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



In 1878 North Queensland seems to have again called Sam- 

 uel White, and he set out well equipped for a lengthy sojourn, 

 in the Cape York peninsula and the surrounding islands. In 

 a letter to his wife headed, "Somerset, September 25, 1878," 

 he says, "I have just returned from a cruise amongst the 

 islands in Torres Straits. I am quite well, no fever yet, though 

 many around me have it. I have my headquarters with Mr. 

 Jardine still, he is really one of the nicest fellows I ever met, 

 his kindness and hospitality is unceasing. I have been able to 

 make a cruise of about 400 miles amongst the islands lately, 

 and hope next week to be able to get away amongst another 

 lot of islands. ... I have been here some time, but will 

 not leave until after December. It is a long way to this place 

 (about 3,000 miles), and I came too early, as the season does 

 not begin till late in October, I want to do all I can while 

 here.'' Later he goes on ito say, "I have been all this day 

 putting away and labelling my specimens procured during the 

 last trip among the islands. I have only been away fifteen 

 days, and brought back a fine lot of skins, mostly sea-birds. 

 Then I have sea and land shells, crabs, botanical specimens, 

 and a thousand and one natural history specimens. I have 

 not the space here to describe the lovely islands we called at, 

 where cocoanuts and bananas grow wild, and the natives are 

 yellow-skinned and straight-haired (New Guinea tribes). The 

 weather has been very disagreeable, always blowing a gale, 

 heavy squalls. The excessive skinning is making my finger- 

 nails part from the flesh into which the arsenic penetrates, 

 causing a festering sore, and I suffer great pain, but there, I 

 should bear it cheerfully when I am getting so many rare 

 bird skins.". ... Of a later date still, a letter contained the 

 following, "The weather now is very hot in the scrub, the wind 

 has been blowing a gale ever since I have been here, never ceas- 

 ing, always from the south-east. This is the south-east season, 

 and when the north-east trades set in, then comes the birds* 

 and mosquitoes. The sand-flies here are very bad, wherevef 

 they bite me the place rises into a festering pimple. Insects 

 never made a, mark on me before. In a fortnight I will make 

 another trip to the islands in Torres Straits. First to Moa 

 and Bardo, where there are some shelling stations. Hope to 

 be gone about a month, then return to Somerset. The right 

 season is, setting in now, and I hope to procure a great many 

 bird skins, unless I am attacked by fever. Somerset is a 

 pretty place, Mr. Jardine is sole proprietor, all other people 

 here, principally blacks, are his servants. The scrub is very 



