Stay in Sydney 19 



French language prevails ; and everything more or less per- 

 tains of the French character, and an Englishman can scarcely 

 believe that he is in one of the colonies of his own country." 



From Mauritius they proceeded to the English-look- 

 ing colony of Tasmania, and after a few days set out 

 for Sydney, arriving there on July i6th. The survey- 

 ing officers had tedious work to do there, and Huxley 

 stayed in Sydney for three months. Then, and in the 

 course of three other prolonged stays in that town dur- 

 ing the expedition, Huxle}^ entered into the society of 

 the town and became a general favourite. He is still 

 remembered there, and the accompanying illustration * 

 is a copy of an original sketch of himself, now in the 

 possession of an Australian lady. He drew it on the 

 fly-leaf of a volume of Lytton's poems and presented it 

 on her birthday to the little daughter of a friend. At 

 Sydney, too, he met and gained the love of the lady, 

 then Miss Henrietta A. Heathorn, who afterwards be- 

 came his wife. 



On October nth the Rattlesnake sailed northwards 

 to begin the real work of the expedition. The great 

 island of New Guinea, lying to the north of Australia, 

 is separated from it only by the comparatively narrow 

 Torres Straits. Through these lies the natural route 

 for the commerce between Australia and the Northern 

 Hemisphere. The eastward prolongation of New 

 Guinea, and the coast of Queensland, enclose between 

 them a great tropical sea which gradually converges 

 to the Straits. The waters are very tempestuous, and 

 the navigation is made more dangerous by the thou- 

 sands of coral islands and coral reefs that stud the 



* This sketch was reproduced and described in Natural 

 Science, vol. vii., p. 381, and is now reproduced here by the 

 courtesy of the proprietors. 



