THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 161 



rookery, where eggs and young ones of the silver and Pacific 

 gulls were secured. Some eight miles to the south of Currie 

 the Ettrick River enters the sea, and here a halt was made and 

 advantage taken of an old broken-down hunter's hut, overgrown 

 with trees, to form a camp for the night. Nine of us slept in 

 the small hut, and were, perhaps, more crowded than comfortable. 



The Ettrick River runs in a kind of gorge, which it has 

 hollowed out for itself in hard upper silurian sandstone. On the 

 other side of the island is the Eraser River, which also runs in a 

 gorge, and it is interesting to note that in both cases the rock is 

 of the same nature, and it appears as if a band of upper silurian 

 sandstone ran right across the island from the mouth of the Etterick 

 to the Eraser River. On the east side of the island the sand- 

 stone which is found between the mouth of the Eraser and 

 Campbell Point has become altered and modified — a result, 

 doubtless, due to its proximity to the large mass of eruptive 

 rocks (gabbro) forming the Wall. 



The waters of the Ettrick are dark -coloured, and though we 

 searched hard for platypus, which occurs here, not a single one 

 was to be found. The country all round is rich in wallaby and 

 brush kangaroo, and plenty were caught in the open land 

 stretching inland to the south of the river. 



The land rises somewhat abruptly from the sea, and then 

 gradually rises again inland, towards the centre of the island, 

 culminating in Mount Stanley, the highest point (700 feet). Eor 

 some miles inland it is open with grass, or fern, and low-lying 

 scrub, or lightly-timbered forest, and frequently bears rich crops of 

 lucerne. To the east are the remains of a burnt forest of gums. 

 This open country extends for some miles, and passes out west- 

 wards on to Eitzmaurice Bluff. Its surface, where there is an 

 outcrop of rock, is formed of tertiary Hmestone. It is impossible 

 to say how great an extent of ground is covered with this, but it 

 must be a very considerable one, as the streams running down to 

 the sea in this district are surcharged with carbonate of lime, 

 which they deposit on evaporation. About a mile and a half 

 south of Ettrick River is a curious formation, kuown as 

 " Dripping Wells." Water charged with carbonate of Hme from 

 the uplands comes down, and, passing over the grarite, evapor- 

 ates and deposits the lime. The latter has gradually accumu- 

 lated until a small cliff has been formed on the shore, over the 

 edge of which the water trickles, producing an overhanging part. 

 A small cave facing the sea has thus been formed, and the water 

 dropping from its roof and evaporating has given rise to stalac- 

 tites, with corresponding stalagmites growing upwards from the 

 floor. The whole formation is about 20 or 25 feet in height, and 

 about 100 yards in length. 



Two miles to the south of the " Dripping Wells" is the monu- 

 ment — almost illegible now — erected to the memory of the 399 



