NIGHT ISLAND. 115 



This^ which is only a quarter of a mile in leng-th, is 

 situated on the lee side of an extensive reef. It is 

 quite low^ being composed of heaped-up fragments 

 of shells and coral, overrun with a sufFruticose Sida, 

 and stunted bushes of Clerodendrum and Premna, 

 with a glossy-leaved euphorbiaceous plant occasion- 

 ally forming small thickets. Sea fowl and waders 

 were very numerous, but the breeding season was 

 over. Land -rail existed in such great numbers that 

 upwards of fifty were shot. 



I cannot see the propriety of considering the 

 sand bank, marked No. VII., as a member of the 

 Claremont gToup ; as, at high water, it is a mere 

 strip of sand 200 yards in length, with a few plants 

 of Salsola on the highest part. 



On September 8th, we anchored to the westward 

 of the north end of Night Island, a mile off shore, 

 and remained there for the two succeeding days. 

 This island is two miles in length, and half a mile 

 in breadth, surrounded by a narrow reef of dead 

 coral and mud. With the exception of a very 

 narrow portion fronted by a sandy beach, the place 

 is densely covered with mangroves. A sandy por- 

 tion, of about five acres in extent, is thickly covered 

 with bushes and small trees, of which the most 

 conspicuous is a Bombax or cotton-tree, 20 to 30 

 feet in height, with leafless horizontal branches 

 bearing both flowers and fruit. Numbers of the 

 Torres Strait Pigeon (Carpophaga luctuosa) crossed 

 over from the main land towards evening to roost ; 



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