THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. ISS' 



a point three miles south of Sea Elephant Bay is reached further 

 progress is quite impossible. Even at low tide there is no 

 passage between the sea and the rocks, against which the surf 

 beats heavily, and above the rocks is impenetrable forest. On 

 the rocks were a large number of white-bellied cormorants. 

 This is the part of the coast to which the name of " The Wall " 

 is given, and only once, and then with great difficulty and 

 considerable expenditure of time, has anyone been along it. 



Some of the party meanwhile had been exploring the black- 

 wood forest and fern gullies to the west of the camp, and others 

 had been busy collecting in its immediate neighbourhood. 

 Eighteen wallabies were brought in during the day, and the live 

 stock included five Echidnas and one brush kangaroo. 



Provisions were running short. Bran was gradually taking 

 the place of flour, and regretfully we had to leave the best part 

 of the island almost untouched. On the return journey we 

 were favoured with good weather, and walking was more 

 pleasant The wind had been blowing freshly from the south- 

 east, and it was curious to note how, when travelling south- 

 wards, the dark colour of the water along the beach indicated 

 our proximity to a river mouth. The approach to every creek 

 and river, when walking along the shore, could be foretold in 

 this way, the wind seeming to drive the fresh water along the 

 shore before it mixed with the sea water. Further on there was- 

 another point of interest. Along certain tracts on the shore a 

 great amount of froth was cast up, but the presence of this 

 was confined to certain parts, and these corresponded exactly 

 with those in which the fresh water creeks entered ths sea, and 

 where the fresh and salt waters came in contact with one 

 another. This was especially well seen in connection with the 

 large streams — Eraser River, Sea Elephant River, and Blowhole 

 Creek. 



Retracing our steps we reached Bertie Camp, and the next 

 day struck westwards across the island, having again to wade 

 along the shores of the Martha Lavinia Lagoon. Instead of 

 returning to Yellow Rock directly we took a more northerly 

 track leading across hill country, with a rich crop of grass and 

 trefoil, until we came in sight of a large sheet of water — the 

 biggest lagoon on the island — which we named Dobson Lake. 

 It is surrounded by the usual swamp ti-tree, and has a depth of 

 thirty feet. The waters — as those of most other lagoons on the 

 island — percolate through the intervening hills to the sea-shore, 

 where they issue as a series of springs. One of the striking 

 features of the island is the great amount of fresh water obtain- 

 able in all parts. Large tracts are marshy, and the lagoons are 

 numberless. These are frequently arranged in a series, running 

 parallel to the shore, inside the outermost line of sand-hills, 

 through which their waters percolate, and then trickle down 

 over the sand into the sea. Creeks of all sizes, from the tiniest 



