150 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the large Egg Lagoon, and behind this, again, rising ground, 

 fringed with woods of blue gum. 



East of Fern Hill the land becomes very swampy, the track 

 being beneath water and the grass long and tussocky, rendering 

 walking fatiguing. Large clumps of swamp ti-tree are plentiful. 

 After a short distance the country changes, as the track passes 

 on to somewhat higher ground, covered with white heath. The 

 scrub becomes more dense, composed of ti-tree, acacia, with 

 banksias, she-oak, and hazel. The white heath is abundant, so 

 is Stackhousia {S. linarifoUa) and the little orchid, Caladenia 

 latifolia ; whilst in some parts, over large areas, the ground is 

 white with a curious lichen, just as if it were snow-covered. 

 This undulating ground continues for four or five miles until, in 

 a hollow, shut in by low-lying hills well covered with wood, the 

 Martha Lavinia Lagoon is reached. This is a large sheet of 

 water, named after a vessel wrecked on the coast, and is about 

 a mile in length and the third of a mile in width. Its waters, 

 supplied by numerous streams from the surrounding hills, are of 

 the usual deep brown colour, whilst its shores are fringed for 

 long distances by dazzling white sand-banks, which form a 

 strong contrast to the deep brown of the water and the dark 

 green of the trees. Around its margin are tufts of cutting 

 grass and mia-mia reeds. In wet seasons, such as the present 

 one, the lagoon is of considerable size, and the track lies com- 

 pletely under water, rendering walking somewhat difficult and 

 uncomfortable. 



To the east of the lagoon is rising ground, and at the 

 distance of about a mile is the lesser Martha Lavinia Lagoon, a 

 very pretty small sheet of water, fringed by mia-mia reeds and 

 hemmed in by hills covered with gum trees. From its shores 

 the track leads over steeply rising ground, perhaps 200 feet ia 

 height, covered with a dense growth of bracken fern, and then 

 descends suddenly over sand-hills to the shore on the east side 

 of the island. Throughout the whole journey across the island 

 there was scarcely seen any sign of life whatever, this being, 

 doubtless, due in a large part to the unfavourable state of the 

 weather, as for the last six or eight miles there had been a 

 steady downpour of rain. 



The shore on the east coast, from Boulder Point in the north, 

 southwards to the Eraser River, is flat and sandy. Reference to 

 the map shows at once that it is remarkably free from indenta- 

 tions, thus forming a contrast to the west coast south of 

 Yellow Rock. This is associated with the absence of an^ 

 outcrop of rock on the sea-shore, and the consequent 

 ease and regularity with which the water carves out the 

 outline of the land. Only in one part (Lavinia Point) 

 is there an outcrop of granite, and here, owing to its 

 superior hardness, the land projects. A similar projection 

 exists just to the south of the mouth of the Sea Elephant River. 



