Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/53

 36 SURVEY OI.THE INTgOPICAL l.k San Antonio over to..the.island, and anchoring Jme, her off the sandy .beach, landed his people to dig holes..In' the' 'afternoon he sentme a specimen of what had been collected; but it wasso brackish, that I gave up all idea.of s.h'pping,any: he' had im/)rovidently dug large holes, into .which all the water good and bad had drained,. and thereby the good was spoiled. The fallowing morning he sent. another speci- .men, which, notwithstanding it was considerably better, was still too bad W tempt me to embark any. During the San Antonio's stay at Sims Is!and,.our gentlemen paid'it a visit: its vege- tat/on appeared to have' suffered as much from want of rain .as Goulburn Island. "The veno- rable tom,nfort (t. argtea, Lin.), however, appeared as an exception: this tree, which grows on the centre of .the beach, where it is remarkably conspicuous, appeared to have sisted the dry state of the season; it was in full leaf, and covered with'. a profusion'of flowers, which attracted a variety of insects, particularly of the genera apis, vez'pa, and sphe; and among ... them a beaut/ful green./x)loured chsis."--(Cun.. ningham MSS.) During the two last days, our people were employed cutting wood; no natives had made their appearan, although recent tracks on the

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