XXXII. 
therefore completed the arrangements for the purchase of the barque Chevert, of 313 
tons register ; he had the vessel fitted up in a suitable manner, and by May 18th 
following, a steam launch and the necessary stores having been shipped, the vessel 
was ready for sea, and sailed the same day for Somerset, Cape York. 
The following outline of the voyage (treated as if it were a continuous narrative) 
is extracted from a lengthy account, founded upon the records of his private journal, 
contributed by Sir William to the Sydxey Morning Herald of October 11th, 1875* :— 
The barque Chevert sailed from Port Jackson on Tuesday, 18th May [1875], with a crew of twenty 
men, which, with the doctor, four zoological and two botanical (afterwards increased to three) collectors, 
Captain Onslow and myself, made up a total of thirty souls. The ship was fitted up chiefly with the 
object of making collections in all branches of Natural History in the islands of Torres Straits and in New 
Guinea. At the same time I was quite prepared, if opportunity offered, to have given up a considerable 
portion of my time to the geographical investigation of the as yet terra incognita New Guinea. 
Our first stopping place after leaving Sydney was Percy Island. There we anchored for a night 
{May 29th]. The island is rough and barren, and I should say very rarely visited by natives, but the 
shores teem with fish. We caught with the seine, on as mall sandy beach on the north-west side of No. 2 
island, garfish, pike, whiting, &c., of a size which would be looked upon as wonderful in Sydney, while, 
with hook and line, from the ship at night, a number of different species of large Sparide were captured. 
The Palm Islands, our next stopping place [June 1st-4th], are lofty and precipitous. They seem to be 
entirely of granite formation, yet the soil is good, and the vegetation of the richest tropical luxuriance. 
We found the roughness of the ground and the density of the vegetation great bars to our rambling, but, 
notwithstanding, during our stay here we added very considerably to our collections. Here we saw a few 
aborigines, all men ; they had probably come over from Cleveland Bay, and were the very worst specimens 
of the Australian race I have seen—short, thin and dirty, without a rag of clothing of any kind. Their 
canoes were small hollowed-out logs, with an outrigger. 
On the 4th June we left the Palm Islands, and anchored off Brooke Island, and on the following day 
we found a very snug anchorage on the north-west side of the North Barnard Isles. Our object in calling 
here was to get a species of Péiloris peculiar to the island, and Mr. Masters was so fortunate as to procure 
a fine male and two females in the course of the afternoon. Our next stage was Fitzroy Island [June 6th]. 
Here we got a few birds, but, as at Palm Island, it was most difficult to penetrate the dense brush with 
which it is clothed. 
On the next day we anchored early off a low wooded sandbank, marked on the chart as Low Wooded 
Isle. It is surrounded by an extensive coral reef—the first coral reef seen by most of us—and, as may 
be supposed, almost every one left the ship that afternoon for a run on the reef. I was myself rather 
disappointed in my first impression. I failed to see the great beauty and variety of colouring which is said 
to be the characteristic of coral reefs, and is, I have no doubt, of the outer Barrier Reef ; but I was very 
deeply impressed with the wonderful variety of life with which it abounded. The whole reef was literally 
teeming with life—fish in great variety, crustaceans, echinoderms, including several species of béche-de-mer, 
corals and annelids. 
Our next anchorage was off Turtle Reef, opposite the Endeavour River [June 8th]. We passed this 
day, though at some distance, a belt of country on the mainland, which looks very promising. 
* The remaining portion of the article has been omitted to save space, more particularly as it has reference to places 
and matters which, though interesting enough at the time, have since then been fully dealt with by more recent writers. 
