PHYSICAL STRUCTURE. 107 



ing point being opposite the south-west roadstead entrance. The head or 

 deepest portion of the bay washes the shore of Mosley's Flat. A further 

 description of the Lagoon and its enclosing reef will be found in the previous 

 Zoological Report. 



Ned's, Middle, and Blenkinthorpe Bays each have fine expanses of sandy 

 beach, backed at the first by low sand hummocks, and at the last by incipient 

 dunes ; but neither of these is to be compared to the fine stretch of sand 

 extending for one and a quarter miles along the Lagoon, from Thompson's 

 Point to the southern boundary of Mosley's Flat. 



The creeks on Lord Howe Island are, strictly speaking, unimportant, and 

 such one would anticipate from the small area of the island, A short water- 

 course exists at the Old Settlement and receives the drainage of the gullies 

 traversing the amphitheatre of the east end of the North Ridge. No other 

 creek is met with until the flat ground between Intermediate Hill and Mount 

 Ledgbird is reached. Here occur the Deep Creek and its branch, the 

 Soldier's Creek, which drain the extensive area formed by the flanks of 

 Intermediate Hill, the connecting ridge as high as the Smoking Tree, and 

 thence round the precipitous north-west side of Mount Ledgbird. A short 

 distance further south is the Fresh-water Pool, a rocky gorge cutting through 

 the western terraces of that remarkable hill. The two former creeks 

 have small sandbars at their mouths, and communicate with the Lagoon only 

 during freshets or at high tides. In each case, after leaving the higher 

 ground, their water-courses meander through small alluvial flats, formed by 

 the detrital matter brought down by them. Along the edges of the flat at 

 the Soldier's Creek, and up the course of the Deep Creek are to be found 

 many fine examples of the Pandanus (Pandamis Forsteri, Moore). The 

 gullies in which these creeks terminate are invariably steep, assuming in 

 many cases, especially in the southern part of the island, the aspect of minia- 

 ture mountain torrents. In all probability the deepest gully is Erskine 

 Valley, although some of those on the north-east flanks of Mount Ledgbird 

 are not by any means to be thought lightly of. On the other hand, one of 

 the most beautiful and impressive ravines is the Valley of the Shadow of 

 Death, already referred to in the Zoological Report, running up from Middle 

 Beach, past the Observatory Point, and draining the plateau of Mount Look- 

 out. Doubtless during long continued rain many fine leaps of water are to 

 be observed on Mounts Ledgbird and Grower. In H. F. White's map is shown 

 a swamp in a portion of what is now known as Mosely's flat, but this did not 

 come under our notice. 



The vegetation of Lord Howe is, next to its general outline, its grandest 

 feature. " It is," says Linnseus, " peculiarly beautiful and striking, and to 

 treat it in any exhaustive way, would require a special artist devoted to it." # 

 On approaching from seaward, especially on the western side, its heavily 

 clothed state is not in the least apparent, the view showing " how deceptive 

 the appearance of foliage may be where there are no great irregularities in 

 the growth of the trees, for when looked down upon, though of considerable 

 size, from the evenness of the general surface they look dwarfed and stunted, 

 which is the case in looking at them from the sea also."t To this is due the 

 apparent rounding and non-precipitous outline of many of the eminences of 

 the island, even including some portions of the rugged southern hills. The 

 botany has to a great extent been already described by Mr. Charles Moore, X 



* "Linnaeus," loc. cit, p. 24. 



t Hill's Lord Howe Island, p. 41. 



Z Ibid, p. 17. 



