THE BARNARD ISLES. 87 



and children. Immediate steps were taken, in con- 

 sequence, to prevent the recurrence of such coUisionSj 

 when thoug"htles8 curiosity on one side is apt to be 

 promptly resented on the other, if numerically 

 superior in force. I saw nothing in the appearance 

 of these natives to distinguish them from those of 

 Goold Island, and the canoes are the same. The 

 men had large prominent cicatrices on the shoulders, 

 and across the breast and belly, the septum of the 

 nose was perforated, and none of the teeth had been 

 removed. I saw no weapons, and some rude arm- 

 lets were their only ornaments. 



On June 6th we ran to the northward 16g^ miles, 

 and anchored at noon under No. III. of the Barnard 

 Isles, a group consisting of six high rocky wooded 

 isles, the two southernmost of which are separated 

 from the rest by an interval of four miles. I landed 

 upon the two larg'est, (I. and III. of the charts), on 

 the first only once. I there found nothing of much 

 interest, except some very thick beds of conglomerate 

 superimposed upon a compact basaltic looking rock. 

 No. III., on the other hand, consists of mica slate, 

 much contorted, and altered from its usual appear- 

 ance, and containing lead ore (galena), with several 

 veins of quartz, one of which, about two feet in 

 thickness, traverses the island from side to side. 



The islands of the N. E. coast of Austraha, 

 hitherto and subsequently visited during the survey, 

 afford all the gradations between the simplest form 

 of a sand bank upon a coral reef scantily covered 



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