100 
“when suddenly a terrible roaring froze us with terror: it was like^l 
the bellowing of an ox, but much louder, and appeared to come fromi 
the neighbouring bushes. At this fearful cry we lost all desire toll 
reach the land, and, although shivering with cold, we preferred to«| 
pass the night on the water, without supper and without being able*| 
to sleep, on account of the rain and the cold.” 
South of Rottnest they discovered two other islands, Lie? 
Berthoilet, now called Carnac, and lie Buache, now called Garden 
Island. “The latter was covered with a great number of seals, which 
kept a little way from the shore, and seemed inclined to dispute the 
passage with our sailors. This audacity cost them dear: a great 
slaughter occurred.’* Giraud Reef, near Carnac Island, “serves more 
particularly as refuge for a great number of sea-birds.” 
On Rottnest Island, the naturalist Badly, found “two species 
of small shells; one a bivalve, the other a univalve, fairly similar 
to a Melania and red in colour” on the shores of the salt lakes. “The 
shores of most of these lakes were, quite literally, covered with these 
shells: they are the only living beings which we discovered there.” 
The rock composing the hills is entirely calcareous, “full of shells 
very well preserved, which are arranged as if in families, in one 
place Venus, in another “Vis,” etc. 
“We observed,” on Rottnest, “a small species of' kangaroo, about 
65 c.ms. (2 feet) high, which is very numerous there. We also met 
with a second species of quadruped of the size of a very large rat, 
which the old Dutch navigators actually mistook for a rat, 
but according to the observations of our naturalist, M. Peron, they 
belong to a new and very remarkable genus, whose description will 
be found in the zoological portion of the works of this estimable 
and indefatigable naturalist. Seals are present in large numbers 
on various sandy beaches on the coast: they sometimes penetrate 
for considerable distances into the interior of the forests. We saw 
some very large ones: they were mostly grey; some were reddish, 
and others were black. These last were the smallest and, perhaps, 
also the youngest; for we saw a female of an ashy grey colour 
suckling one of its young, which was itself black. The flesh of these 
animals, when it is fresh, is very good to eat ; we often fried it and 
did not observe the least disagreeable taste or smell. The fur of 
most of these animals is fine and thick, and on this account, might 
be of considerable value : it would be easy to obtain a rich cargo 
of it. 
Snakes are fairly common on Rottnest Island; we found 
several not less than 10-13dms. (4-5ft.) in length, and with a thick- 
ness of 40-50ems. (l%.-2ins.) ; their colour was that of dull steel. 
Also on Rottnest Island a singular species of lizard was obtained, in 
which my friend Peron found a combination of digits hitherto un- 
known in the lizard family. This kind has only two on the fore- 
feet and three on the hind-feet.” 
