CHAPTER 1.9. BASS STRAIT.

Leave Sydney.

Enter Bass Strait.

Island at Eastern entrance.

Wilson's Promontory.

Cape Shanck.

Enter Port Phillip.

Tide-race.

Commence Surveying Operations.

First Settlement.

Escaped Convict.

His residence with the Natives.

Sail for King Island.

Examine Coast to Cape Otway.

King Island.

Meet Sealers on New Year Islands.

Franklin Road.

Solitary Residence of Captain Smith.

Soil.

Advantageous position for a Penal Settlement.

Leafless appearance of Trees.

Examine West Coast.

Fitzmaurice Bay.

Stokes' Point.

Seal Bay.

Geological Formation.

Examine Coast to Sea Elephant Rock.

Brig Rock.

Cross the Strait to Hunter Island.

Strong Tide near Reid's Rocks.

Three Hummock Island.

Rats.

The Black Pyramid.

Point Woolnorth.

Raised Beach.

Coast to Circular Head.

Headquarters of the Agricultural Company.

Capture of a Native.

Mouth of the Tamar River.

Return to Port Phillip.

West Channel.

Yarra-yarra River.

Melbourne.

Custom of Natives.

Manna.

Visit Geelong.

Station Peak.

Aboriginal Names.

South Channel.

Examine Western Port.

Adventure with a Snake.

Black Swans.

Cape Patterson.

Deep Soundings.

Revisit King and Hunter Islands.

Fire.

Circular Head.

Gales of Wind.

Reid's Rocks.

Sea Elephant Rock.

Wild Dogs.

Navarin and Harbinger Reefs.

Arrive at Port Phillip.

Sail for Sydney.

Pigeon House.

Drought.

Mr. Usborne leaves.

Before quitting Sydney I must express my gratitude for the hospitality we

experienced during our stay, which prepared us with greater cheerfulness

to encounter the difficulties we might expect to meet with in the

boisterous waters that rolled between the then imperfectly known shores,

and islands of Bass Strait. It was not until the 11th of November that we

bade adieu to our friends, and sailed to commence our contemplated

operations. On the 14th we passed the rocky islands (Kent's Group) at the

eastern entrance of the Strait, their barren and bleak appearance bespoke

the constant gales that swept over them, checking every tendency to

vegetation. As we approached them the soundings decreased to 28 fathoms,

the observation of which fact apprises vessels coming from the eastward

in thick weather, of their proximity. After leaving these islands we

progressed but slowly, and the passage through the Strait promised to be

tedious: yet, as the wind was fair and the weather fine, we had no reason

to complain, considering moreover the remarkably mild reception we met

with in the Funnel, the name commonly and most appropriately given by the

colonists to Bass Strait, from the constant strong winds that sweep

through it.

WILSON'S PROMONTORY.

On the 17th we passed Wilson's Promontory, the southern extremity of

Australia, connected with the main by a low sandy isthmus, only left dry

it is probable of late years. It is a very mountainous tract, rearing its

many peaks in solemn grandeur from the waves and burying their summits*

at most seasons of the year, in a canopy of grey mist. On some occasions,

however, the bold outline of the mountains is relieved against a clear

sky, and their loftiest points catch the first rays of the morning sun,

as it rises from the eastern ocean. Many small islands are dispersed over

the sea in front of this promontory, and partake of its character, being

apparently the tops of mountains thrusting themselves up from the deep,

and suggesting the belief that new countries are about to be disclosed.

Passing Port Western, generally called Western Port, a high mound on the

south-eastern extremity of Grant Island was the most conspicuous object.

The next remarkable feature in the coast is Cape Shanck, a projection at

the western end of a long line of cliffs. Lying close off it is a rock,

named, from its exact resemblance, Pulpit Rock.

(*Footnote. Nearly 3000 feet high.)

PORT PHILLIP.

In a small bay on the east side of this headland we caught a glimpse of

some rich valleys; but from thence for a distance of 16 miles, the coast

retains a barren sandy character to Port Phillip, which we reached on the

afternoon of the 18th. We scarcely found any ripplings in the entrance,

an occurrence of extreme rarity; for it will readily be imagined that a

body of water required to fill a bay thirty miles deep and twenty broad,

passing through an entrance one mile and a half in width, must rush with

great violence; and when we take into account the extreme unevenness of

the bottom (soundings varying from 40 to 25 and even 9 fathoms) no

surprise can be felt that such a stream, particularly when opposed to a

strong wind, should raise a dangerous sea. The force of it may be

conjectured from a fact of which I was myself witness. Standing on one of

the entrance points, I saw a schooner trying to get in with all sails set

before a fresh breeze, and yet she was carried out by the current.

