WAYS OF THE WILD.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 134, 8 June 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAYS OF THE WILD.

A NATURALIST'S NOTEBOOK. THE KERMAD3O GROUP t OTJBTIS E3iSNDS. (By A. T. FSCBOBT.) The two Curtis Islands, forming part of the Kermadec Group, are situated twenty miles from Macaulay Island and 508 miles from Auckland. A deep passage a quarter of a mile jvi e separates the two islands. They were like Macaulay Island, discovered on May 31, 1788, by Captain Sever, commanding the transport Lady Penrnyu conveying Governor Phillip to Botan, Bay The smaller of the two islands is shown on a Lands and Survey map compiled in 1888, by the late Mr. S. Percy Smith, Surveyor-General, »i Cheeseman Island, in honour of the .ate Mr T F. Cheeseman. Owing to bad weather Mr. Percy Smith was unao.e to land on this island, and a lauding was not effected from the rut.'iueStai during her recent trip. Mr. Oliver, who visited the Curtis Islands twentyone years later, states that the snisj--.:-islet is evidently but a detached poitton of the outer edge of the crater rii:i ot the larger one, which lies east ot '-,;■.' smaller inlet. A portion of the ers:or rim on the larger islet has broken au.-.y.. giving access during easterly we&t,vr by a small inlet known as MacDomld Cove, to the crater floor. As chu Tutanekai approached these islands during the late afternoon of Monday, April 15, a strong sulphurous smell, reminiscent of Rotorua, was evident, and while anchoring between the two isiands, Where the ship remained overnight, steam was seen rising from the crater of the larger island. This crater is much more active than the one on Sunday Island, being in what is known as the Solfatara stage., that is, a volcanic stage which yields only sulphur vapours and steam. It represents the last stages of the volcanic activity. .We looked forward to spending an hour or two ashore the following day. From the ship several blue-faced boobies were seen on the summit of the larger island and many little grey noddies, a species of te;n. were resting on a bare cliff face; several petrels were observed at dusk and b-ard calling as they flew towards the island. This suggested that they were breeding there. The late Mr. Percy Smith states the , island appears to be formed of massive lava standing up out of the soa in perpendicular or overhanging i-litfs for a height of 500 feet, and later states he believes the rocks are not formed of the same andesite common to Sunday and Macaulay Islands; they have from a distance, more the appearance of trachytic rocks. He did not, however, secure any rock specimens. Oliver states in the short time he was ashore he saw no lava.

A Visit to the Crater. Next morning we landed in MacDona-ld Cove, and found the pea water quite warm as we approached the landing. This was caused by a strong stream of very hot water running from the crater into the cove. The floor of the crater is from ten to fifteen feet above sealevel, and issuing from the floor were fumeroles and solfataras; boiling mud holes and sulphurous mud were plentiful. The castaways' depot is situated a little above the crater floor. The contents were overhauled by Captain Bollons and the malthoid-covered building tarred. It will be remembered that this depot was raided by Count Von Luckner after he escaped from Motuihi Island, and sailed to Curtis Island in the scow Moa, which he captured off the New Zealand coast. He was recaptured at Curtis Island by the cable ship Iris. We ascended the crater wall, and it was noticed upon reaching the summit of the island that the principal vegetation was an ice plant, Meeembranthemum australe, and the cutting grass Mariseus ustulatus, practically the whole of the summit being covered with these two plants. Petrel burrows were numerous, several young of the blackwinged petrel, Pterodroma nigripennis, being seen in shallow burrows. A gannet, the, black-faced booby, also breeds here. Several adult birds were resting near old nesting sites, and some of last season's infertile eggs were obtained for museum specimens. Other birds seen were a parrakeet, blackbird, thrush, and starling, the three lastnamed birds apparently having been blown from New Zealand. Two harrier hawks and six pipits, or ground larks, were also observed; the pipits were very shy, not like the birds we are accustomed to here. They also may have been blown from New Zealand. The presence of the blackbird, thrush, and starling on Sunday and Curtis Islands, and the known occurrence of occasional and accidental visits of New Zealand land birds to Sunday Island, indicates the manner in which purely oceanic islands like the Kermadecs obtain some of their land bird life.

We left Curtis Island at ten a.m., for [LEsperance, or French Rock, distant 53 miles, which we passed at three-thirty p.m., after standing by for a few minutes, and then continued our journey to Auckland, where we arrived on Thursday afternoon, the 18th of April. Native Occupation of Sunday Island. During our short visit to Sunday Island no evidence other than the presence of the Polynesian Ti Cordyline Terminalis and the candle nut tree, Alcuntes Moluccana, suggested native occupation. Ihe presence, however, of a rat, Mus exulens formerly common through out the Pacific and New Zealand dSes nS ?lf tiVe OCCU P ation » forby no other Sf +^ aD T nB '* id ' in tentional or S2 ' I* r6ach this Oce «™ island, separated by s i x hundred miles of sea from any other group. Oliver referring to its wide distribution, states: lie Pacific rat occurs in all the principal groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean. As manyof the inhabitants of these islands used it as an article of food, it would often be carried intentionally from one island to another. Probably, however, it was more often carried accidentally in the'native canoes. Being a small, timid and harmless animal, it would not be troubled much by the native navigators, and 'this possibly may explain its presence at Sunday Island. The same authority states there have been found on Sunday Island from time to time stone axes of a similar pattern to those made by the Maoris. Other evidence of native occupation is furnished by large holes which, from their position, number and size. have evidently been made by some native race. Probably they were chiefly ruas, or storehouses for food. In some of the la rger holes, however, were large water-worn stones, no doubt brought from the beach. These larger holes may be hangis, or ovene where the natives prepared their ti root'