38 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. 



Two great hills rising abruptly from 

 the sea to a height of nearly 3000 feet, 

 jjresent imposing precijiices on every 

 side, and fill the onlooker with admira- 

 tion. Together they form the greater 

 part of the island, and they are so dif- 

 ficult of access that tliey remain to-day 

 just as when first seen by Lieutenant 

 Ball 130 years ago. Mt. Lidgbird is a 

 pyramid, rising by a succession of tor- 

 races to a razor-back, 2504 feet in 

 height. We stood upon its summit with 

 one foot upon its eastern face and the 

 other upon the west, after a most ex- 

 citing climb up its steep sides. 



Leaving early in the morning to 

 avoid the heat, and carrying only our 

 tucker, we soon jjassed through the 

 lower palm forest and forced our way 

 through the tangle of dense under- 

 growth and over rocky boulders, until 

 we attained the summit of the Round 

 Face. This is a wonderful overhanging 

 precipice, perhaj^s 1800 feet above sea- 

 level, which faces the setting sun. Ap- 

 proaching its edge, we sat down and 

 dangled our legs over the great space, 

 and looked down between our feet upon 

 the forest far below. All around were 

 impressive cliffs and faces, some below 

 us and already negotiated, and others 

 above still to be climbed. Far down 

 was the great vertical wall across the 

 face of which runs the "Lower Road," 

 itself 500 feet above sea-level, but now 

 appearing as a gr«en track raised but 

 little above the white combers breaking 

 upon the reef below. We look out to 

 sea upon an unbroken horizuu where 

 not even the smoke of a steamer may be 

 seen, so far are we out of th>e busy 

 world. Almost below us is the southern 

 end of the coral-reef enclosmg a broad 

 lagoon, every rock and shallow of which 

 is laid out before us as on a map. 

 Rose-white Tropic Birds, Phaeton rubri- 

 cauda, with scarlet tail feathers, soar 

 and wheel about their nests on the gTeat 

 cliffs, flying with incredible ease and 

 rapidity in the high wind. 



Ascending again, we struggle through 

 an almost impenetrable forest of the 

 Umbrella Palm, Iloirea canterbury ana, 

 many of wliich are in full flower while 



others bear great bunches of red-ripe 

 seed. The rich black soil is in places so 

 completely hidden by masses of the 

 young palms that we tread dozens of 

 them underfoot with every step, while 

 canes and vines greatly impede our pro- 

 gress. Great fungi larger than dinner 

 plates project from the tree trunks, and 

 orchids and ferns cling to the rocky 

 faces. Walls too steep to climb have to 

 be skirted, and a rope thrown over pro- 

 jecting limbs assists us to scale some 

 smaller cliffs. A small face, perhaps 

 forty feet high, overhung its base so 

 that one climbed on the rope alone, and 

 looked down a slope so steep that a slip 

 would have ended in a tumble seven 

 hundred feet or more below. More 

 clambering up steep slopes and further 

 rocky faces, our bare arms becoming 

 loaini'ally scratched with the sharp 

 sword-grass, and we arrive at last upon 

 the summit, where the keen fresh breeze 

 tempered the brilliant sunshine, and 

 filled us with a sense of utmost exhil- 

 aration. 



RARE BIRDS. 



As we dispose of our lunch, which has 

 perforce to be eaten dry, there being no 

 water on the razor-back, we hear the 

 shrill cries of the rare Big-hill Mutton 

 Birds ((Estrelata sulandri), which are 

 now, towards the end of March, mating 

 within their burrows. The sound is a 

 higli pitched chatter, somewhat resemb- 

 ling shrill laughter, and coming from 

 out of the earth is suggestive of moun- 

 tain sprites deriding the invaders of 

 their solitude. We shout loudly, and 

 they answer us in all directions, but 

 we drag some of them from the burrows 

 which are everywhere "around us, and 

 rudely dispel the fancy. The burrows 

 are excavated anywhere on the steep 

 slopes, and often extend several feet 

 under a rock or a palm root. W^e 

 found two birds in each of the burrows 

 we investigated, but their sharp hooked 

 beaks and their savage pecks did not 

 encourage one to insert an arm into too 

 many. The birds were also to be seen 

 assemblinjf around the mountain tops 

 any afternoon as they came in from 

 their fishing at sea to find their nests. 

 If in t'le neighborhood one can call 



