136 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 
scrub, and at a time when fever was so prevalent that white labor 
had to be given up, and Chinamen employed. The plantation is 
really a splendid one, vast fields of cane in every direction. They 
employ a hundred white men and three hundred Kanakas, and 
their output during crushing, {which occupies six months a year), 
is twenty tons daily. The Kanakas are very happy and contented, 
and seem to be in every way much better off than when on their 
native islands. After dining at the manager’s residence, we were 
shown over the mill, the machinery of which astonished us. It 
would take an hour to describe it, so I shall let it alone, and merely 
say that we were more than satisfied with our visit. On returning 
to the cutter we found the sailors had been busy fishing during our 
absence, and had caught a splendid lot of Red Bream, fish weighing 
two or three pounds each, which made a welcome addition to our 
bill of fare. On the morrow, as it was still too rough to venture 
outside, we remained at anchor, and spent the day assisting our 
botanist to collect ferns and orchids, and between us made a very 
good haul. 
During the evening the wind moderated and the sea went down, 
so at daybreak next morning we made another start for the Barnards, 
where we landed without difficulty about nine a.m. This island, the 
largest of the group, is about half a mile across, and is simply a 
mountain rising out of the sea. The sides in some parts are exceed- 
ingly steep, and it is completely covered with scrub, similar to that 
found on the mainland. As there is no water to be found there, it 
ig uninhabited, so we were not in much danger from the blacks. It 
turned out to be a very wet day, but still we were not to be deterred 
by trifles when the cry of the Rifle Bird was ringing in our ears, so 
we soon made a dive into the scrub. We found the birds very shy 
and hard to get at, and it was dreary work poking about in the wet 
scrub, sometimes standing still for half an hour with the rain beating 
down on you, waiting for a bird you could hear close by to show 
himself, but we kept at it, and when we returned to the cutter found 
we had secured seven male and ten female Rifle Birds. They are 
really beautiful birds, and well worth the trouble:we took to get them. 
They are not plentiful on tke Island, so we considered ourselves 
fortunate in getting so many. As we were anxious to return to 
Cardwell before Sunday, we weighed anchor at ten pm,, and started 
on our return journey, but not before promising ourselves another 
visit if possible. We had a fine run back, and by Saturday night 
were in our old camp at Heunga Creek. Our time was now almost 
up, one week more and we would have to turn our backs on Northern 
Queensland, perhaps for ever. We turned this over in our minds 
during the following day, as we were resting from our labor, writing 
letters, and finally resolved at all costs to return tothe Barnards and 
have another day or two amongst the Rifle Birds. 
(To be continued.) 
