136 



THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



appeared ; but by far the commonest was the Shy Albatross (D. 

 cauta). At one time we amused ourselves "fishing" for them 

 (to use an Hibernicism) with a piece of fat on a Barracouta line. 

 Although several were hooked, we did not succeed in "landing" 

 any. We were more successful with the Barracouta, however, 

 four fine fish being caught just off Three-Hummock Island. 



LANDING AT STANLEY. 



Sailing around the Circular Head into Stanley, our first 

 impressions of Tasmania are decidedly favourable. Circular 

 Head (or " The Nut," as it is locally termed) is a flat-topped 

 rocky mass, nearly 500 feet high, one-half of whose circumference 

 is washed by the sea, and around the other half of which Stanley 

 picturesquely nestles. On landing, the first thing which strikes 

 us is the great number of small blue crabs with which the sand 

 at low tide is covered. Convict prisons and stores, reminding 

 one of former days, line the shore, while behind is the quaint 

 and old-fashioned township. The next two days are spent here, 

 while the cutter Mar thine, in which we are to visit the islands, is 

 got ready for sea. We ascend " The Nut," where several Black- 

 cheeked Falcons' nests are seen on the cliffs above the sea, but 

 far out of reach. To the north is a long reach of sand dunes, 

 which are encroaching on the land at so rapid a rate that the 

 people became alarmed, and are now planting the Marram grass, 

 which has proved so successful in stopping similar encroachments 

 at Warrnambool, and the introduction of which we owe to 

 Baron von Mueller ; it is thriving well, and will no doubt prove 

 effectual here also. In one place the removal of the sand has 

 exposed a large number of blackfellows' middens, or heaps of 

 broken shells, with the sharp stones used for breaking them. 

 This beach was evidently much resorted to for shellfish by the 

 Tasmanian aborigines. A complete skeleton was revealed by 



