“No quadrupeds were seen upon this excursion, and only the usual indications of kangaroos:  a few birds were observed on the wing, chiefly, however, of the pigeon kind.”

We saw no kangaroos or opossums of any kind during our visit; but if we may judge from the number of snakes at so advanced a period of the dry season when they are generally in a dormant state, reptiles are very numerous.  Mr. Cunningham found a very curious species of lizard, remarkable for having a thin, membranaceous appendage attached to the back of its head and round the neck and falling over its shoulders in folds as low as the fore arm.  It was sent by Mr. Cunningham to the College of Surgeons where it is now preserved.  Small lizards, centipedes, and scorpions were numerous about our encampment; and the trees and bushes about the tents were infested by myriads of hornets and other insects, particularly mosquitoes and small sandflies which annoyed us very much in the evenings.

Besides the huts on the beach which were merely strips of bark bent over to form a shelter from the sun, there were others on the top of the hill over the tents of a larger and more substantial construction; no two however were built after the same fashion.  One of them was thus erected:  Two walls of stones, piled one upon the other to the height of three feet, formed the two ends; and saplings were laid across to support a covering of bark or dried grass:  the front, which faced the east, was not closed; but the back, which slanted from the roof to the ground, appeared to have been covered with bark like the roof.

The other huts were made somewhat of a similar construction, as they are represented in Woodcut 5, but all differed in shape:  it did not appear that they had been very recently inhabited for the greater part of the thatch was burnt.

The natives did not make their appearance during our stay; and although an interview with them would have afforded us both amusement and information yet their absence was perhaps more desirable since all our provisions and stores were on shore; and their intimacy would probably have produced a quarrel which, for our own sakes as well as for the safety of future visitors, was best avoided.

The fireplaces near them were strewed with the nuts of the sago palm, the fruit of which appears to be generally eaten by the natives of the north and north-west coasts.

October 9.

On the 9th we left Careening Bay; and passing out between Cape Brewster and the Coronation Islands entered a spacious sound which was called Brunswick Bay in honour of that illustrious house.  From Cape Brewster the land extended for six miles to Cape Wellington round which there appeared to be a communication with the water seen over the hills of Careening Bay.

In front of the bay a cluster of islands extends from the north end of the Coronation Islands to the westward and south-westward and approaches the mainland; which, to the westward of Cape Wellington, was only seen in detached portions.