erosion that might be expected to have occurred during a 

 protracted sea journey. Moreover, the specimens submitted to 

 me give no evidence of marine life that might have become 

 parasitically attached to the floating pumice, such as algae 

 growths, Serpula, or Balanus. Neither of these considera- 

 tions are, however, fatal to the theory, as the amount of wear 

 is dependent on contact with hard substances floating in the 

 water or the amount of attrition suffered on the beach before 

 the pumice-stone came to rest; and many of such sea-borne 

 stones are found equally destitute of marine growths. So far, 

 however, the negative evidence is in the direction of a short 

 voyage or no voyage at all. 



Again, the ocean currents that prevail along the southern 

 coasts of Australia are not supposed to have a direction that 

 would bring floating matter, by a direct path, from a region 

 where pumice is supposed to occur. The Antarctic current, 

 influenced by the strong westerly winds, takes a north-easterly 

 direction, and becomes a wide-spread "drift"; one branch, 

 going northward, follows the coast of Western Australia, and 

 the other takes an easterly course along the southern shores 

 of the continent. 



Under date March 25, 1916, Mr. Payne writes: "With 

 regard to currents, I have picked up quite a dozen bottles 

 containing letters, memos., flags, etc., thrown overboard by 

 our soldier boys, and quite a number have come from the 

 Great Bight to a spot known as the 'drift,' or 'desert/ 

 between Lake Bonney and the sea, about 2 or 3 miles north 

 of Cape Banks, and north of where the 'Admella' was wrecked. 

 The 'drift' is a great place for all kinds of wreckage, etc., from 

 the sea." Also under date August 6, 1917, I received 

 particulars from Mr. Payne of a "current paper" thrown 

 overboard on September 26, 1916, in lat. 40° 17' S., and 

 long. 126° 58' E. (south of the Great Bight), and was picked 

 up 10 miles to the north of Cape Banks on July 26, 1917, the 

 maximum time for the journey being fourteen months. 



There is probably some reason why such unusual quan- 

 tities of floating material should accumulate on the beach a 

 few miles north of Cape Banks, and which has given the 

 locality the name of the "drift." Some chartographers 

 represent the great easterly drift, to the south of Australia, 

 as bifurcating on the western side of Tasmania, one branch 

 making a westerly turn, forming a large eddy to the south 

 of the Great Bight, while another section, after hugging the 

 western coast* of Tasmania, passes eastward through Bass 

 Strait. There is probably a neutral zone between the two 

 currents, one going west and the other going east, and would 



