THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Captain finished the bird by hitting it on the head with a 

 stick. He then slung it upon his shoulder, but in a few minutes 

 the bird came to and dug its talons into the Captain, who, in 

 a rage, gave the bird another battering. It was again mounted 

 upon his shoulder, but in half an hour the pesty thing came 

 to and again clawed the Captain in a tender part. This time 

 that eagle was killed in earnest and taken home to Duck 

 River, where it is now to be seen alive and well. The wind 

 now began to freshen, and as we passed the Petrels we had 

 to reef down. We had hoped to reach Chimney Corner, on 

 Three-Hummock Island, but, much to our chagrin, a nasty sea 

 forced us to run before the wind to East Telegraph Bay. To 

 add to our discomfort the boat began to leak, and we had to 

 keep baling all the way. Mr. Burgess, who leases this island, 

 has a farm at East Telegraph Bay, and we were shown around by 

 his brother-in-law, who was in charge. The ground is of a rich 

 chocolate character, and has, so far, given satisfactory returns for 

 the labour expended on it. Poultry also do very well, having no 

 enemies. To escape the sandflies, " skeeters," and other live 

 cattle we elected to sleep on the boat, but at 4 a.m. the next 

 morning we were roused up and had to clear out, the wind 

 having changed during the night. We were soon out of the 

 jobble, and made round the north side of the island. We were 

 destined to have more trouble, however, for the wind died away 

 to a dead calm, after which it again freshened into a stiff gale, 

 leaving us beating up the passage between the Three Hummocks 

 and the West Hunter. On the starboard tack off the West 

 Hunter we had to take in our reefs, and shortly afterwards to 

 lower sail and hoist the storm sail. During this fuss we were 

 unfortunate in losing one of our oars and a boathook overboard, 

 and in trying to regain them we split our jib into three pieces, 

 necessitating the hoisting of a spitfire. With this scandalized 

 sail we beat into Shephard's Bay for shelter. We went ashore 

 for a few hours, having the mail for Mr. James, the solitary 

 resident, who hospitably cooked some wallaby for us, and being 

 awfully hungry we declared it to be very good. The wind and 

 sea having abated, we soon ran across to Chimney Corner, on 

 the Three Hummocks, where we were warmly welcomed by the 

 Burgess family, and well pleased to get ashore after our rough 

 trip around. The baling especially had been very trying, so The 

 Fox was beached for repairs. We were now only ten miles from 

 Albatross Island, and intended to slip out at the first opportunity, 

 and then, if the weather continued fine, to attempt a landing on 

 the Black Pyramid, sixteen miles further out into the ocean. 

 Little did we reckon on the boisterous weather which was to 

 prevail right up to the last day of our stay, so that we began to 

 despair that we would ever reach even Albatross Island. 



