266 A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER." 



delicate beautiful little sea-bird {Larus Novce Hollandim). The 

 bird was abundant about the ship in Hobson's Bay, and in Port 

 Jackson. At Wellington, in New Zealand, a species very closely 

 allied, but a little smaller in size {Larus scopulinus) * hovered 

 round the ship in the harbour. 



Sydney, April ?tn to June 9th, 1814. — The ship arrived at 

 Sydney on April 5th. Port Jackson is famed for its beauty. It 

 is a broad stretch of water, opening to the sea by a narrow 

 passage, between "heads" as they are called, and running far 

 inland, into branches and bays, in great number. Towards the 

 upper part of the harbour, the vegetation extends down the 

 water, and the little cliffs of sandstone rock with their covering 

 of green are extremely picturesque. Port Jackson is one of the 

 many harbours said to be the best in the world ; but it lacks 

 shelter, and the passage at the heads is not deep enough for a 

 large ironclad to pass through. 



I made various excursions from Sydney, during our stay. 

 One of these was to Botany Bay ; a sixpenny omnibus journey. 

 The country here is flat and open, and the vegetation would be 

 very like that of the Cape of Good Hope, in general appearance, 

 were it not for the Grass-trees and Banksias. The far-famed 

 bay is a quiet sandy inlet, resorted to for excursions and the 

 enjoyment of sea air by the Sydney people, and now inhabited 

 principally by keepers of tea gardens. Not far off, across the 

 Bay, the curious Monotreme, the Porcupine Ant-eater [Echidna), 

 is abundant, and can readily be found by means of terriers. 

 Some men procured one living for Von Willemoes Suhm. 



Another excursion was to the Blue Mountains. A trip to 

 the Mountains was given as an act of hospitality by the ministers 

 of the New South Wales Government to the officers of the 

 " Ancona," a German war- vessel, which was at Sydney, and to 

 those of the " Challenger." It is the custom for the Ministers 

 thus to give picnics to parties of men, ladies not being invited. 



The Blue Mountains are piles of horizontally stratified sand- 

 stone, rising behind Sydney to about 2,500 feet, with remarkably 

 abrupt terminations on either side, and cut into extraordinary 



* Howard Saunders, " On the Larin?e," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 187, 



