Cheeseman. — Notes on tJie Three Kings Islands. 409 



ship called the "County of Carnarvon," and, as it was supposed 

 that she might have run upon the Three Kings, and that some 

 of the crew might have reached the islands, the Government 

 determined to despatch the " Hinemoa " to search the group. 

 On applying to the Marine Department, I was very courteously 

 granted permission to accompany the steamer. I now propose 

 to give a description of the physical features of the group, 

 accompanied with some general remarks on the vegetation, 

 and a list of the species observed. In doing this, I shall avoid 

 as far as is possible repeating matter published in my former 

 paper. 



The Three Kings Islands were discovered by the celebrated 

 Dutch navigator Tasman on the 5th January, 1643. According 

 to the "New Zealand Pilot," they are situated about thirty- 

 eight miles west-nortli-west of Cape Maria van Diemen, and 

 occupy a space of about eight miles in an east-north-east and 

 west-north-west direction. Cape Morton Jones, the northern 

 extreme, is in latitude 34° 6' 20" S., longitude 172° 9' 45" W. 

 The group consists of one large island, which is distmguished 

 by the name of the Great King, a smaller island to the north- 

 ■east known as the East King, another to the west called the 

 West King, and on the western or outer side of this, a 

 group which has been named the Princes Islands, and which 

 consists of a rov; of eight or nine rocks terminated by a small 

 island. 



Leaving our anchorage off Cape Maria van Diemen about 

 2 o'clock in the morning, we were abreast of the Princes 

 Islands at daylight. As the weather was beautifully fine, 

 •Captain Fairchild determined to commence his examination of 

 the group with the smaller islands, our previous visit having 

 shoAvi-- us that they can only be landed upon when the sea is 

 exceptionally calm. The steamer's head was therefore pointed 

 for the extreme western island, which is called the West King, 

 on the Admiralty charts, although of late years this naiue has 

 been more generally applied to the island immediately to the 

 west of the Great King. We rounded ib at a distance of about 

 half a mile, and so had good opportunities of examining it 

 from different points of view. It is probably rather more than 

 a quarter of a mile in length, by perhaps nearly as much in 

 breadth, and reaches a height of about 400ft. It is surrounded 

 by steep and precipitous cliffs, which are apparently quite 

 inaccessible. In one or two places a landing might have 

 been effected on some rocks at the foot of the cliffs, but 

 the surf was so heavy that the risk would have been 

 considerable, and, as it was evidently impossible to scale 

 the cliffs, it would have been useless waste of time to 

 lower a boat. The vegetation was evidently scanty. Here 

 and tliere some dark-green patches showed on the cliffs, 



