FLAG HILL. — SLAUGHTER POINT. 155 



Point, from the number of snappers we caught there. 

 They were so voracious that they even allowed them- 

 selves to be taken with a small bit of paper for a 

 bait. Flag Hill is a rock formed of sand and commi- 

 nuted shells ; while the flat which stretches to the 

 south-west from its foot is of limestone formation. 

 In it we found a kind of cavern, about 15 feet 

 deep, with a sloping entrance, in which was some 

 slightly brackish water, that in percolating through 

 the roof had formed a number of stalactites. 



A reef, which dries in patches at low water, con- 

 nects the east and west Wallaby Islands. On the 

 south-west point of the latter are some sand-hills 

 30 feet high ; and on that side also is a dense 

 scrub, in which the mutton birds burrow, so that it 

 forms rather troublesome walking^. The northern 

 end is a level, stony flat, terminating towards the sea 

 in projecting clifi*s six or eight feet high ; with 

 patches of bushes large enough to serve as fuel here 

 and there, all full of a new species of wallaby, which, 

 being plentiful on both the large islands, suggested 

 their name. The reader will obtain a good idea of 

 the numbers in which these animals were found, 

 when I state that on one day, within four hours, I 

 shot 36, and that between three guns we killed 76, 

 averaging in weight about seven pounds each ; which 

 gave rise to the name of Slaughter Point for the 

 eastern extreme of the island. 



As there is no record of the Dutch having visited 

 the northern group, it is impossible to say whether 

 wallaby were then found on it or not. How they 



