52 
The Queensland Naturalist 
October, 1929 
ing in a hill of 927 feet, the southerly branch with one 
peak of 1283 feet, forming the backbone of a cape. Great 
Palm Island is thus a roughly triangular island with 
mountain ranges radiating in three directions from a 
point somewhat east of its centre, a branch from one of 
these ranges dividing the western segment. Enclosed in 
the horseshoe so formed is a broad sandy alluvial plain. 
Elsewhere the ranges run down to the sea, fringed here 
and there with narrow sandy flats. The range of the 
south-western cape is interrupted by a narrow strip of 
sandy plain which extends from the southern end of 
Challenger Bay to the south coast of the Island. 
Historical. 
On June 7th, 1770, Captain Cook, in the “ Endeav- 
our/ ’ passed the group on the west. From the deck of 
the boat the vegetation so resembled coconut trees that 
Lieut, Hicks was sent ashore with two small boats to 
investigate. With him went Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. 
Daniel Solander. The party returned shortly and reported 
that they had found nothing but cabbage-tree palms. 
(These were screw pines; no cabbage-tree palms (Livis- 
tona spp.) occur on the islands.) The “Endeavour” was 
lying about half a mile from the shore, and the boats left 
at 4 p.m., returning at dusk — about 5 p.m. There was 
therefore little time for collecting, but Banks and Solander 
managed to obtain a few specimens, As is to be expected, 
these were species which are found growing close to the 
shore line. They were : Pittosporum ferrugineum ; Hibis- 
cus radiatus; Halimum portulacastrum (Sesuvium portu- 
lacastrum) ; Knoxia stricta (K. corymbosa) ; Pterocaulon 
glandulosus; Sarcostemma australe; and Siphonanthus 
floribundus (Clerondendron floribundum). On their re- 
turn to England plates were prepared of these and other 
specimens of the voyage, but it was not until 1900 that 
they were published. 
From the appearance of the vegetation from the ship 
the group received its name of Palm Isles. Cook charted 
the western coast as far as he was able, and on his chart 
the eastern coast is marked as a dotted line. It appears 
from his chart that the landing was not made on Great 
Palm Island, but at the south-west corner of Orpheus, 
which is some miles to the north-west. 
A local version of the origin of the name “Palm 
Island” is that Cook landed there on Palm Sunday. This, 
of course, is disposed of by the entry and explanation in 
the log, and by the fact that June 7th was long after 
