A FLYING VISIT TO DIBK HABTOG, ETC. 297 



shooting, and we landed without any more inconvenience than a 

 walk of a few yards over a rugged coral-reef in shallow water. 

 The island does not in any part exceed fifty feet in height, and 

 its shape may be described as a roughly equilateral triangle, each 

 side measuring rather more than a mile in length, and with a 

 long projection from the north-eastern angle. The soil consists 

 almost entirely of clean white calcareous sand, on a base of 

 coralline limestone, which crops out here and there in wide 

 stretches covered with loose blocks, and contains many recent 

 corals and shells in very good preservation. Along the shore 

 this limestone is broken into miniature cliffs eight or ten feet 

 high, curiously undercut by the action of the waves. Much of 

 the island is covered with tolerably dense but low brushwood, 

 with white sand-drifts showing here and there, and a small 

 cairn with a weather-beaten pole on the highest point marks the 

 visit of some former surveyor, possibly of Capt. Stokes himself. 



Scarcely two minutes had passed after we landed before the 

 report of a gun was heard, and a "Wallaby" was its victim. 

 Before sunset no fewer than thirty-five of these animals were 

 shot, and any number could have been obtained if wanted. 

 Indeed, they might have been literally said to swarm among the 

 low brushwood, and I was continually meeting with them. They 

 evinced very few signs of alarm, and went off at quite a leisurely 

 pace, and with more of a running than a leaping action. This 

 species is the Halmaturus houtmanni of Gray, discovered during 

 j the visit of H. M.S. 'Beagle'; it is peculiar to the Houtman's 

 Abrolhos (though closely allied to a West Australian form), and 

 appears even to be confined to this and the adjacent West Wallaby 

 Island, not being found in the more southern islands. It is 

 about the size of a large hare, standing, when erect, nearly two 

 feet high, and weighing from seven to ten pounds ; the fur is 

 rather long and soft, and of a general dark brown colour, a little 

 paler on the under parts. These Wallabies, with others shot on 

 the following day, were served out as fresh meat to the ship's 

 company, but except at first were not much appreciated ; the 

 flesh was tender, but very dark in colour, and flavoured with the 

 strong-scented herbage on which the animal subsists. We found 

 they made very tolerable soup. 



I rambled about the island until sunset, finding the vegetation 



