I INTRODUCTION 15 



cut off from the mainland by a narrow channel, 

 now known as the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, both 

 the island and the straits being named after the 

 French Admiral Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, who 

 surveyed these coasts a few years later. It is 

 an easy journey from Hobart, the whole of the 

 passage being in sheltered water, and it was on 

 Bruny Island that I had my first experience of 

 camping in Tasmania. Our tents were pitched 

 under some tall Gum-trees which were then in 

 flower, and in the early morning attracted small 

 flocks of the beautiful little Swift Parakeet to 

 feed on their honey. A short walk through the 

 thinly timbered bush brought us out on to the 

 sweeping half-moon crescent of sand fringing 

 Adventure Bay, which the rollers from the open 

 ocean strew with every sort of curious shell ; 

 thousands of the little whelk-like Elenchus, of 

 which the natives used to make necklaces, and 

 occasionally the remarkable Trigonia (Fig. 2), 

 a kind of mussel very abundant in the Jurassic 

 Seas of Europe, but now confined to the Australian 

 coasts. On the cliffs to the north of the bay 

 every sort of sea-bird breeds, and among the 

 sand hummocks are large Penguin warrens. It 

 was here, in the southernmost corner of the bay, 

 that Captain Cook and a party of his men landed 

 for the purpose of cutting grass and spars, and 

 of obtaining water. Several days were spent on 

 shore, and several parties of the natives were 

 interviewed. 



