MOUNT EENEST DESCRIBED. 3o 



birds with a g'un^ and procuring' a lig-lit from a 

 lucifer match. 



On the following- day I had an opportmiity of 

 examinino- the whole of the northern or inhabited 

 side of the island. Mount Ernest is little more 

 than a mile in g'reatest lengthy of a somewhat 

 triang-ular shape, its eastern and larg-er portion 

 hilly, rising- g-radualty to an elevation of 751 feet, 

 and its western part low and sandy. The rock 

 is g'rey sienite, and from the striking* similarity of 

 aspect, it appeared to me pretty certain that Pole, 

 Burke, and Banks Islands are of the same forma- 

 tion; they ag-ree in exhibiting* massive peaks, re- 

 spectively 409, 490, and 1246 feet in heig-ht. 



Mount Ernest is the head quarters of the Kul- 

 kaleg'a tribe of Torres Strait Islanders who are now 

 absent on one of their periodical mio-rations, leaving* 

 in possession only the old man whom we met 

 yesterday, and his family, among* whom is a 

 daug-hter of rather prepossessing- appearance for a 

 female of her race. The villao^e consists of a sino-le 

 line of huts, which would furnish accommodation 

 for, probably, 150 people. It is situated on the 

 north-west, or leeward side of the island, imme- 

 diatel}^ behind the beach, and in front of a belt of 

 jungle. The huts are long* and low, with an arched 

 roof, and vary in leng'th fi*om ten to twenty feet, 

 with an averag*e heig-ht of five feet, and a width of 

 six. They consist of a neat framework of strips 

 of bamboo, thatched Avitli long* coarse g-rass. Each 



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