Houtman's Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia. 497 



small boats would depart for the various Schnapper grounds, 

 where during the day the men would toil for the harvest of 

 the sea. The Schnapper [Payrus unicolor) is a common 

 Australian edible fish. As afternoon wore on to evening, 

 back through the reefs the men would come, each with his 

 respective catch. The fish were then cleaned and placed 

 in ice, aboard a large lugger, which made weekly trips to 

 Geraldton with several tous of fish. We were prisoners 

 on Hat Island for several days, owing to the gale ; but the 

 time passed pleasantly enough iu the wonderful'ly inter- 

 esting work that we were able to carry out amongst the 

 marine fauna. At last, after saying farewell to our lonely 

 fisherfolk, we sailed north again for the Wallaby Islands, 

 distant some thirty miles. 



Quite different in character from the rest of the islands 

 are the last-named, for here, typical mainland forms, such 

 as the Wallaby and various snakes and lizards, occur in 

 plenty. Heavily scrubbed for the most part, the Wallaby 

 Islands are an ideal hunting-ground, as numbers of quail 

 and pigeon are common. We camped ashore at the East 

 Wallaby Island, and pleasant indeed it was after an arduous 

 day's tramp through the thick scrub to return to the little 

 camp beside the great coral-reef. Looking seawards could 

 be seen the fringing barrier, its length marked by the 

 line of white where the ocean rollers pounded unceasingly 

 against the reef, showing against the western horizon. 



A cluster of dark islets afforded an ideal anchorage for 

 the lugger, and as evening shadows lengthened, the anglers 

 of the party here obtained sport to their heart's content. 

 The memory of those islands is a very pleasant one, for in 

 such a locality one seemed to get very close indeed to Nature 

 and her ways, and at the back of all was the knowledge that 

 a romantic and most interesting history shrouded the lonely 

 islands. 



Perhaps no spot in Australia is of greater interest, 

 zoologically speaking, than these islands, which together 

 make up such a formidable and dangerous outpost to the 

 littoral of Western Australia. 



