560 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Hatch for a passage to the island and back for Mr. Jennings (the 

 Museum taxidermist) and myself, the University Council having 

 kindly granted me leave of absence from my duties. 



An excellent description of the general features of Mac- 

 quarie Island has already been given in the Transactions by 

 Professor J. H. Scott, * but there is still much interesting 

 information to be gathered from an island so barren and inhos- 

 pitable. Darwin said, in 1857, "It is my most deliberate con- 

 viction that nothing would aid more natural history than 

 carefully collecting and investigating all the productions of 

 the most isolated islands, especially of the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere." This is certainly as true now as it was then ; and, 

 notwithstanding the discomforts and perils of the voyage, I 

 should certainly like to have the opportunity of staying for 

 twelve months on the island to complete a year's observations 

 on the habits of the penguins and other birds, the few days 

 which we spent on the island being quite inadequate for 

 observations of much value. 



Macquarie Island! is about 540 miles from the south-west 

 cape of Stewart Island, and was discovered by the master of a 

 sailing-vessel | early in the present century. It is said that no 

 less than 80,000 fur-seals were obtained from the island by 

 that party. Fur-seals are hardly ever seen there now. 



The exact size of the island is unknown. The English 

 chart made by Lieutenant Langdon in 1822 makes it thirty- 

 eight miles long. The Eussian navigator, Bellinghausen, in 

 1820, made it only nineteen miles long — probably as much 

 too short as the other was too long. In 1840 Captain Wilkes, 

 of the United States Exploring Expedition, landed a party on 

 the island on the west side. There are bold outlying rocks at 

 each end of the island. The bold rocky shores afford but 

 little shelter and but indifferent anchorage, the water being 

 deep close into the land : 10 to 90 fathoms are marked on the 

 chart all along the east side at three miles from shore. At 

 present the usual anchorages are on the east side — at the 

 Nuggets and at Lusitania Bay. Both English and Eussian ac- 

 counts agree in making the island about five or six miles wide. 



In 1890 an endeavour was made to get the island annexed 

 or transferred to New Zealand, as it was found to belong to 

 Tasmania, but without success. § It was agreed, however, 



* Trans., vol. xiv., p. 561 ; vol. xv., p. 484. 



f Named after the Governor of New South Wales at that time. 



+ Captain Garbutt, in the brig "Concord," in April, 1811, and again 

 in February, 1812. On both occasions his vessel was driven from her 

 anchorage, and on the second occasion his boat was upset in the surf and 

 all hands lost. 



§ N.Z. Pari. Papers, App. to Journals of House of Representatives, 

 Sess. II., 1801, A.-5, in cont. of A.-5, 1800. 



