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CHAPTER VII.
"———— All is barren!
Why so it is, and so is all the world
To him who will not taste the fruit it offers."
How fully replete with pleasant thoughts is the' memory of our wanderings along the shores of Hobson's Bay, by St. Kilda and Brighton, accompanied by a chosen friend, whose pursuits though not quite identical with our own, were sufficiently akin to admit of our entering into them with a zest but little less than that which he professed,—he ever and again rushing frantically away after some one of the many
"Little bright-eyed things
That float about the air on azure wings."
and returning breathless after a while to exhibit his spoil, in re Lepidoptera or Coleoptera, whilst we, not to be outdone, displayed to his wondering sight the many handsome forms, animal and vegetable, which had found their way into our collecting pouch and bottles. There is an intense charm in having a companion on these excursions, one really devoted to the work, and ready for any thing that may turn up, and moreover, social converse, the application of two heads to any debatable point, and skilled assistance when needed, are wonderful helps to such work as ours.
What adds so very materially to the beauty of this part of the coast is the very many lowly shrubs rooted deep down in the sandy soil, such as the yellow Hibber-
