WHITE— A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White. ~21 



of the men on shore with these to Mr. Jardine's house to 

 remain there till my return. My old friend came off to my boat 

 with me and we spent a pleasant evening together." Early Sun- 

 day morning, the 20th, some of the crew went on shore and 

 brought off the big boat, and letters were left for the next mail 

 going South. The anchor was heaved and with a light breeze 

 the yacht stood on her way. The wind kept light all day, and 

 little progress was made. We passed through Endeavour 

 Straits, and reached Booby Island an hour before sunset, and 

 the anchor was dropped in 4 fathoms over coral. A boat was 

 lowered at once and Samuel White landed, and in his notes 

 he says : — 



"Booby Island is too small to afford much shelter. It Is a 

 granite rock which rises out of the sea almost perpendicularly, 

 indeed it is nothing more than a big rock, it is not more than 

 a quarter of an. eighty acre section composed of red and white 

 volcano stone, with a few bushes growing in some of the cre- 

 vises. It was difficult to ascend and is entirely bare of earth; 

 the look of the place is inhospitable, barren ana cheerless as 

 can well be imagined, and. I was much surprised to find a num- 

 ber of baldcoots (Porhyrio) on the top. These birds are 

 usually found on sodjy banks of fresh water rivers, reed-beds, 

 or swamps, but here they were running about on a bare rock 

 without any appearance. of fresh water, but upon walking over 

 the island I discovered several more holes in the rock near 

 the top of the island, which were. filled to the brim with beau- 

 tifully fresh and cool water. I believe the holes were per- 

 manent, as they were of considerable depth, like wells in the 

 rock. This is where the above mentioned birds watered." 



Booby Island is celebrated as having being at one .time a. 

 refuge or depot for ship-wrecked mariners. In a cave on the 

 north side the Government stored quantities of provisions and 

 medicines for, the ship-wrecked. Letters were also left there 

 by passing ships in those days, to be conveyed south by war- 

 ships, which called regularly for the purpose. In this cave 

 there are still remains of stores, heaps of cask hoops and 

 staves, tin cans .which fell to pieces as soon as touched, the 

 names of many callers are marked upon the walls of 

 the cave. This depot is rendered unnecessary .now owing to 

 the settlement on Thursday Island, which is one of the Prince 

 of Wales group. .During the night the yacht touched the bot- 

 tom several times, at first very lightly, but later the tide hav- 

 ing risen considerably swung the schooner .on to a lump of 



