86 COMMUNICATION WITH NATIVES STOPPED. 



and g'old^ is plentiful in the woods^ watching" for its 

 prey in the centre of a larg-e net stretched hori- 

 zontally between the trees. 



The seine was frequently hauled upon the beach 

 with great success^ — one evenings through its means, 

 in addition to plenty of fish, no less than five kinds 

 of star-fishes, and twelve of Crustacea, several of 

 which are quite new, were broug^ht on shore. 



Among the plants of the island the most impor- 

 tant is a wild species of plantain or banana, after- 

 wards found to range along the N.E. coast and its 

 islands as far as Cape York. Here I saw for the 

 first time a species of Sciadophylhim, one of the 

 most sino'ular trees of the eastern coast line of tro- 

 pical Australia ; a slender stem, about thirty feet in 

 height, gives off a few branches with immense digi- 

 tate dark and glossy leaves and long spike-like 

 racemes of small scarlet flowers, a great resort for 

 insects and insect-feeding birds. 



Soon after the ship had come to an anchor, some 

 natives came off in their canoes and paid us a visit, 

 bringing with them a quantity of shell-fish, [Sangui- 

 nolaria riigosa)^ which they eag'erly exchanged for 

 biscuit. For a few days afterwards we occasionally 

 met them on the beach, but at length they dis- 

 appeared altog^ether, in consequence of having been 

 fired at with shot by one of two of the '' young 

 gentlemen" of the Bramble, on a shooting excursion, 

 whom the}^ wished to prevent from approaching too 

 closely a small village, where they had their wives 



