THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 147 



shoe-shaped curve. It would have been difficult to have 

 chosen a more sheltered or a prettier spot for a camp. 



The evening brought with it rain, and the next morning 

 broke dull and threatening, with a cold, easterly wind. The 

 remaining stores, with the assistance of one of the kangaroo- 

 hunters and two pack horses, were brought into camp, and 

 despite the unfavourable circumstances a certain amount of 

 collecting was done. 



The nature of that part of the island in which our camp was 

 situated was characteristic of large tracts. The sea-shore was 

 sandy and shelving, with here and there jagged granite masses 

 breaking through, and running out to form reefs only visible at 

 low water, but on which the surf always beats heavily. Along 

 the coast ran a long series of sand-hills, arranged in three or 

 four roughly parallel rows, the lowest of which faced the sea. 

 The sand is bound together by means of the intertwined and 

 wiry roots of the grass, Spinifex hirsutus, and the hills are 

 covered largely with salt, oily, and currant bushes ; whilst 

 frequently, and sometimes extending over large spaces, 

 especially where the rock comes near to the surface, is seen 

 the "pig face" {^Mesemhryinthemmii), with its bright red 

 flowers. Immediately behind these sand-hills, in the region of 

 the Yellow Rock, lay a large tract of marshy land, through 

 which meanders the river. The whole is now above water, and 

 its soil, somewhat sandy in nature but very dark — almost black 

 coloured, owing to the great amount of decayed vegetable 

 matter which it contains — grows at the present time a luxuriant 

 crop of trefoil, reaching often a height of four feet. In some 

 parts the underlying granite rock comes to the surface, and in 

 others are small lagoons, filled largely with the swamp ti-tree 

 {^Melaleuca ericifolia), and being the haunt of the black swan, 

 the wild duck, and the Australian teal. 



Further inland, again, rise hills which run down the centre of 

 the island, gradually increasing in height as they pass south- 

 ward, until they culminate in the south-east part in Mount 

 Stanle)^ the highest hill in King Island (700 feet.) These hills 

 are covered with scrub, often extremely dense, and consisting 

 principally of the mountain ti-tree [Leptospennum scoparinni), 

 of various acacias, banksias, native currant {Siyphelia Rich(a), 

 and boobyalla {Myoponim insulare). In part they are covered 

 with forests of gums (esp. Eiicalyplus globulus), and in the 

 woods abound the native hazel {Pornaderris apetala), musk 

 {Aster argophtlus), sassafras {Atherosperma inoschatuvi), and 

 in parts blackwood. Over large tracts fires have destroyed the 

 larger trees, leaving only their gaunt, charred trunks, which now 

 give a weird appearance to the landscape, their place being 

 taken either by scrub or a dense growth of bracken fern. 



The first two or three days were occupied, between intervals 

 of pouring rain, in making short excursions for some few miles 



