We remained for nearly four months anchored at or in the neighbourhood of Thursday Island. During this period our boats were employed in making a survey of the Prince of Wales Channel, which is now the route almost invariably used by steamers and sailing ships in passing through Torres Straits. There is a small settlement at Thursday Island consisting of about dozen houses, wooden built, which are occupied by white families and their coloured domestics. There is a police magistrate, whose jurisdiction, as an official of the Queensland government, extends over all the islands in Torres Straits; an officer of customs, through whose hands passes all the trade of the Straits; a staff of white policemen to enforce the Queensland law; a prison for the incarceration of the refractory pearl shellers; a store for the supply of tinned provisions and all the miscellaneous requirements of the pearl shell trade; and, finally, there are two public-houses which do a flourishing business and supply ample material for the official ministration of the police. The entire population, white and coloured, does not exceed a hundred.

Thursday Island owes its importance to being the shipping port for the produce of all the pearl shell fisheries in Torres Straits. It is visited monthly by steamers of the "British India" and "Eastern and Australian" Steamship Companies, and also by a small coasting steamer, the Corea, belonging to an Australian firm. The latter plies regularly and constantly between Thursday Island and Sydney, and does most of the business in connection with the fisheries, conveying the shell to Sydney, and returning with a cargo of tinned provisions, slops, and other stores for the use of the pearl shellers. The inhabitants of Thursday Island, and those belonging to the various pearl shell stations scattered through the group of islands, are dependent for support upon extraneous supplies of provisions. Cattle will not thrive on the islands, owing to the poisonous nature of the grass, and as yet all attempts at growing fruit and vegetables have in most cases proved unsuccessful.

The native inhabitants of the Torres Straits Islands are a small tribe of Papuan origin, who lead a wandering life, and show little inclination to hold intercourse with either white or coloured colonists. They have the frizzled hair, the aquiline hooked nose, and the wide curved lips of the Papuans; and among their implements are the long "hour-glass" drum, headed with lizard skin, the tortoise-shell mask worn at corroborees, and the pearl shell ornaments dangling from the neck; but their intercourse with the North Australian aborigines is shown by their having acquired the practice of using the "throwing sticks" for their spears. Their food being almost solely of marine origin, their camps are only found on the shores of the islands. At certain seasons in the year they catch the turtle and dugong, and apparently in great numbers, if one can judge by the quantity of bones of these animals seen by us in the midden-heaps. Fish they obtain in abundance by means of the hook and line, and the shore molluscs also supply them with food; so that it is not to be wondered at that we generally found them to be in a well-nourished condition, and not at all anxious to barter their fish for such a commodity as ship's biscuit. Their boats are long dug-out canoes, fitted with double outriggers, and very rudely constructed. Whether under sail or paddle, they manoeuvred very badly, and were on the whole very poor specimens of naval architecture, even for a tribe of savages.

In 1879 the population of the shelling stations amounted to 720, while that of the settlement at Thursday Island was only 80. In 1880 the shelling population amounted to 815, showing an increase of nearly a hundred on that of the previous year. As far as I could ascertain, any change that has taken place during the last two years has been indicative of the increasing prosperity of the pearl shell industry. Indeed I was informed by a resident gentleman connected with the fisheries, that the shareholders in one of the stations had that year received a dividend of seventy per cent. on the capital invested. I made the acquaintance of several of the managers (or "bosses" as they are commonly called) of the pearl shell establishments, and through their civility had opportunities of visiting many stations within a range of twenty-five miles from our anchorage at Thursday Island. They are all constructed more or less on the same general model; consisting usually of one white-washed house,—the residence of the white manager,—a store-house, and a couple of sheds for the stowage of boat appliances and pearl shell, and a few large grass built huts in which the labourers employed at the depÔt are housed. These men, who are spoken of under the comprehensive term of "Kanakas," are for the most part Malays: the remainder being a motley collection of Manila men, Fijians, natives of New Hebrides, and brown-skinned Polynesians from various Pacific Islands. There is usually but one white man to each station, viz., the manager. The shelling boats—called "apparatus boats"—are entirely under the control of Kanakas. They are each of between five and eight tons burden, are rigged with standing lugsails, and are provided with the most approved air pump diving apparatus. The crew of one of these boats usually consists of five men, one of whom is the diver; another steers, and the remaining three look after the air pump and signal rope. The time selected for diving operations is usually when there is a "weather tide"; the vessel is then hove-to under easy canvas, so that she may drift slowly to windward, while the diver, following her movements, gropes about the bottom in search of pearl shell. The work is carried on at depths varying between five and sixteen fathoms, and in order to provide against accidents from inequalities in the bottom, as well as to allow the diver greater freedom in his movements, the length of the pipes connecting his dress with the air pump is usually twice the mean depth of the water in which he is working. The signal rope is of a similar length, so that it may be used for hauling up the shell-bag which the diver fills from time to time, without his having to release the end attached to his body, or to make use of a second line. The bag is therefore attached about the middle of the line.

