COASTS OF AUSTRALIA, ‘^5 
The day after we arrived here, a boat from the 
San Antonio conveyed Mr. Montgomery and June 23. 
Mr. Cunningham to Clack’s Island. The reef 
abounded with shells, of which they brought 
back a large collection, but not in any great 
variety ; an indifferent ci/prcea was the most com- 
mon ; but there were also some volutce and other 
shells, besides trepang and asterice, in abundance. 
Mr. Cunningham observed a singularly curious 
cavern upon the rock, of which he gave me a de- 
scription in the following account of the island ; — 
The south and south-eastern extremes of 
Clack’s Island presented a steep, rocky bluflF, 
thinly covered with small trees. I ascended the 
steep head, which rose to an elevation of a hun- 
dred and eighty feet above the sea. I found 
simply the plants of the main, vi^,, mimusops par- 
vifolia, Br. ; ho^a nivea, Cunn. MS. ; acacia plec- 
iocarpa, Cunn. MS.; chionanthus axillaris, Br. ; 
notelcEa punctata, Br. ; some alyxice, and the small 
orange-fruited ficus, which grew in the thickets, 
and, by insinuating its roots in the interstices of 
the rocks, clothed a great portion of the inacces- 
sible front of the island. 
‘‘ The remarkable structure of the geological 
feature of this islet led me to examine the south- 
east part, which was the most exposed to the wea- 
ther, and where the disposition of the strata was 
