^"Igf/'J Alexander, Observations at Bremer Bay {W .A .) 25 



footed Petrel {Hemipiiffiniis carneipes). Their numbers increased 

 towards Bald Island, where they probably breed. Except for the 

 features mentioned, they seemed to resemble the western species 

 in every way, their flight being precisely like that which has 

 earned their British relatives the name of Shearwaters. 



Soon after we had passed between Bald Island and the main- 

 land night set in, and the early hours of the following morning 

 found us at our destination, where we were landed on the open 

 beach in a little sheltered cove. Bremer Bay is about 100 miles 

 from Albany and 70 from Hopetoun. The capes which form its 

 extremities are about 12 miles apart, and are composed of granitic 

 rocks, on which the rollers of the Southern Ocean break per- 

 petually. Between them the contour of the bay is divided by 

 several other rocky points into a number of sandy beaches. The 

 country near the coast is chiefly low and undulating, composed 

 of a hard limestone from which rise several rounded granite hills 

 to a height of several hundred feet. In places, especially close 

 to the coast, the limestone is covered by sand-hills, and there are 

 several large areas of drift-sand, with hardly a scrap of vegetation 

 to break their dazzling white surface. These miniature deserts 

 slowly blow inland, smothering the trees and bushes, until they 

 become sufficiently attenuated for the vegetation to conquer 

 them in its turn. In two places these moving sand-hills have 

 blocked up the lower ends of valleys, forming considerable lakes 

 of fresh water. One of these, named Lake Maxwell, was about 

 three miles to the west of our camp ; the other, known as the 

 Hunter River, two miles east. The gradual rise of the water- 

 level in these lakes had killed the trees which formerly grew on 

 their banks, and the dead stems and branches of these trees 

 projected from the water all round their margins, making a fine 

 shelter for the Ducks and other waterfowl, but giving a most 

 desolate appearance to the scene. 



In the middle of the bay is a large, shallow salt-water lagoon, 

 known as the Wellstead Estuary, which receives several small 

 streams at its upper end and every few years breaks out into the 

 sea in the winter. In places it is almost a mile broad, and it 

 extends in a winding fashion inland for about 10 miles, assuming 

 the aspect of a river for the last five or six. In the winter before 

 our visit the water had broken out to the sea, but when we were 

 there it was separated by a bar about 300 yards broad. The low 

 water, owing to the recent outbreak, exposed many sand-flats 

 and mud-banks which had been under water for some years, and, 

 in conseqiience, great numbers of Ducks and Waders found 

 abmidance of food in the shallows and on the banks. From any 

 point from which a view was obtained, the most striking feature 

 was West Mount Barren, a rugged peak, 12 miles to the north- 

 east, rising sharply from the plain. Still further to the east. 

 Mount Bland and the Fitzgerald Range continued the line of hills 

 almost to Hopetoun. On clear days the distant peaks of the 

 Stirling Range, over 70 miles away to the west, stood out above 



