NATIVES AND SNAKES 203 



the hunters, who are killing every living thing that rushes 

 from the advancing flames ; but trusting»to that sureness of 

 eye, which is an additional sense to the savage, the 

 threatened man beats down the infuriated reptile, and in 

 an instant it is faintly wriggling on the ground, its back- 

 bone broken, and it is seized and finished off by the 

 women or children. All wild creatures are much frightened 

 and bewildered by the approach of fire, and fall an easy 

 prey to the blacks. After a " burning off" there is usually 

 a great feast in the savage encampment. 



To what has been already said about the lizards of this 

 part of the continent I have but to add a description of 

 a very curious species of this class of animal which I saw 

 on visiting the Abrolhos Islands, a group of small isles 

 lying some forty miles westward of Champion Bay. 



There is nothing very remarkable in the general 

 features of these islands, which are all small, but they 

 stand on a coral reef, and the sight of the branched and 

 curiously shaped masses of coral, which is visible in the 

 perfectly clear water to a great depth (twenty fathoms 

 at least), is remarkably beautiful. Thousands of fish dart, 

 glide leisurely, or bask quietly, in the submarine forest, of 

 which the chief are sea-bream of the genus Sparidce^ the 

 "whiting," "herring," and "cobblers" of the fisherman, 

 which I cannot identify, and common snapper, or schanpper, 

 as I believe it should be called. The last named fish is 

 found in immense shoals, and takes a bait so freely that a 

 small boat may be filled with them in a few hours, and 

 they form a lucrative object of pursuit to the fishermen of 

 this coast. 



Here also lurks that pirate of the deep, the shark, 

 which is invariably accompanied by a brace of pilot-fish. 

 Why always two? It is a curious question, and puzzling. 

 Conversing with an ichthyologist on this point, I was 

 surprised to hear him cast some doubt on the fact. His 

 view, not gleaned from personal observation by the by, 

 was that there is oftener one than two pilots with the 

 shark, and sometimes a number. My experience extends 

 to the coasts of Australia only, and though the shark is 