When diving apparatus was first used in Torres Straits, white divers were exclusively employed, and at the same time the Kanakas continued to work as "swimming divers" in the tedious old-fashioned way. As soon, however, as the Kanakas were tried in the diving dresses, it was found that they were far superior to any professional white divers, for not only could they remain much longer under water, but they were also able to move about on the bottom more independently, and to dispense altogether with the weighted rope ladder which the white divers used to look upon as essential. Since the introduction of boats fitted with diving apparatus, the pearl shell trade of Torres Straits has become highly remunerative, and the export of shells has increased enormously.

The shells obtained are classified into two qualities: firstly, young shells, known to the trade as "chicken shell," which are the most valuable, and average about 2,000 to the ton; and secondly, adult shells, about 700 of which weigh one ton. It is calculated that the annual take of a single boat is about seven tons, of which five tons cover the outlay, and two tons may be reckoned as clear profit. The value per ton has a wide range, varying according to the state of the home market, and may be estimated at from £100 to £300. The number of boats employed last year was 100. In the year 1878, shells to the weight of 449 tons, and valued at £53,021, were exported; and during the same year pearls to the value of £230. Most of the pearls taken are of poor quality, and are so few as to be comparatively valueless; although a fairly good one, without a flaw, and about the size of a pea, is said to be worth £5. Coarse ones of extraordinary size are sometimes obtained. A proprietor and manager (Captain Tucker), who was considered exceptionally fortunate in obtaining pearls, once showed me the proceeds of nine tons of shell which he had just brought in from the fishing-ground. The pearls were of all sorts and sizes; one was as big as a large hazel nut, others were like millet seeds. Altogether they were just sufficient to fill a common matchbox, in which indeed he carried them. Official statistics regarding the take of pearls are only to a small extent reliable, as many—probably most—never reach the hands of the proprietors, but are retained as perquisites by the Kanaka divers, who dispose of them secretly.

Most of the shell is sent to Sydney by the steamship Corea, where it is purchased by merchants, who send it to Europe for manufacture. Since the establishment of the Queensland Royal Mail-steamers, which traverse Torres Straits, some of the shell has been by them conveyed direct to England, where it is consigned to the manufacturers, to the greater profit of the pearl shellers. Most of the shelling establishments in Torres Straits are the property of companies consisting of two or more capitalists, who for the most part reside in Sydney, and it is indeed a rather odd anomaly that a lucrative industry subject to the jurisdiction of the Queensland government should be worked by capital from New South Wales.

Much of my time was occupied in giving medical aid to the people of Thursday Island, and to the employÉs of the pearl-shell stations. My spare time, as opportunities offered, I spent in exploring the group of islands within reach, viz., Horn Island, Prince of Wales Island, Hammond Island, Fitzroy Island, Goode Island, Thursday Island, Possession Island, West Island, and Booby Island. In geological formation they are all much alike, a quartzite or quartz porphyry being the prevailing form of rock. The land is covered with rank grass, and is for the most part lightly timbered with gum-trees. On the latter a parasitic plant, resembling mistletoe, is commonly met with. Water is scarce, and during a great part of the year some of the islands are practically without any. In searching for water-holes or for damp spots, where water has at some period of the year been present, Pandanus trees are in many instances considered to be a safe guide. The rule, however, seems to be that where moisture habitually collects, Pandanus trees will be found growing, and not the converse. Attached to rocky surfaces, and to the bark of trees in shady places, the eye is frequently arrested by the sight of most beautiful orchids, principally of the genus Dendrobium. These orchids are objects of much concern to the more enterprising colonists, as there is an oft-repeated story that some years ago a white-flowered Dendrobium was found on Goode Island, and on being sent to England was sold for £200. Consequently everyone collecting orchids is supposed to be in quest of the famous white species.

