98 WHITE— A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White. 



A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White- 

 Ornithologist, Soldier, Sailor, and Explorer. 



[By His Son, S. A. White.] 



VI. THE ORNITHOLOGIST. 



Samuel White with his wife, returned to South Australia 

 in the ship "Murray," landing on July 29th, 1876, after a most 

 eventful and trying voyage. Fearfully rough weather accom- 

 panied the ship all the way. Taking the route around Cape 

 Horn, the ship was three weeks in the ice, lost a mast, and was 

 knocked about generally. From letters and rough notes I find 

 that my father, in 1871, was on his way to Queensland, bent on 

 an ornithological expedition. The records of this trip are 

 meagre, simply a few scant notes stating that a large collection 

 of birds and natural history specimens was taken. 



In April, 1872, Samuel White again sailed for England, 

 this time in one of the early steamships. This was a business 

 trip in connection with estate matters, which required his pre- 

 sence in London. In some rough notes on the voyage, he 

 speaks of the boat calling at Albany. "We had a great 

 scramble to get on shore," he said, "there were few boats and 

 the sea was running high, and the passengers and luggage 

 were soaked by the seas. The chief hotel, which was a very 

 poor place, was soon reached. The weather being stormy, I 

 did not go out until after dinner. The harbour is a beautiful 

 little basin of an inlet from the eastward. The town is scat- 

 tered, and the houses small. It is one of the sleepiest places 

 I have ever been in. In the afternoon I set out from the back 

 of the town proceeding for about two miles, and found the 

 country as far as I could see, covered with scrub — it put me 

 much in mind of the black swamps in South Australia — but 

 the eucalypti were stringy-bark and calophila. Upon my 

 return I visited the naturalist of the town, a Mr. Maxwell, an 

 old man of the last century. He knew how to ask for money 

 for the few curios he had, wanted £1 per dozen for Buprestis 

 beetles, many species being those I already have. Return- 

 ing to the hotel ended my first ramble in Western Australia. 



The land appears very poor, undulating white sand, covered 

 with scrub, great boulders of granite cropping up in every 

 • direction. The scrub is very beautiful in itself. There is a 

 greater variety of banksia here than I have ever seen before. 



