WEDNESDAY ISLAND. 361 



flats. There are also several forms of Sea-Grasses : a species of 

 Halophila, the large hairy Enhalus, and a Thalassia u r r<>w all 

 together, and spread in abundance over the mud, which is matted 

 with their roots in many places. 



The channel between Somerset and Albany Island is shallow, 

 being nowhere more than 14 fathoms in depth. The dredge 

 here brought up a rare species of Trigonia, and the " Lancelet " 

 Amphioxus lanceolatus, which seems to have an extremely wide 

 range in distribution. The fauna on the whole was very like 

 that of Port Jackson. 



Cape York is a sort of emporium of savage weapons and 

 ornaments. Pearl shell-gathering vessels (Pearl shellers as they 

 are called) come to Somerset with crews which they have picked 

 up at all the islands in the neighbourhood, from New Guinea, 

 and from all over the Pacific, and they bring weapons and orna- 

 ments from all these places with them. Moreover, the Murray 

 Islanders visit the port in their canoes, and bring bows and 

 arrows, drums, and such things for barter. 



The water police stationed at Somerset deal in these curiosi- 

 ties, buying them up and selling them to passengers in the 

 passing steamers, or to other visitors. Hence all kinds of savage 

 weapons have found their way into English collections, with the 

 label "Cape York," and the Northern Australians have got credit 

 for having learnt the use of the bow-and-arrow. I believe that 

 no Australian natives use the bow at all. 



Weapons from very remote places find their way to Cape 

 York, and thus no doubt the first specimens of Admiralty Island 

 javelins reached English museums. Accurate determination of 

 locality is of course essential to the interest of savage weapons. 

 Staff-Surgeon Maclean, of the " Challenger," had a large New 

 Guinea drum of the Crocodile form thrust upon his acceptance, 

 as a fee for visiting a patient on board one of the ' Pearl 

 shellers " ; he gave it to me. 



Wednesday Island, Torres Straits, Sept. 8th, 1814.— We left 

 Cape York on September 8th, and made for the Prince of Wales 

 Passage through Torres Straits. I landed at Wednesday Island 

 a distant outlier of Cape York, which, with Hammond Island, is 

 passed close by in the track through the passage. The island is 



