with a long, creeping, coarse grass, which binds the sand
together, and preserves it from being blown away; grass of the common
kind grows in the lower parts, and in one place there were some bushes
and small trees. The basis consists partly of a streaked, ochrous earth,
and in part of sand, concreted with particles of iron ore. Nothing
bespoke this island to have been ever before visited, whence it is
probable that the natives of the neighbouring lands do not possess
canoes; for with them, the distance of four leagues from Cape Van Diemen
would not have been too great to be passed, though too far in a tide's
way for such rafts as I saw at Horse-shoe Island.

A kind of bustard, with a very strong bill, and not larger than a hen,
was numerous at Bountiful Island; and appeared to subsist upon the young
turtle. The effect of instinct is admirable in all cases, and was very
striking in these little amphibious creatures. When scratched out from
their holes, they no sooner saw the day light than they made for the
water, and with speed, as if conscious that the bustards were watching
them; when placed in a direction from the sea, which was done for
experiment, they turned themselves and took the straightest course to the
water side. But it is not only in the bustards, nor on land alone, that
they have enemies to fear; tiger sharks were numerous. and so voracious,
that seven were hooked along-side the ship, measuring from five to nine
feet in length. These were ready to receive such of the little animals as
escape their first enemies; and even one of the full grown turtle had
lost a semi circular piece, equal to the tenth part of its bulk, which
had been bitten out of its side; and what seemed more extraordinary, the
shell had closed, and the place was healed up. Were it not for the
immense destruction made of these animals in the different stages of
their existence, and that food must in the end fail, their fecundity is
such, that all the tropical seas and shores would scarcely afford room
for them in a few years. The number of eggs found in the females, and
there were few, if any males amongst the forty-six taken here, usually
ran from four to seven hundred; and in one weighing 459 lbs, taken
earlier in the following season, the number of eggs counted was 1940, as
recorded in lieutenant Fowler's journal; but many were not bigger, some
not so large as peas. They seem to lay from twenty to a hundred eggs at
once, and this is do