It is a new species, and is described by my friend Mr. W.S. Macleay, in the Appendix, under the name of Euploea hamata.
June 17.
On the 17th we left the bay and passed round the north end of Magnetical Island. Several natives were seen on a sandy beach at the north end, where deep gullies indicated the presence of fresh water. Our course was then directed across Halifax Bay towards the Palm Islands, passing inside a small rocky islet marked i, on the chart, and another of larger size, k. In a South by East direction from these islands is an opening in the land round which the sea was observed to trend; it was supposed to communicate with the water seen from the heights of Cape Cleveland over the land at the bottom of the bay; and it is probable, from the mist which this morning occupied a considerable space of the low land fronting the hills, that a large body of water exists there. Calms and light airs detained us until two o'clock, when a fresh breeze sprung up from the eastward, to which we made sail, but the glare of the sun, shining in the direction of our course, obliged our hauling up to avoid the risk of running thus dark with excess of bright upon any rocks or shoals that might be in our way; and as the low coastline of this part of the bar was distinctly traced, we steered towards the island marked 2, near which the cutter was anchored, at eight o'clock, in eleven fathoms' mud.
June 18.
At eight o'clock the following morning we got under sail, but delayed by light winds we were, at noon, within half a league of the island, 2. As there was no immediate appearance of a breeze I landed on a steep beach, at the North-West end of the island, whence the latitude was observed to be 18 degrees 50 minutes 15 seconds, and from which I obtained a useful set of bearings. Near our landing-place were some natives' huts and two canoes; the former appeared to have been recently occupied, and were very snug habitations. They were of a circular shape, and very ingeniously constructed by twigs stuck in the ground and arched over, the ends being artfully entwined so as to give support to each other; the whole was covered with a thatch of dried grass and reeds; they were not larger than two people could conveniently occupy. In one of the huts, which was of a more elliptical shape and of larger dimensions than the other, was a bunch of hair that had been recently clipped from either the head or beard. This proves that these operations are not done solely by fire, as Captain Cook supposed,* but by means of a sharp-edged shell, which must be both tedious and painful to endure; and we have often witnessed the delight shown by the natives at the speedy effect a pair of scissors has produced upon the beard or hair. The canoes were not longer than eight feet and would not safely carry more than two people; the ends were stitched together by strips of the stem of the Flagellaria indica.
(*Footnote. Hawkesworth volume 3 page 229.)
Few palm-trees were seen, but at the large islands, according to Captain Cook's account,* they are probably abundant. A considerable quantity of pumice-stone was found, as is usual in every place that we have landed at within the tropic, heaped up above the highwater mark. During the afternoon we had little wind; in the evening we passed a mile and a half to the eastward of a low and dangerous reef which escaped Captain Cook's observation; the only part of it that was visible above the water were two low rocks, but as the tide ebbed the craggy heads of several smaller ones gradually uncovered, and at low water it is probably quite dry; we passed it in ten fathoms. It is not probable that its extent is greater than what is exposed at low water, but from its steepness it is very dangerous.
(*Footnote. Hawkesworth volume 3 page 136.)
At sunset we anchored about four miles to the eastward of the position assigned to a reef, on which the ship Lady Elliot struck, in 1815; but saw nothing of it.
June 19.