The large flies were also very numerous, troublesome and irritating tormentors.

They literally assailed us by hundreds at a time, biting through our clothes, and causing us constant employment in endeavouring to keep them off.

I have counted twenty-three of these blood-suckers at one time upon a patch of my trousers eight inches square.
Being now at a part of the cliffs where they receded from the sea, and where they had a last become accessible, I devoted some time to an examination of their geological character.

The part that I selected was high, steep, and bluff towards the sea, which washed its base; presenting the appearance described by Captain Flinders, as noted before.

By crawling and scrambling among the crags, I managed, at some risk, to get at these singular cliffs.