PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 547 



eggs, and found the beach strewn with drift pumice stone. Next day 

 the weather moderated, we rounded the sandspit off Cape Van Dieman, 

 and sailed south-easterly along the north- shore of Melville Island. 



It is not necessary for me to continue a detail narrative ; there is a 

 general similarity between the north and east coasts and those we 

 have already seen. Red and white cliffs alternating with sand and 

 mud beaches, and occasional low sand dunes backed always by thickly 

 timbered country. 



The weather was bad and the coast dangerous ; on one occasion 

 we bumped on the bottom three times in a most alarming way. We 

 landed whenever possible, but we were not strong enough to m.ake 

 any inland excursions. Tracks of natives and of buffaloes were seen 

 at nearly all the places, and at night we saw the fire-sticks carried 

 along the beach by prowhng natives. On the north beach T noticed 

 immense numbers of cowrie shells, but of course they were much sun- 

 bleached. Wildfowl of various sorts 'were plentiful, also cockatoos — 

 black and white — parrots, pigeons, quails, and numerous strange 

 birds. " A sportsman's paradise," as my friend Mr. Alfred Searcy 

 calls the mainland, and a most happy hunting gTound for the orni- 

 thologist, the entomologist, and the botanist. By the way. Major 

 Campbell says that ^^^ld ginger is indigenous here. All exotic trees 

 and plants of commercial value which have succeeded on the mainland 

 could be grown here, and perhaps better, as the native timber and 

 vegetation seemed to me more vigorous and stronger on those islands 

 than on tbe mainland. There are no hills of any importance, and the 

 country generally is a low tableland or plateau intersected by valleys 

 or depressions. We found no signs of minerals. On the east side the 

 buffalo has been hunted and a large number of hides exported. 



These islands look pleasant and charming from the sea, nor is the 

 charm dispelled when 3'ou land. 