Lizards are abundant, especially a large Monitor, which, when disturbed, astonishes one by the noise which it makes in scampering over the stones and dead twigs to its burrow, or if this be not at hand, to seek the protection of some friendly tree, up which it climbs with extraordinary facility. They are easily shot. When first I saw their burrows, I considered them to be the work of some burrowing marsupial, and accordingly set a cage-trap opposite the entrance of one. On returning next day, I found, to my surprise, a large Monitor coiled up inside the trap, whose dimensions were so small in proportion to the size of the reptile, that the wonder was how he ever managed to stow himself inside. We encountered few snakes, and from inquiries were led to believe that few, if any, poisonous ones existed. However, they are said not to show themselves much during the dry season, which among these islands is supposed to be their time for hybernating.

One day, when exploring in company with Haswell, we found portions of the carapace and pincer-claw of a land-crab (most likely a species of Geograpsus), an animal not previously recorded from the islands. On examining the beds of dry mountain gullies, and digging into sand-choked crevices between spurs of rock, where a certain amount of moisture existed, I subsequently obtained several live specimens. No doubt, during the wet season they might be more easily obtained.

Thursday Island possesses six species of land-shells. They are Helix kreffti, H. delessertiana, H. spaldingi, H. buxtoni, Bulimus beddomei, and Helicina reticulata. During our stay the island was fired, in order to remove the "spear-grass," which is so destructive to cattle. The fire spread over the whole island, and continued to rage for several days, consuming not only all the grass, but also a great quantity of scrub, and laying bare a vast extent of arid stony surface. It was now an easy matter to collect land-shells, for they lay dead in prodigious numbers on the bare summits of the hills as well as in the hollows, gullies, and other more likely places.

This fire was a great blow to my hopes of collecting plants, almost all the herbaceous ones and many of the creepers having been consumed or shrivelled up by the heat of the conflagration. After much trouble I succeeded in obtaining five species of ferns, which I fancy is not far short of the entire number. Among these were the Nephrolepis acuta, PulÆa nitida, Polypodium quercifolium, Lindsaya ensifolia, and the common Australian form, Lygodium scandens.

The avifauna of the different islands is, as might be expected, of a similar character to, and differs very little, if at all, from that of the adjoining part of the mainland of Australia. The list of birds includes species of the genera Campephaga, Ptilotis, Pachycephala, Myzomela, Nectarinia, DicÆum, Trichoglossus, Artamus, Mimeta, Halcyon, Nycticorax, Plictolophus, Chalcophaps, Erythrauchena, Geopelia, Ptilinopus, Myiagra, Sauloprocta, Sphecotheres, Chibia, Centropus, Graucalus, Grallina, Donacola, Tropidorhynchus, Climacteris, Megapodius, Œdicnemus, Ægialitis, Merops, Dacelo, Bruchigavia, Sterna, Pelicanus, HÆmatopus, and others. At Booby Island, a small rocky islet in mid-channel, affording no cover beyond a few bushes growing in a cleft in the rocks, we found no less than twelve species of land-birds. These were the Ptilinopus superbus, P. swainsoni, Myiagra plumbea, Nectarinia australis, Megapodius tumulus, Porphyrio melanotus, Halcyon sanctus, Nycticorax caledonicus, a Zosterops, a yellow-breasted flycatcher, a landrail, and a quail. From the discrepancies between the different records of the birds found on this island, there is reason to believe that it is mainly used as a temporary resting-place for birds of passage. The "mound bird" (Megapodius tumulus) is probably, however, a regular inhabitant.

