WHITE- — A Sketch of the Life of Saviuel White. 185' 



threaded her way all day among the islands, at first through 

 the Percy Islands, and then others. They were desolate 

 looking places; some mere rocks jutting out of the sea, with 

 many sea birds upon them, bearing an inhospitable and barren 

 appearance, and seemingly of an ironstone formation, without 

 timber of any description, but during the afternoon they 

 improved in appearance, and some looked green on the slopes, 

 and it was noticeable that some of the gullies were timbered 

 with pines (Araucaria). Later we noticed that dense vegeta- 

 tion of pines and other trees covered the sides of the gullies 

 nearly to the top, and that the islands, bore a volcanic appear- 

 ance." At sundown the yacht, under the orders of the owner, 

 brought up under an island — one of the Cumberland, marked 

 "M Island" on the chart — in five fathoms of water over a 

 sandy bottom, where she lay fairly quietly, it being an inlet 

 on the western side of the island. There was no time to go 

 ashore that night, and next morning the wind blowing strongly 

 made the anchorage unsafe, so there was no alternative but to 

 get under weigh again. During the night it was 

 seen that the scrub and grass on the island was 

 burning in several places, which clearly indicated that 

 there were natives upon it. After getting away at 

 daylight the captain made some mistake in his bear- 

 ings' and ran into Repulse Bay, but, discovering his mistake 

 in time, hauled to the wind, and weathered Cape Conway. At 

 2 p.m. we passed the lighthouse and Dent Island, and as tw T o 

 natives came off in a canoe the captain sent a slip to the light 

 keeper to report the boat. After passing the light a course 

 was made around Whitsunday Island, to a nook on the N. side, 

 where Samuel White landed three guns, and went into the 

 scrub, but he was much disappointed, for they saw nothing to 

 collect. Some of the crew landed, and tried'out some oil from 

 the blubber of a porpoise which had been harpooned a few 

 days previously. It was late before the men came off, and 

 in the meantime several natives had come on board with some 

 fish, which were gladly purchased, and made a welcome 

 change to the menu. During the evening some of the crew 

 busied themselves fishing, and caught a few very nice fish of 

 several species, some like the red schnapper found in the 

 vicinity of Kangaroo Island, S-..A. Whitsunday Island is a 

 large one, situated near the mainland, and divided from it by 

 a passage of a few miles. This, like all the islands around 

 it, was of exceeding beauty — like fairylands opening out on 

 every side. Some presented green, grassy slopes, with 



