with rocks almost like spikes upon them. The highest of these is 1,800ft., but rising from the ocean they look higher. The names of the peaks, points, and islets tell of the visit of the Antarctic expedition in 1840—Lyall Pyramid, Terror Point, &c.; and of the French Transit of Venus Expedition in 1874— Venus Cove, Vire Point, Jaquemart Island, and others named after Courjolles, Filhol, &c. The island was discovered in 1810 by Frederick Hazelburg—whose name appears appended to a small group of islands near Stewart Island—master of the “Perseverance,” owned by Mr. Robert Campbell, of Sydney. It has several fine harbours, and was for this reason selected by the French in 1874. For some months the “Vire” lay there erecting the observatory under the superintendence of M. Bouquet de la Grye, the Hydrographer to the Navy, and his staff. The day was cloudy, and they never saw the transit. Dr. Filhol, the distinguished naturalist, was there with the ship; and collected and observed birds, fish, and marine animals.

My personal acquaintance with these men added to the interest I otherwise felt in this island, my previous knowledge of which was mainly derived from descriptions given by Dr. Filhol when we lived together fifteen years ago. This gentleman has since published a great work on the island, which I have not had the advantage of seeing. The only recent incident in its history is the story of the “Sarah A. Hunt,” a sealpoacher from America, which was blown away with two men, abandoning two boatloads of men, one of which, after the vessel's arrival in New Zealand, was rescued by the “Stella.” Mr. H. Armstrong, in a recent article in the Leisure Hour, described his visit there in the brig “Amherst” in search of castaways after the wreck of the “General Grant,” and mentions finding wreckage and several graves there, including one of a Frenchwoman.

After passing round most of the west coast we put into North-west Bay. Here there is a small cliff of lithographic limestone, bearing fossils. It is much contorted by volcanic action. An underlying rock is studded with iron-pyrites, which may be the “tin” which tempted Musgrave's charterers. We landed, and went up the ridge in front of us to the height of 900ft. till we looked down a fine cliff facing southwards. From here we could see across the island to the head of Perseverance Harbour, in which was the white house of the dépôt. I felt tempted to walk down to it, but feared that some low land might contain a swamp. The walking was everywhere extremely heavy. The tussocks were very large, and their heads matted together. Among them were a few albatroses. These were very beautiful birds, almost all pure-white excepting the wings. Once when I turned one off its nest it did

what I had not seen one do before—made a savage snap at its egg and punctured a small hole in it. Mr. Bell went more to the west, and climbed a steep hill called the Menhir. It had a stone peak at the summit like the menhirs or Druids' stones of Brittany, and had doubtless been named by a Breton. We had a good view of the island, which is circular, and is almost cut in two by Perseverance Harbour, a fiord of volcanic origin some miles long, with an entrance from the south-east. In the part of the island where we now were, the plants, though not as numerous as at Adam's Island, were even more beautiful. Here the Pleurophyllum speciosum was in better season, and the flowers were of a much deeper purple than those we had seen before. From being isolated the plants had grown better, and each was a picture in itself. Here, too, the Celmisia vernicosa grew leaves less polished than at the Aucklands, but 5in. and 6in. long—i.e., usually twice as long as those we had gathered before. The flower-heads were numerous, from six to twelve on each plant, and were in full perfection. The figure in Hooker's “Flora Antarctica” is an admirable representation of this plant. Their centres were of two colours—light and dark purple—but we attributed this to difference in degree of maturity. I brought back some of them, but have found them more difficult to preserve alive than the small plants from Adam's Island. The grass was much drier; indeed, that appeared to be the character of the country, but, as other travellers do not bear this out, the season may be exceptional. The albatroses were of enormous size; some were brought down for museums. An ingenious man of the sea found that it was easier to tow them than to carry them. As he worked to leeward, according to the prevailing wind, he had the lie of the tussocks with him. A string was put round the beak, and the albatros was towed down to the ship without much trouble; the grass being dry they arrived quite clean and uninjured. We only got a few eggs, and these had chicks in them—an additional attraction at the museums. None of the eggs could be blown; the chicks had to be taken out through a square hole cut in the side. In many places I found pebbles and small angular pieces of stone resting on the ground or on the tops of the tussocks; one very large piece weighed a pound. These must have been dropped by seabirds bringing up food—shell-fish—from the rocks. It affords a mode of accounting for small stones in unexpected places near the sea.

In the afternoon we again went round the west coast and entered Perseverance Harbour, which is a very fine sheet of water, with straight shores. There are several good anchor ages. Mount Honey, the highest hill on the island, is on one side, and Lyall Pyramid on the other. The ridges on either

side are 800ft. high. Though we had only found a few albatroses, we saw them in great numbers in more inaccessible places. On the shore here we saw some white goats, part of Captain Fairchild's stock. Hitherto goats have done well and sheep badly at most of these dépôts, but I think the flocks of sheep put down are far too small. The shores of the harbour are fringed with scrub. This is composed of Dracophyllum. One writer says there are pine-trees; another sees manuka (Leptospermum, sp.). The Dracophyllum, allied to the heaths, but with leaves like grass, is presumably the pine; the Cassinia—a familiar shrub on our hills—is, I suppose, the manuka of the other observer. Another writer found ground larks and wrens; we found neither, though the ground-larks may be there. Mr. Travers obtained no land-birds. Mr. Reischek only saw the blight-bird (Zosterops lateralis, vel cærulescens), which certainly crosses the ocean. Mr. Bell could see no ducks, though they are said to frequent the island. Landing near Venus Cove we were soon among beautiful and interesting plants. Here at 100ft. above the sea the Celmisia vernicosa was very fine and plentiful. I suspect that the reported existence of Celmisia verbascifolia (a well-known Otago plant) on this island is a mistake. On a small area of flat moist land my brother, Mr. Martin Chapman, discovered a new plant, which I identified as an unknown species of Celmisia, to which I have given the name C. campbellensis.^* It is quite unlike any other, though its flower-heads are like those of C. vernicosa. We obtained ten plants, one being in flower and others in seed, and brought them all away for cultivation. Mr. Kirk subsequently had the good fortune to obtain one in flower. It seems singular that this should be found within half a mile of the French camp, and close to the spot where, I presume, Sir Joseph Hooker lay, but it appeared to us to be locally confined to less than an acre of ground. Higher on the range it may be more plentiful. One plant growing here, which was generally past flowering at Adam's Island, is Pleurophyllum criniferum. The flowers are by no means so pretty as those of P. speciosum, but the general effect of the plant, with flower-bearing scapes 4ft. high, is very striking. Here, too, we found in flower the beautiful golden lily called Anthericum rossii. This was plentiful enough at the Auckland Islands, but generally past flowering. When in perfection it is a beautiful flower, and I find it easy to cultivate.

The day was cool but fine, and the evenings had now become very long, with twilight like that of the Old Country. Early next day we moved down to a lower anchorage near