i8iti.] ^9».- 235 



being first iOMOLO i by the wreck of a fine barque lying nearly high 

 and dry on the reef. She appeared to have been there for a long time, 

 but a large oart of her stores and fittings remained intact, and were 

 found to be worth appropriating. Cartier is a mere sand bank, less 

 than half a^ mile in length, and destitute of even the smallest trace of 

 veget .Jon, but it is surrounded by an extensive coral reef, over which 

 I had .0 walk, through water two feet and more in depth for a mile 

 and a half, and pretty hard work, too, I found it. There was, of 

 course, nothing to do on the Islet except to look for shells, of Vv'hich 

 I found a good many, and while looking for these I met with a very 

 curious and interesting little Hemipteron (I fancy of the genus 

 HalohatoJcs), inhabiting the sand beneath stones near low water 

 mark, a la Aepys. Turtle seemed to abound on the Islet, judging 

 from the numerous traces observed, and many were seen close to the 

 shore in the evening, but none could be caught. 



We left Cartier on the 20th, and made the N. W. Australian 

 coast about Cape Bougainville, about 2 p.m. the next day. The first 

 sight of Australia was not very prepossessing, being (as is the case 

 for several hundred miles east and west of the present point) a low, 

 featureless, red sandstone coast about 200 feet high, of very sterile 

 aspect, densely clothed with dry looking scrub, the innumerable 

 off-lying Islands (very imperfectly indicated in the existing charts) 

 being of exactly the same character. This is our " surveying ground" 

 for the present season, extending from Cape Bougainville (long. 126° 

 E.) to the entrance of King's Sound. 



On the 22nd we anchored close to the " Low Eocks " in Admiralty 



Gulf, in time for me to get a turn on shore. The Island on which I 



landed was not more than six acres in extent, but I managed to bag 



five or six species of LyccenidcB, one or two of which I have not since 



met with. The Islet is composed of a very hard white sandstone, and 



is covered with tall dry grass, almost like a crop of corn. On the 23rd 



we moved about 25 miles to an unnamed Island in the " Montalivet " 



group, to which we gave the name of Baudin ; this is barely a mile 



long by half as wide, but of very varied surface, and covered with 



vegetation and brushwood. I spent the day on shore, from 10.30 a.m. 



to 6 p.m., but found the walking very fatiguing, as the whole Island is 



strewn with great blocks of ironstone (of which the Island is in large 



part composed), which are concealed by the high grass, &c., and the 



" plague of flies," of which all voyagers to these parts speak in no 



measured terms, was here in full force ; they kept one fully occupied 



in brushing them out of one's eyes, nose, &c. — fortunately they do 



z 2 