In examining the cliffs of this island, in quest of sea-birds' nests, I noticed, considerably above the reach of the highest tide, some smooth basin-shaped cavities in the rock containing rounded water-worn stones, such as one sees in the rock pools between tide marks. This circumstance would point to an upheaval of the island during recent geological times.

We sailed from Torres Straits on October 1st, and proceeded under steam towards Port Darwin, in North-West Australia, sounding and dredging on our way, and eventually coming to an anchor in Port Darwin on October 20th. The settlement of Palmerston, off which we lay, is the seat of government for the northern territory of the colony of South Australia, whose capital, Adelaide, is about 1,800 miles away on the south coast, and is separated from Port Darwin by an enormous patch of uncivilized country extending for about 1,500 miles in a north and south direction.

The foundation of a settlement at Port Darwin, which took place about ten years ago (1872), was practically due to the completion of the submarine cable and land telegraph lines, which have each got terminal stations at Port Darwin, where the "through" messages are transferred. Its subsequent progress, such as it has been, was encouraged and fostered by the trade in provisions and gold induced by the workers at the northern territory gold-fields. There are now two submarine cables connecting Port Darwin with Singapore, vi Java, and thence with Europe. The first was laid in 1872, and was found most difficult to maintain on account of the ravages made in it by a boring mollusc, a species of Teredo, which in an amazingly short space of time pierced the galvanized iron-wire sheathing of the cable, and destroyed the insulation of the copper core. The repairs of this cable necessitated an outlay of £20,000 per annum, a circumstance contrasting strangely with the condition of a similar cable in the China and India seas, which is not attacked by the Teredo. Recently a duplicate cable has been laid, in the construction of which a tape of muntz metal was wound round in a spiral fashion between the insulating material and the twisted wire sheathing. By this provision the new cable has been rendered proof against the boring effects of the Teredo, and has hitherto worked successfully without the slightest hitch.

The land telegraph line stretches directly from Port Darwin to Adelaide, a distance of about 1,800 miles, and thus serves to connect all the principal towns of Australia with the station of the Cable Company at Port Darwin. It was at one time thought that there would have been much difficulty in inducing the aborigines to abstain from meddling with the overland wire, but experience has not justified this impression. It appears that the black fellows hold it sacred, looking on it as a sort of boundary mark to separate the white man's territory from theirs.

Palmerston contains a police magistrate, who is the chief executive authority in the northern territory; a lands department, with its staff of surveyors; a police inspector, with a detachment of white troopers; a government doctor; the two telegraph stations, with their separate staffs of telegraphists; and, of necessity, a jail.

Our acquaintances on shore spoke in sanguine terms of the prospects of the settlement, and the future greatness which is in store for the northern territory; but to us strangers the appearance of Port Darwin and the surrounding country was by no means indicative of progress, or suggestive of a superabundance of the elements of greatness. Indeed, although the settlement has been in existence since 1872, yet the white population of the whole northern territory does not exceed two hundred; and if it were not for the Chinamen, who have been attracted thither by the "gold-rush," and whose numbers—including those at Port Darwin, Southport, and the gold-fields—amount to 6,000, there would be almost no manual labour available for the white colonists.

The auriferous quartz reefs, which here constitute what are called the "gold-fields," are situated on the side of a range of hills beginning at a distance of about one hundred miles from Port Darwin, in a southerly direction. The usual route thither is by steamboat for twenty-five miles to Southport, a small settlement at the southern extremity of one of the arms of the inlet, and thence by cart track for eighty miles. Unfortunately, during the wet season this track is almost impassable. The gold is obtained from the ore by crushing and amalgamating with mercury in the usual way. In this country the crushing or stamping machines are known as "batteries," and I believe in the northern territory they are worked entirely by steam power. The average yield of gold from the reefs ranges from one and a quarter to one and a half ounces per ton of crushed material, although rock has been met with containing no less than twenty ounces per ton. The latter, however, is altogether exceptional. There are in the same localities alluvial diggings worked in a small way by Chinamen, but the yield of gold is insignificant compared with that from the reefs. I find it stated in the returns furnished by the customs officer at Port Darwin that during the year ending 31st of March, 1881, the northern territory exported 10,1071/2 ounces, valued at £36,227.

