of such remarks as were thought of consequence.  Over this box in large letters were painted the words Post Office, a name by which Booby Island must be quite familiar to all who have navigated these seas; ships being here in the habit of leaving letters for transmission by any vessel proceeding in the required directions.  I noticed a similar practice prevailing among the whalers at the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific.  We are indebted for the book to the public spiritedness of an Indian army officer.  The beneficial results of the plan were experienced by ourselves, as here we first heard of the Port Essington expedition, having passed eight months previously; also of the schooner Essington, that left Sydney in advance of the expedition for that place, having succeeded in determining the fact of the non-existence of the other young D’Oyly, one of the passengers of the ill-fated Charles Eaton.  This result of the enterprising merchant-man’s researches, fully bears out the fact mentioned by Captain King, on the authority of the Darnley islanders, that he shared the fate of his parents, being devoured by their savage captors.  All the ships which have recorded their passage in the book, appeared to have entered the Barrier between the latitude of 11 degrees 30 minutes and 12 degrees 10 minutes; generally about 11 degrees 50 minutes reaching Sir Charles Hardy’s Island the same day.  They all spoke of a strong northerly current outside the reef, in some instances of nearly three knots.  The time occupied in making the passage from Sydney by the outer route, varied from fourteen to twenty days, it being certainly shorter than the inner, though attended with much greater risks.  One objection made against the latter is the necessity of anchoring every evening, somewhat laborious work to the crews of merchant ships; this might be obviated in some measure by using a light anchor, which could be done with perfect safety in the still waters within the reefs.  We found two barques at anchor, which had arrived on the preceding day.  In accordance with a practice very generally observed, they were giving themselves a short period of repose and relaxation after the anxieties and danger of the outer passage; which, short as it is, has doubtless sprinkled grey hairs over many a seaman’s head.

(Footnote.  Afterwards Governor of New Zealand.)

ITS DESCRIPTION.

Although Booby Island is a mere rock, from the various associations connected with it, being during one half of the year the constant resort of Europeans, it becomes at once a place of interest, and imperatively demands some notice at our hands.  It is a quarter of a mile in diameter, flat, and about thirty feet high, the summit being bare porphyry rock.  A valley intersects the north-west side of the island, in which a few creepers, some brushwood, and two or three trees of tolerable size, with a peculiar broad green leaf, bearing a great resemblance to that of the wild almond