ao that there was scarcely any swell. The 
young moon was beautiful, bearing in her 
pointed arms the dark bottle green body of 
the old moon, in which was distinctly visible 
some of the more prominent features of the 
lunar landscape. Next day we arrived at 
Fitzroy Island to take in water, and arriving 
when the tide was high had the mortification 
to find that the supply contained in our 
splendid waterhole was all salt. A search 
was made, and a little further to the north, 
and also not much farther up the beach, was 
a shallow rivulet, surrounded by trees, which 
was quite suitable, and during the day we ob- 
tained a good supply. I again captured a few 
insects, but they were much scarcer than be- 
fore. I got more coleoptera on this occasion, 
but very few specimens of any kind, the rain 
which probably extended to this locality 
having, in all probability, killed them. We 
started the same evening and arrived on the 
morning of Satur ay the 16th December, at 
Cardwell, at an early hour. On coming to the 
anchorage we looked for some signs of recog- 
nition on the part of the inhabitants, but none 
seemed to take any notice, and the only course 
for us was to land and send off telegrams, 
which was the great object of our calling in at 
Rockingham Bay. The telegraph master had a 
busy time of it, and is not likely to be so over- 
worked for a long time to come ; but he went 
through the ordeal bravely, and I have not 
heard of any mistakes. I had an opportunity 
of calling upon several gentlemen here, whom I 
wished to Bee, and had some nice insects pre- 
sented to me by the family of Mr. Baird, the 
agent for the A. S .N. Company. Mr. Baird 
was away with the pilot and pilot boat on a 
visit to the Herbert River, which lies to the 
south, and is the site of some fine sugar planta- 
tions. Cardwell is well situated, but would be 
much improved by the erection of a jetty similar 
to the one at Bowen, as it is now all goods 
have to be taken on shore in boats, which in 
rough weather must result in loss or injury to 
delicate articles. The bay is exposed to N.E. 
winds, but is otherwise well sheltered. The 
town is a string of hguses all in line, parallel 
to and a short distance from the shore, which 
is a clean sandy beach, from which even at high 
tide any amount of fine fresh water is obtain- 
able by digging a small hole. I called upon 
Mr. Sheridan, the Police Magistrate and Collector 
of Customs, who shewed me a beautiful tree near 
the beach, under the shade of which our pre- 
sent governor received the adresses of the in- 
habitants. It is a fine evergreen, something 
like the Moreton Bay fig in appearance, and 
bore quantities of fragrant white blossoms. 
Mr. Bosisto, a chemist, from Victoria, remarked 
that be would be able to distil a fine scent from 
these flowers. The pine apple and banana 
grow well here, and our voyagers took the 
opportunity of securing an ample supply. The 
land about Cardwell seems to be of good qua- 
| lity, and the hills behind, which rise to a con- 
siderable elevation, do not seem many miles 
distant ; they are thickly timbered and much 
add to the appearance of the town, as viewed 
from the bay. The view from Cardwell is 
truly magnificent, to the east is Gould Island, 
and southward lies Hinchinbrook Island with 
its lofty and rugged peaks. Had I ha 1 time 
nothing would have given me greater pleasure 
than to have made a drawing of the scene. We 
left early in the afternoon and proceeded on 
our voyage, this being our last place of call be- 
fore reaching Brisbane. We passed Port Deni- 
son next morning about half-past 9 a m., and 
shortly afterwards were surprised by the captain 
ordering the sudden stoppage of the vessel, 
which seemed to be running upon a sand bank 
immediately ahead. After a few minutes the 
signal to go on at full speed was given, and the 
cause of the alarm was made evident when a 
bucket of water was obtained from the sea, 
which was discolored in many places over a 
large area. On examination, it was found 
filled with small particles of some substance 
which the microscope showed to possess an 
: organization similar to marine algae, whicn it 
doubtless was, as the cellular structure was suffi- 
| ciently evident. The difficulty consisted in 
believing that the same could be so regularly 
' and uniformly broken into fragments, all of the 
same apparent size. None were more than 
about the fortieth of an inch in length, and 
under a pocket lens resembled oat grains in 
shape. The vast accumulation of this substance 
was astonishing, and we observed the same 
phenomena on the two following days. The 
sea was totally discolored, as if clay had been 
stirred up and was held in suspension by the 
water. I procured some of the substance by 
dipping a sheet of paper in the bucket of water, 
and the particles readily adhered, and were 
fimly attached when dried. From this time 
until our arrival in Moreton Bay, nothing 
of note occurred. We made the north 
entrance late in the evening of Tuesday the 
19th December, and were boarded by the pilot, 
who took us to the anchorage, where we re- 
mained for a few hours till the tide rose ; 
when, entering the Brisbane River, we arrived 
at about 6 o’clock in the morning of the 20th. 
The rest we all know, how the government 
entertained the visitors and gave them a trip to 
the Downs, etc., and sent them away with a 
very favorable impression of this the gem of 
the Australian colonies. 
The trip throughout was a very pleasurable 
one, and the various scenery through which we 
; passed called forth the admiration of all, from 
| its variety, novelty, and beauty. The steamer 
did her duty well, averaging ten knots an hour 
throughout the passage. The company were 
all agreeable and a greater amount of rational 
and instructive conversation, perhaps, never 
was enjoyed by any set of tourists. A number 
of valuable astronomical works were more 