I was told that at the time of our visit there were only two genuine squatters in the whole northern territory. From their stations is drawn the beef supply for the people living at Port Darwin, Southport, and the gold-fields, and it would seem that the supply was quite equal to the demand. Most of the land in the territory is now held on lease by speculators, who pay to the South Australian Government an annual rental of sixpence per square mile, which gives them, under certain conditions, a right of pre-emption, and these speculators now hold on to the land with a view to ultimately disposing of their interest to bon fide settlers at a large profit to themselves. But until the Colonial Government takes the initiative in affording facilities for the conveyance of produce from the interior to Port Darwin, there seems little likelihood of the land being taken up for either agricultural or pastoral purposes.

The aboriginal inhabitants are numerous in this part of Australia. Those in the vicinity of Port Darwin are of the tribe of "Larikias." In company with Dr. Morice, the government medical officer, I visited two native encampments, which were situated a few hundred yards apart, and at a distance of about half-a-mile from the settlement. One of the camps was on an elevated plateau, covered with thin grass and a sprinkling of scraggy bushes, while the other was at the foot of a high cliff, and immediately adjoining the beach. We found in camp a large number of men, women, and children, most of whom were lolling about on the ground, smoking short wooden pipes, polishing their skins with red ochre, and producing a rude burlesque of music out of pieces of hollow reed about four feet long, which they blew like cow-horns. The stature of the men was much superior to that of the natives we had seen previously on the east coast; but although strong and active, they presented a slim lanky appearance, especially as regards their lower extremities. Their features were regular, and for the most part pleasing; the hair was long, black, and wavy, sometimes hanging in ringlets; the nose was aquiline, with broad alÆ nasi, and having the septum perforated for the reception of a white stick like a pipe-stem; the upper lip, cheek, and chin were furnished with a moderate growth of hair; the teeth were regular—no incisors removed; trunk and extremities almost devoid of hair; the skin of the arms, chest, and abdomen was decorated with cicatrices which stood out from the skin in bold relief, having the form and consistency of cords. On the arms these scars were disposed in parallel vertical lines, while on the chest and abdomen they were in horizontal curves. Dr. Morice informed me that these ghastly decorations were produced in some way unknown by means of a sharp cutting instrument, and that no foreign substance is introduced into the wound. He had been unsuccessful in all his efforts to ascertain how the peculiar raised and indurated character of the sore is produced. The women had fewer scar decorations than the men, but had the same nasal perforation, in which they also wore sticks. All seemed cheerful, happy, and contented with their lot. Their huts were of the usual unsubstantial character, but were, however, an improvement on the "shelter-screens" of the eastern aborigines. They were constructed of boughs of trees supplemented with stray bits of iron sheeting, and other scraps of wood and iron gleaned from the settlement, and they were provided with an arched roof, so that the whole structure was of the shape of a half cylinder lying on its side. Many, however, were little more than "shelter screens," to protect them from the prevailing winds.

Their weapons consisted of spears and clubs. The spears were of different shapes and sizes, some being provided with two or three long slender tapering points of hard wood, deeply serrated along one side, while others were tipped with rudely chipped pieces of sandstone. The former is used for spearing fish, the latter for fighting purposes. The "woomerahs," or throwing sticks, which they always use in propelling their spears, are of two kinds. The most common is about four feet in length, flat and lathlike, and is peculiar in having the angular hook, which engages the butt of the spear, projecting in a plane at right angles to the flat surface of the stick. The other is a light cylindrical stick tapering from the handle end, and its hook consists of a conical-shaped piece of wood, which is secured at an oblique angle to the distal end by means of gum and fibre lashings. The clubs are about four feet long, are made of a hard heavy wood of a red colour, and are fashioned with double trenchant edges towards the striking end, so that a moderate blow from one of these formidable weapons would effectually cleave open any ordinary skull. The boomerang is not used in this part of Australia.

Small-pox has made sad ravages among this tribe of natives, and accounts for the large proportion whom we found to be wholly or partially blind.

