160 Sail from port essington. 



recog^nized by a Malay as that producing' the 

 valuable cajeput oil^ and on trial^ the oil procured 

 from the leaves by distillation^ was found to be 

 scarcel}^ inferior in pung-ency to that of the Mela- 

 leuca Cajeputi of the Moluccas! Here^ too^ Ave saw 

 some of the pla^^-houses of the greater bower-bird 

 [Clilamydera nuchalis), and had the pleasm^e of 

 witnessing* the male bird playing* his strang-e antics 

 as he flew up to the spot and alig-hted with a dead 

 shell in his mouthy laid it down^ ran throug'h the 

 bower^ returned^ picked up the shelly and rearrang*ed 

 the heap among* which it was placed^ flew off ag'ain 

 and soon returned with another^ — and so on. 



On November 16th we got under weig*h at day- 

 light^ but the wind died awa}^ in the afternoon^ and 

 we anchored half way down the harbour. Next 

 day we got out to sea on our voyage to Sydney. 

 We were all glad to leave Port Essington^ — it was 

 like escaping from an oven. During our stay the 

 sky was generally overcast^ with heavy cumuli^ 

 and distant lightning at nighty but no rain fell^ and 

 the heat was excessive. These were indications of 

 the approaching change of the monsoon * — the rainy 

 season^ Avith the wind more or less westerly^ usually 

 commencing in December and continuing until 

 March. 



December 3rfZ.— Lat. 11° 2 S. long. 123" 11' E. 

 To-day we may be said to have cleared the land 

 after a dead beat to the westward^ between the Sahul 

 Bank and the islands of Timor and Rottee. It 



