The Great Barrier Reef. 315 



sooner or later wanders stealthily back to his tribe. Miser- 

 able wanderers they have been, are, and apparently must be. 



A chart is positively a romance of the sea, if studied 

 aright. It tells of adventurous mariners pushing their way 

 along an unknown coast line, amidst ever-recurring obstacles 

 and terrors, real and suggested. The names of the Queens- 

 land bays and headlands, which we spell out in the chart- 

 room, were, we may be sure, given with a meaning. In 

 these days the mariner heads south with the confidence 

 which a rich harvest of science warrants. How fared the 

 intrepid pioneer who sowed the seed? Here, upon the 

 outspread sheet, we have the fruit of such inscriptions as 

 " numerous reefs divided by narrow deep channels ; " or 

 "safe entrance here ; " or " heavy confused sea," or " sand- 

 bank slightly vegetated ; " or " submerged rocks." Wreck 

 Bay lies yonder ; here Cape Flattery ; there Cape Direction. 

 There is Mount Cook at the entrance of Endeavour River, 

 where the gallant Captain Cook careened his ships on the 

 southern bank while he climbed the granite mass called 

 Lizard Island to spy out an avenue of escape from the 

 network of channels in which he had become involved. 



The district is busy enough now, for beyond the moun- 

 tains are the famous Palmer gold fields, and, beyond them; 

 so the newcomers rumour, a brand new gold field, to which 

 people are rushing at the present moment. Cooktown 

 accordingly sprung up almost, as one may say, in a night, 

 as indeed townships frequently do in this vast new country. 

 The harbour is good, but not deep enough to admit close 

 to shore a ship of large tonnage ; but we can make out the 

 square, low, white houses, and the verandah running round 

 as many sides as the owner can afford, and can discern 

 that all the buildings are of wood, with roofs of shingle. 

 Thoroughly Australian is the aspect, and thoroughly homely. 



