190 Cruise of the "Alert" 



coasting voyage northward, anchoring successive nights off Cape 

 Bowling Green, Hinchinbrock Island, Fitzroy Island, Cooktown, 

 and Lizard Island. We landed at the island last mentioned for 

 a few hours. On the shore of the bay in which we anchored was 

 a " Beche-de-mer " establishment, belonging to a Cooktown firm, 

 and worked by a party of two white men, three Chinese, and six 

 Kanakas. The buildings consisted of two or three rudely-built 

 dwelling huts, and a couple of sheds for curing and storing the 

 trepangs. We learned from the " Boss " that his men had been 

 working the district for the previous twelve months, and having 

 now cleared off the trepangs from all the neighbouring reefs, 

 he expected soon to move on to some other location further 

 north. 



The Beche-de-Mer industry seems simple enough to conduct. 

 The sluggish animals are picked off the reefs at low tide, and at 

 the close of each day the produce as soon as landed is transferred 

 to a huge iron tank, propped up on stones, in which it is boiled. 

 The trepangs are then slit open, cleaned, and spread out on 

 gratings in a smoke-house until dry, when they are ready for 

 shipping to the Chinese market. The best trepangs are the short 

 stiff black ones with prominent tubercles. 



Since the above notes were written, a horrible catastrophe 

 occurred at Lizard Island. The bulk of the party had gone on 

 a cruise among the islands to the northward, leaving the station 

 in charge of a white woman — wife of one of the proprietors — and 

 two Chinamen. A party of Queensland blacks came over from 

 the mainland, massacred these three wretched people, and de- 

 stroyed all the property on the station. 



On the evening of the 29th of May we anchored off Flinders 

 Island, in latitude 14 8' S., and before darkness came on we 

 spent a few hours in exploring. The shore on which we landed 

 was covered with large blocks of quartzite stained with oxide of 

 iron, and disseminated among them were many large irregularly- 

 shaped masses of haematite. Immediately above the beach, and 



