74 IN AUSTRALIAN WILDS 



able, and the net was hauled up, damaged; but the 

 broken meshes were repaired by skilled hands. We 

 anchored in Murray Pass that night, a night of wind 

 and rain. I wished to visit my friends on Deal 

 Island, but the current was tearing through the Pass, 

 and it was not deemed safe to venture on a boat trip. 



Before noon next day we left the anchorage, and 

 headed for Flinders Island. In the expressive lan- 

 guage of the sailors, we experienced "dirty" weather, 

 and the run of fifty miles occupied many hours. And 

 when we did make Flinders, it was only to take shel- 

 ter in Endeavour Bay. Later, we steamed to West 

 Sister Island, across the famous "pot boil," and 

 waited for dawn. The morrow was Sunday, and 

 shore-leave was granted. A party, with guns, 

 tramped across the island and returned with a big 

 bag of Hares and Wallabies. I wandered away alone, 

 to see what I should see. Among the brushwood on 

 high land Wallabies were abundant. Seated on a 

 rock, in the shadow of a bush, I tried to become, 

 temporarily, a statue. Presently a Wallaby came 

 quietly into the open, and others followed until there 

 were five. They fed close to me, but a sneeze, which 

 refused to be suppressed, sent the whole mob bounding 

 to cover. It was useless to wait longer. Walking on, 

 I startled several Hares. The island appeared to be 

 swarming with game. There were only two human 

 inhabitants at that date, and the Wallabies were not 

 much acquainted with man. Hares are always timid ; 

 I believe that, if one lived in perfect solitude for 

 years, it would leap away like the wind at the first 

 sight of an intruder. 



The "fishing grounds" were reached on May 17th. 

 At daylight a trawl was "shot" in forty-five fathoms, 

 off Babel Island. For two hours the vessel steamed 

 slowly, then the "cod-end," or basket-like portion of 

 the net, w r as wound inboard by the steam winch. It 

 was swung over the bow, and a minute later a mass of 

 fishes and other creatures poured into the "ponds" on 



