During our stay we were fortunate in having fine weather, light winds, and low tides, which enabled such as were inclined to look for shells upon the reef to do so under the most favourable circumstances.  This reef is of great extent, with all the varieties of coral, mud, and sand, and proved a most productive one.  A sketch of the distribution of the principal of its productions may be of interest to some.  Many kinds of fishes, Muraena, Diodon, Balistes, Serranus, etc. are found in the pools among the coral blocks; the first of these, of bright colours variously striped and spotted, resemble water-snakes, and are exceedingly active, gliding through the interstices in the coral and hiding in its hollows—­they bite savagely at a stick presented to them, and are by no means pleasant neighbours while wading about knee-deep and with bare arms turning over the coral which they frequent.  On a former occasion I had been laid hold of by the thumb, and the wound was a long time in healing.  Crustacea are also numerous; blue and green Gonodactyli leap about with a sharp clicking noise—­legions of Mycteris subverrucata traverse the dry sands at low-water—­and in the shallow muddy pools, dull green Thalamitae and Lupeae swim off rapidly, and smooth Calappae seek refuge by burrowing under the surface.

Of mollusca, two species of olive (O.  Erythrostoma and O. leucophoea) were found on the sandy margin of the islet—­several Cerithia and Subulae (S. maculata and S. oculata) creep along the sand flats, and, with some fine Naticae, and a Pyramidella, may be found by tracing the marks of their long burrows.  Several Strombi and Nassa coronata inhabit the shallow sandy pools; the egg-shell and many Cypraeae occur under coral blocks, which, when over sand, often harbour different kinds of cones—­of which the handsome C. textile is the commonest.  A delicate white Lima (Lima fragilis) is abundant here, merrily swimming away in the pool under an upturned stone, and leaving its fringe-like tentacles adhering to the hand when seized.  Lastly, it would be improper to omit mentioning the very fine oysters adhering to the roots of the mangroves.  But these are only a small portion of the shellfish collected here.  Among radiate animals, several Ophiurae and Ophiocomae and other Asteriadae, with two kinds of Echinus, are also plentiful under blocks of coral (Astraea and Maeandrina) in the pools; one of the last, remarkable for its very long, slender, black spines, has the power of giving an exceedingly painful puncture, if carelessly handled—­for a few minutes the sensation is similar to that caused by the sting of a wasp; of the others, a fine Ophiura is remarkable for its great size and grass-green colour, and an Ophiocoma for the prodigious length of its arms.

HOPE ISLANDS.

July 19th.

Six days ago we anchored under the lee of the reef on which the Hope Islands are situated, but in a position which afforded little shelter.  While off Cape Tribulation, a remarkable hill in the background so strongly reminded us of the Peter Botte at Mauritius, that it was so named upon our chart—­it is 3,311 feet in height, the Cape itself being 1,454 feet.  For about six days lately the weather has been very boisterous, blowing hard from East-South-East with a considerable sea.