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Show 1877.] MR. O. SALVIN ON THE VOYAGE OF CAPT. HUNTER. 95 February 20, 1877. Professor Flower, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. A communication was read from Professor Owen, C.B., F.R.S., containing an account of the additional evidence recently obtained as to the occurrence of extinct gigantic birds of the unwinged group allied to Dromornis in Australia. The specimens upon which Prof. Owen's remarks were based consisted of a pelvis obtained by Mr. W . B. Clarke from what is termed locally the "Canadian lead," at a depth of from 150 to 200 feet, in the county of Phillip, New South Wales, and of a mutilated left tibia, stated to have been found in a cave in Mount Gambier, South Australia. This paper will be published in the Society's ' Transactions.' Mr. Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., exhibited a volume of original drawings taken by Mr. George Raper during the voyage of Capt. Hunter to Australia in 1788-92, and made the following remarks:- "Though the north-eastern side of New Ireland was discovered as early as 1616 by Le Maire and Schouten1, and the passage between New Britain and New Guinea by Dampier in 1700, it was not until September 1767 that the channel between New Britain and New Ireland was discovered by Carteret2, and named by him St. George's Channel. " From him and from Dampier most of the salient geographical features of the immediate district received names, including the Duke-of- York Island, which lies in St. George's Channel. Carteret, however, though he seems to have carefully examined the southern end of New Ireland, did not attempt to land on Duke-of-York Island, but passed to the eastward of it. Captain John Hunter, when in command of the transport ' Waaksambeyd,' one of the ships which conveyed the first convicts to Botany Bay and Norfolk Island under Governor Phillip, appears to have been the first person actually to visit this island, and in his ' Historical Journal,' chap, ix.3, gives a full account of the doings of himself and his ship's company there, as well as a description of the vegetation and scenery of it and the adjoining islands. " With reference to this voyage I now exhibit some water-colour sketches which have recently come into Mr. Godman's and my possession, and which were made by one George Raper, who was evidently in the ship with Capt. Hunter. In them are depicted scenes connected with the voyage of the 'Sirius' and 'Supply,' the two vessels which conveyed the first convicts to Australia; and with them are views of Port Jackson, Norfolk Island (then covered with pines), 1 ' Directions for the Pacific Ocean,' by A. G. Findlay, part ii. 2 Hawkesworth's ' Voyages,' i. p. 595. 3 'Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island, with the discoveries which have been made in New South Wales and in the Southern Ocean since the publication of Phillip's Voyage,' &c. 4to: London,1 1793. |