^•"'•] BASSET HULL, Archipelago of the Recherche. 287 



camp outfit from a small dinghy is most difficult in a sea that 

 sweeps up and down the slippery rocks from three to ten feet 

 perpendicularly. Only one island, Sandy Hook, has a "beach," 

 in all other cases one lands on the rocks. The only way in which 

 the whole Archipelago could be examined satisfactorily is by 

 means of a ten to twenty-ton yawl with an auxiliary engme, and 

 with six months' time to pick suitable weather conditions. Every 

 island of any size has its story of wreck and disaster, and the 

 beach at Esperance has the remains of several broken craft towed 

 in from the rocks of the islands. The trawler Penguin was 

 wrecked on JNliddle Island, and during our visit two men were 

 down there breaking her up. They were practically marooned 

 on the island for some weeks, five attempts to get a boat down 

 to bring them back to Esperance having been frustrated by 

 contrary winds. 



The question naturally arises, "Would it be worth while to fit 

 out such an expedition as outlined?" The answer is, in my 

 opinion, Yes, provided that all branches of natural science are 

 represented on the expedition. Corbett, Wilson, Hood, Howe, 

 and Termination Islands, off Esperance, and in the danger zone, 

 would all be worth looking at. Further east, and lying between 

 Mondrain and j\liddle Islands, there are Beaumont, IManicum, 

 Glennie, Coonibe, and a dozen or more small islands, all with 

 possibilities. The Eastern Group, however, and the South East 

 Isles, the position of which is marked "approximate" on the 

 chart, I consider the most likely to contain new records or rare 

 species. Christmas Is., the largest of the Eastern Group, is 

 described by Mr. Stow, of Esperance, as being densely wooded, 

 lofty, and having permanent fresh water. 



Although I saw no Albatrosses while cruising amongst the 

 islands, numbers of at least three species were seen crossing the 

 Bight, and they were especially numerous at a point directly 

 south of the Archipelago. It has always appeared possible to 

 me that a colony of the Black-browed Albatross may be found 

 on one of the islands in the Bight, and also that such Petrels as 

 the Soft-plumaged, A\'hite-headed, and Great-winged, together 

 with the little Fregettas (Storm- Petrels) breed in this locality. 

 It would only be by exhaustive search of every accessible islet 

 that the soundness of my theory could be proved or otherwise, 

 but specimens of all the birds mentioned have been seen and 

 taken in south-western Australian waters or washed uj) on the 

 shores. That none was seen in the vicinity by me is not remark- 

 able. I did not see a single White- faced Storm-Petrel, except 

 one or two when on the Katoomha, and yet there were literally 

 thousands breeding on the islands of the Archipelago. The ex- 

 planation doubtless is that most of these Petrels are nocturnal 

 in their habits. 



The expedition was at least successful in bringing back to 

 Svdnev. for the Australian ^Museum, a fine collection of mam- 



