The South Australian Naturalist. 79 



A NOTABLE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 

 ON DISTANT ISLANDS. 



Mr. T. AVilkins (of Rio-bv's Ltd.) has kindly allowed the 

 Editor to make some extracts from the letters of his brother 

 that distinguished South Australian, Mr. George H. Wilkins, 

 who holds the position of naturalist to the Shackleton-Rowett 

 Antarctic Expedition. Our readers will remember the Stefan- 

 sson expedition to the Arctic, in which Mr. AVilkins played such 

 an important part. 



In his last letters written on board the "Quest," Mr. 

 Wilkins speaks of a visit to Tristan da Cunha, an island in the 

 South Atlantic. Here he states about one hundred and twenty 

 people exist happily and simply. The settlement was started 

 by some soldiers, one of whom .was a guard of Napoleon while 

 he was on the island of St. Helena. The settlement has increased 

 in numbers, and the members seem quite contented. The most 

 remarkable characteristic of the community seems to be that 

 it exists without the use of any sort of money ! Passing ships 

 give them clothes in return for potatoes and sheep. The one 

 hundred and twenty people are all closely related, and have 

 only seven family names between the lot. 



As our readers know, the "Quest" was afterwards found 

 to be quite unsuited for the work of Antarctic navigation. Mr. 

 Wilkins says that she had the most uncomfortable roll of any 

 boat he had ever been in. 



Gough Island, Inaccessible Island, and Nightingale Island 

 were also explored. All these are now uninhabited, but are 

 full of interest to the naturalist. 



Mr. Wilkins, as the naturalist, had a busy and profitable 

 time, collecting over 300 bird specimens, 200 marine biological 

 specimens, 20 entomological, and 100 botanical specimens, 

 besides taken 500 pictures and 12,000 feet of cinematograph 

 film. Parts of the islands are remarkably fertile, and sealers 

 have lived there for twelve months at a time, but the seals are 

 now gone. 



Gough Island has a remarkable flora and fauna. No 

 animals, except field mice (introduced by the sealers) exist, 

 but it is the home of myriads of sea birds and of three land 

 birds, two of them peculiar to these islands. Its trees, of two 

 kinds, one a buckthorn and the other an acacia, are not found 

 elsewhere. 



Our readers will look forward with interest to the publica- 

 tion of Mr. Wilkins' work. 



