86 COMMUNICATION WITH NATIVES STOPPED. 



and g-old, is plentiful in the woods, watching for its 

 prey in the centre of a large net stretched hori- 

 zontally hetween the trees. 



The seine was frequently hauled upon the heach 

 with great success,— one evening, through its means, 

 in addition to plenty of fish, no less than five kinds 

 of star-fishes, and twelve of Crustacea, several of 

 which are quite new, were hrought on shore. 



Among the plants of the island the most impor- 

 tant is a wild species of plantain or banana, after- 

 wards found to range along the N.E. coast and its 

 islands as far as Cape York. Here I saw for the 

 first time a species of Sciadophyllum, one of the 

 most singular trees of the eastern coast line of tro- 

 pical Australia ; a slender stem, about thirty feet in 

 height, gives off a few branches with immense digi- 

 tate dark and glossy leaves and long spike-like 

 racemes of small scarlet flowers, a great resort for 

 insects and insect-feeding birds. 



Soon after the ship had come to an anchor, some 

 natives came off in their canoes and paid us a visit, 

 bringing with them a quantity of shell-fish, (Sangui- 

 nolaria rugosa), which they eagerly exchanged for 

 biscuit. For a few days afterwards we occasionally 

 met them on the beach, but at length they dis- 

 appeared altogether, in consequence of having been 

 fired at with shot by one of two of the " young 

 gentlemen" of the Bramble, on a shooting excursion, 

 Avhom they wished to prevent from approaching too 

 closely a small village, where they had their wives 



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