred to 
my mind that Balanophoras ought to grow in such a locality, and I 
spent more than an hour in turning over dead foliage, and hunting for 
them, and was just about to relinquish the search in despair, having no 
clue except the striking similarity of vegetation, etc., to that where I 
had previously found them elsewhere, when I spied a species, which 1 
joyfully put into spirits, and I hope that you will pronounce it new. I 
— Bot, time to say more. aoe it now. Mr. Maegillivray has sent 
“account of our cruise to the * Sydney Morning Herald,’ and I have 
