100 SAIL FROM PORT ESSINGfTON. 



recognized by a Malay as that producing the 

 valuable cajeput oil^ and on trial, the oil procured 

 from the leaves by distillation, was found to he 

 scarcely inferior in pungency to that of the Mela- 

 leuca Cajeputi of the Moluccas. Here, too, we saw 

 some of the play-houses of the greater bower-bird 

 {Chlamydera nuchalis), and had the pleasure of 

 witnessing the male bird playing his strange antics 

 as he flew up to the spot and alighted with a dead 

 shell in his mouth, laid it down, ran through the 

 bower, returned, picked up the shell, and rearranged 

 the heap among which it was placed, flew off" again 

 and soon returned with another, — and so on. 



On November 16th we got under weigh at day- 

 light, but the wind died away in the afternoon, and 

 we anchored half ^^'ay down the harbour. Next 

 day we got out to sea on our voyage to Sydney. 

 We were all glad to leave Port Essing-ton, — it was 

 like escaping from an oven. During our stay the 

 sky was generally overcast, with heavy cumuli, 

 and distant lightning at night, but no rain fell, and 

 the heat was excessive. These were indications of 

 the approaching change of the monsoon ; — the rainy 

 season, with the wind more or less westerly, usually 

 commencing in December and continuing until 

 March. 



December Srd.—Lat. 11° 2 S. long. 123° 11' E. 

 To-day we may be said to have cleared the land 

 after a dead beat to the westward, between the Sahul 

 Bank and the islands of Timor and Rottee. It 



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