WHITE- A Sketch of tho Life nj Sunnirl Wfnte. 57 



tJiciii look like tlioso we en 1 1 nm1l(»t. snapper, breanu rock-cod, 

 parrot-fish, and many others, including "sting-rays" beauti 

 fully marked with green, blue, and white, indeed there seemed 

 to be fish of all sizes, shapes, and colours. A species of flying 

 fish seemed to be numerous. I observed them in numbers two 

 hundred miles from shore. They were a small species, long 

 and slender, of a silver-white colouration which made them 

 conspicuous little objects in the bright sunlight over the dark 

 blue water as they took their arrow like flight of from 10 to 40 

 yards within a foot or so of the waters surface. They 

 emerged suddenly from the water and maintained a straight 

 course with the wind "abeam" or a little on the quarter, and 

 when the sea rose before them they disappeared into it. Their 

 transparent wings when in motion are not visible, giving to 

 the fish a strange arrow-like motion. When near the coast 

 small fish trooped about in counties;^ thousands, and I liave 

 ieen some curious scenes of destruction amongst them. Upon 

 one occasion I observed an assemblage of small fish which 

 seemed to be a lew rods square and a few feet deep. They 

 were so closely packed they could not steer, but had to all go 

 in one direction. Behind these had collected about a dozen 

 large sharks, and over them a thousand sea birds of various 

 species and sizes. The sharks would at intervals make a rush 

 forward with open month and engulf hundreds of the small 

 fry at a time. At this time thousands of fish would make a 

 sinmltaneous leap out of the water in a solid mass (as if they 

 had been thrown up with shovels), and alight a few feet in 

 advance to escape from the huge jaws of their monstrous 

 enemy, but not to escape a host of hungry birds which 

 instantly swoop down and each carry off a mouth full. This 

 state oF affairs w'^nt on for an hour or more, and T saw that as 

 each shark, or bird had its fill it dropped behind, or soared in 

 the air away from its still hungry mates. 



— Insects. — 

 I was surprised to find that at the time of my visit the 

 insects were not more numerous in the Arus than in tropical 

 Australia at the same time of the year for it is well known that 

 at the end of the rainv season in the tropics is the best time 

 for insect life of every kind. However, T procured a few nice 

 beetlp'^ from (he natives as well as by my own collecting. T 

 one day chanred to see a couple of dead specimens of two 

 species of longicorns. T showed them to the natives and made 

 them understand T wanted them, and would give tobacco and 



