115 
Owing to perpetual contrary winds very little further progress 
was made, and the expedition finally left Australian shores on 7th 
July. 
The very large collections made by Peron and Lesueur on this 
expedition were taken to Paris, and a great part of the material 
was described by Lamarck in his “Animaux sans Vertebres,” by the 
authors of the Nouveau Dictionnaire d’PIistoire Naturelle,” and by 
other French naturalists of the period. Unfortunately none of these 
works are accessible in Western Australia. 
In the year 1817 Captain Philip P. King, R.N., under direc- 
tions from the Admiralty and the Colonial Office, was put in charge 
of the “Mermaid,” a cutter of 84 tons, with directions to complete 
the survey of the coasts of Australia which had been begun by 
Flinders. In this small ship he had with him the famous botanist 
Allan Cunningham; two officers, Messrs. Beclwell and J. S. Roe, the 
latter afterwards Surveyor General of the Swan River Colony, 12 
seamen, 2 boys, and a new South Wales aboriginal, Boongaree. 
They left Port Jackson on 22nd December, and passing through 
Bass Strait and across the Bight, anchored off Middle Island in the 
Recherche Archipelago on 16th January, 1818. “No animals were 
observed, excepting some small quadrupeds, which were momentarily 
seen by Mr. Roe, and, from his description, were kangaroo-rats/ 
On Goose Island, the bird 1 2 from which it takes its name 
appeared to be abundant, but there was too much surf to permit our 
landing upon it.” 
On 20th January the “Mermaid” reached King George the 
Third’s Sound, where she remained till 1st February. The first 
evening they “landed on Seal Island. Several seals were upon it, 
one of which we killed ; and some penguins were also taken.” 
“Iguanas, geese, penguins, gulls, and seals of the hairy species were 
the sole inhabitants of this rock.” 
On an adjacent hill on the mainland “an abundance of shells 
of the helix tribe 3 (Helix bulimus ) was found.” 
“During our stay in Oyster Harbour,” says King, “many parts 
of the neighbourhood were visited by us. The shoals of French- 
man’s River (now called the Kalgan) were covered with large flights 
of water-fowl, among which curlews and teals were abundant. 
Oyster Harbour is plentifully stocked with fish, but we were not 
successful with the hook on account of the immense number of 
sharks that were constantly playing about the vessel. 
“A few fish were taken with the seine, which we hauled on the 
eastern side of the small central island. Boongaree speared a great 
many fish with his fiz-gig; one that he struck with the boat-hook on 
1 Macropus eugenii, Desm. (Dama Wallaby.) 
2 Coreopsis novaehollandiae, Latham. (Cape Barren Goose.) 
3 Bothryembrion kingii, Gray. 