The season of the north-east monsoon had just come to a close, and with it the drought and intermittent fever which render Port Darwin an undesirable residence for six months of the year. Calms usually prevail during the month of November, and in December the N.W. monsoon is ushered in by copious showers of rain, an event looked forward to with much satisfaction by the inhabitants of Port Darwin. The annual rainfall during the last half-a-dozen years has ranged from fifty-six to seventy-seven inches, nearly all of which is precipitated during the months of December, January, February, March, and April. Strange to say, during the rainy season the settlement is healthy and entirely free from malarial fever. But shortly before our arrival there had been an epidemic of beriberi—a disease not indigenous to Australia—which had probably been introduced by the Chinese immigrants.

I devoted one forenoon during low-water springtides to an inspection of the beach between tide marks, but excepting a few sponges obtained nothing of particular interest. The beaches in the immediate vicinity of our anchorage were smothered with a thick coating of slimy mud, and were consequently not favourable to marine life. With the dredge I was more successful. About the centre of the harbour, in eleven fathoms, the bottom is of sand, and here the fauna is abundant. Of Polyzoa I obtained representatives of several genera, including Retepora, Eschara, Crisia, Idmonea, Cellepora, and Lepralia; among Crustaceans the genera Myra, Phlyxia, Hiastemis, and Lambrus afforded many specimens. Many silicious Sponges were also found; among Shells, Murex and Ranella were the principal genera observed; and in hauling the dredge over some muddy ground I got a Virgularia about eight inches long.

The commonest bird about the settlement was a brown kite (Haliastur sp.?), which hovered about the refuse heaps on the look-out for garbage, or, perched on the leafless branch of some dying tree, remained huddled up in a lazy and unconcerned attitude, taking no more notice of passers-by than do the hideous Turkey-buzzards which act as scavengers in the towns of Central America. Our ship was all day long surrounded by a flock of these kites, who occupied themselves in picking up with their talons the morsels of food which from time to time were, amid other refuse, cast overboard. The thinly-wooded hollows in the immediate vicinity of the settlement were thronged with numbers of a black and white Grallina (Grallina picata) of about the size of a magpie, which, on being disturbed, rose from the ground in flocks to perch on the lower branches of the gum trees, and in company with them I saw many examples of the Drongo (Chibia bracteata). Amidst the foliage of the low bushes, a large black Shrike was frequently seen, also a Zosterops, a flycatcher (Piezorhynchus nitidus), and examples of a small finch-like bird (Donacola castaneothorax). The latter were congregated in dense flocks, which shifted frequently from tree to tree, making a loud whirring noise with the rapid vibrations of so many tiny wings. When walking through the short grass, numbers of small ground doves (Geopelia placida) would start up from almost under one's feet, and alight again on the nearest tree, allowing one to approach them within a few yards. Along the inner or landward edge of the mangrove fringe I saw perched on the summits of the trees a large oriole (Mimeta), of which I obtained two female specimens in full plumage; and among some low prickly bushes which grew over the shell heaps of the inner beach, I had a long, and finally successful, chase of a goat-sucker, which had been dodging about under the bushes, without rising on the wing. Large flocks of the New Holland paroquet (Trichoglossus novÆhollandiÆ) flew about the topmost branches of the large gum trees, screaming shrilly. I also saw and obtained a specimen of T. rubritorquis, just now a scarce bird, but at other times of the year said to be tolerably abundant. One day I joined a party on a shooting excursion to a fresh-water lagoon about twelve miles from the settlement. We were driven to the ground by Mr. Gott, the superintendent of the British and Australian telegraph station, who not only afforded us a pleasant day's shooting, but on this and other occasions evinced the greatest kindness and hospitality. A large black and white goose (Anseranas melanoleuca) was met with in immense flocks in the lagoon; and when started from their feeding ground, these birds, to our surprise, betook themselves to the neighbouring gum trees, where they perched with an apparent ease which was astonishing in such great and unwieldy creatures. Although thus so easily circumstanced for pot-shots, it was no easy matter to bring them down, as they required very hard shooting to make any impression on them; so that, notwithstanding a liberal expenditure of ammunition, our united efforts did not produce at all so large a bag as we had at first anticipated. The country through which we drove on our way to and from the lagoon was of an extremely uninteresting nature, being flat and arid, and thinly wooded with stunted gums.