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companied by several Members of tbis Society and otber 

 gentlemen fond of tbe study of Natural History, and under 

 tbe guidance of Mr. Yandermeerscb senior, wbo is better ac- 

 quainted with tbe locality tban any body living, I started at 

 midnight on tbe 9tb ultimo and found myself, on awaking next 

 morning, anchored under tbe lee of Eound Island, a huge 

 truncated cone three miles in circumference at the base and a 

 thousand feet in height composed of Tufa and Volcanic sand. 



At a little distance, its sloping sides of bare rock scarred 

 and furrowed with water courses and studded here and there 

 with groups of stunded-Palms or twisted screw-pines, crowded 

 near the summit into a Eorest, had a weird and desolate 

 aspect as seen in the faint light of early dawn — but as we 

 approached closer in our small boat, there was nothing gloomy 

 or repellent in the light brown coloring of the sandstone, or 

 the mingled greens and greys of the Trees, but on the con- 

 trary much to excite our curiosity and invite our examination 

 of one of the strangest scenes Nature has anywhere displayed. 

 Thauks to the ingenious stage devised by Mr. Yandermeerscb, 

 we landed without the slightest difficulty shortly before day 

 break, and divided at once, as arranged beforehand, into small 

 parties each charged with some special object. Colonel Pike 

 kindly undertook the superintendence of the Zoological de- 

 partment, whilst Mr. Home and I devoted ourselves to gather- 

 ing and laying down the plants. In this manner though 

 somewhat impeded by a rainy afternoon, we contrived in the 

 course of the day to explore the greater part of the island, and 

 to make ourselves fully acquainted with its natural produc- 

 tions, which as might be expected, are pretty uniformly dis- 

 tributed and by no means numerous. 



Possibly had the threatening appearance of the weather 

 not induced most of us to return the same evening, a second 

 day's exploration might have added a few more plants to our 

 store, although Mr Yandermeerscb seemed of opinion that 

 none remained to be discovered. 



Colonel Pike who stayed behind to brave the elements, 

 succeeded in capturing on the morrow, additional Snakes, 

 Lizards and Insects, disburbed probably by the tremendous 



