176 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus) growing upon a cone-shaped 

 mound. The tree had grown gnarled and stunted, and the cone 

 of the rock and earth were thickly interspersed with mosses, 

 Polypodiuni and other ferns, forming a unique and pretty natural 

 picture. We found the coral fern, Gleichenia circinata, growing 

 at an altitude of 2,400 feet. 



24TH November found us weather-bound till noon. We 

 then started for Cape Barren Island, nine or ten miles across 

 the Sound, arriving at 2.30 p.m., where we were cordially received 

 by Mr. Edward Stephens, the schoolmaster and religious instructor 

 to the half-caste settlement, who, with his wife and family, made 

 our stay quite a pleasure. Very prettily situated are the church 

 and school buildings. The Tasmanian government and Diocesan 

 authorities have evidently made an excellent choice in appointing 

 Mr, Stephens to the post. His and his wife's chief aim seems to 

 be the education and spiritual welfare of the people of the settle- 

 ment, and it was pleasing to hear the enthusiastic way in which 

 they spoke of their task. 



25TH November. — We were again weather-bound, and spent 

 our time in visiting and photographing the half-castes, who were 

 naturally of a retiring disposition. Some of us walked several miles 

 across the island, through some good country in the blue-gum 

 forest. At night we provided an entertainment for the people, 

 who turned up en masse, and duly appreciated our efforts in 

 recitations and music. We were thanked in a neat speech by our 

 host, and after supper and a short service we retired for the night. 



26TH November. — Left Sandford Bay for the settlement at 

 S.30 a.m., and beat across to Chappell Island by noon. The 

 natives call the island " Humpy," on account of its cone-shaped 

 crown, which stands 650 feet above the sea. The foreshore 

 above the rocks is comparatively flat, and is clothed with tussock 

 grass, saltbush, nettles, and snakes. Such is a scant description 

 of the greatest Mutton Bird rookery in the Straits. Here we 

 found a large number of the islanders (men, women, children, 

 and dogs) had come over from Cape Barren Island for birds and 

 eggs. We visited the eggers' camp and took some photographs, 

 but found the people very shy. After tea I walked over to watch 

 the men diving for coral, as they called it. The pieces of 

 Gorgonia and the Hydroid Ceratella fusca exhibited, with about 

 a dozen species of Polyzoa, were the result of my visit. These 

 men wsre almost like fish in the water — several times I saw them 

 disappear under the rocks and kelp, and come out, however, 

 puffing like porpoises. Night was now approaching, and the 

 Mutton Birds, which we had seen in the distance a little before, 

 were now flying around the island waiting until dark, when they 

 soon alighted, and then Bedlam was let loose. A description of 

 this sight can convey but a small idea of the reality. It has to 



