The weather having at length moderated, I yesterday and today visited the islands composing the group.  A deep and clear channel of a mile in width separates these islands, the larger of which is surrounded completely, and the smaller partially, by an extensive reef.  The former, or western one, is merely a long strip of heaped-up coral and shells, with a little sand and some driftwood running parallel to the outer edge of the reef, in the direction of the prevailing wind.  It is overrun with low bushes, and a few other plants, such as the large purple-flowered Bossioea, and Ipomoea maritima.  A long bank of dead coral only a few feet above high-water mark, with an intervening ditch-like hollow, separates it from the sea to the eastward; while on the other side, towards the reef, it is margined with tall mangroves.  Small and barren though this spot be, it is yet inhabited by lizards and a species of rat.  Besides the usual waders on the reef, I found great numbers of doves and honeysuckers, and, among the mangroves, fell in with and procured specimens of a very rare kingfisher, Halcyon sordida.  Among the mangroves a rare shell, a species of Quoyia, occurred.

The eastern and northern islet is nearly circular, half a mile in circumference—­formed of coral and shell-sand, covered with bushes and small trees.  The most conspicuous plant is the prickly Guilandina bonduc, the long briar-like trailing and climbing shoots of which impede one while traversing the thickets.  A pair of white-headed sea-eagles had established their aerie in a tree not more than twenty feet from the ground, and I could not resist the temptation of robbing them of their eggs.

THREE ISLES.

July 28th.

Anchored under the Three Isles, between Capes Bedford and Flattery.  The principal one of the group, situated to leeward of an extensive reef, is margined towards the reef by beds of coral—­conglomerate, and elsewhere by a sandy beach—­it is half a mile in length, composed of coral sand, the highest part not more than twelve feet above high-water mark, with several groves of low trees, and is overrun with tall sedge-like grass; the second is composed of a strip of heaped-up fragments of coral, to windward covered with bushes, and to leeward separated from the reef by a belt of mangroves; the third is a mere clump of mangroves not deserving of further notice.  The botany of an island of this class, of which there are many on the North-east coast of Australia, may serve as a specimen, as the plants are few.  Mimusops kaukii constituted the principal part of the arboreal vegetation, Clerodendrum inerme and Premna obtusifolia form low straggling thickets—­scattered bushes of Suriana maritima and Pemphis acida fringe the sandy margin of the island, and behind these the beautiful Josephinia grandiflora, a large white-flowered Calyptranthus, Vitex ovata and a Tribulus creep along the sand, or spread out their procumbent branches.