Another observation is also recorded for the guidance of the stranger

passing into the port. When in the middle of the entrance, a low clump of

dark bushes breaking the line of white sand beach beyond Shortlands

Bluff, was just seen clear of the latter.

The first appearance of Port Phillip is very striking, and the effect of

the view is enhanced by the contrast with the turbulent waves without and

in the entrance. As soon as these have been passed, a broad expanse of

placid water displays itself on every side; and one might almost fancy

oneself in a small sea. But the presence of a distant highland forming a

bluff in the North-East soon dispels this idea. Besides this bluff

(called by the natives Dandonong) Arthur's Seat, and Station Peak are the

principal features that catch the eye of the stranger. The latter, called

Youang by the natives, is one of a small group of lofty peaks rising

abruptly out of a low plain on the western shore of the bay; whilst

Arthur's Seat towers over the eastern shore, and forms the northern

extremity of a range subsiding gradually to the coast at Cape Shanck.

Anchoring close to the southern shore, about three miles within the

entrance, we set to work in good earnest with our surveying

operations--in the first place selecting a conspicuous spot for

observation, from which all the meridians of our work in the western part

of the Strait were to be measured. For the sake of my nautical readers I

may mention that the western extreme of the cliffy patches on the south

shore of the bay, marks the place chosen. The nature of our employment

confining us to the neighbourhood of the entrance, we had no opportunity

of visiting the town of Melbourne, situated near the northern side of the

bay. This capital of Australia Felix had for a long time been known to

some squatters from Tasmania; but to Sir Thomas Mitchell the inhabitants

must ever feel grateful for revealing to the world at large the fertility

of the districts in its neighbourhood. It is not a little singular that

the attempt to form a settlement at this place in 1826 should have

failed. A fort was built and abandoned, and of the party of convicts who

accompanied the expedition, two escaped and joined the natives, by whom

one was murdered, whilst the other, contriving by some means to

ingratiate himself with them, remained in their company until 1835, when

he was discovered by the settlers from Tasmania. During the eleven years

he had passed in the bush, without coming in contact with any other

European, he had entirely forgotten his own language, and had degenerated

into a perfect savage. His intellect, if he ever possessed much, had

almost entirely deserted him; and nothing of any value could be gleaned

from him respecting the history and manners of the tribe with whom he had

so long dwelt. He received his pardon and went to Hobart, but such was

the indolence he had contracted that nothing could be made of him.

The southern shore of Port Phillip is a singular long narrow tongue of

land, running out from the foot of the range of which Arthur's Seat is

the most conspicuous point. I infer from the limestone prevailing in it,

and containing shells of recent species, that it was once much beneath

its present level; in fact, that it stops up what was formerly a broad

mouth of the bay, leaving only the present narrow entrance at the western

extremity. Over its surface are scattered hills from one to two hundred

feet in height, in the valleys between which was found some light sandy

soil supporting at this time rich grass, and at various places a thin

growth of Banksia, Eucalypti, and Casuarina, all stunted and showing

symptoms of having been roughly used by the south wind. Near the spot we

had chosen for the centre of our observations was a well of inferior

water, and we did not find any better in the neighbourhood. The point in

question therefore will never be very eligible as a settlement. The

kangaroos are numerous and large, and the finest snappers I have ever

heard of are caught off this point, weighing sometimes as much as thirty

pounds. Our fishing experiments, however, were not very productive, being

principally sharks; thirteen young ones were found in a single female of

this species.

SAIL FOR KING ISLAND.

Bad weather prolonged our stay until the 26th of November. We had been

chiefly occupied in determining the position of the mouths of the various

channels intersecting the banks, that extend across the entire bay, three

miles within the entrance. The most available passages appeared to be

those lying on the south and west shores, particularly the former for

vessels of great draught; but we did not conclude the examination of them

at this time, sailing on the morning of the 26th to survey the coast to

the westward. The first thirteen miles, trending West by South was of a

low sandy character, what seemed to be a fertile country stretching

behind it. Two features on this line are worthy of notice--Point

Flinders, resembling an island from seaward, on account of the low land

in its rear; and the mouth of the river Barwon, navigable for boats

entering in very fine weather. On its northern bank, eight miles from the

sea is the site of the town of Geelong. Passing this the nature of the

country begins to change, and high grassy downs with rare patches of

woodland present themselves, which in their turn give place, as we

approach Cape Otway, to a steep rocky coast, with densely wooded land

rising abruptly over it.

CAPE OTWAY.

The above-mentioned Cape is the northern point of the western extremity

of Bass Strait, and is swept by all the winds that blow into that end of

the Funnel. The pernicious effect of these is evident in the stunted

appearance of the trees in its neighbourhood. It is a bold projection in

latitude 38 degrees 51 minutes, and appears to be the South-West

extremity of a ridge of granite gradually rising from it in a North-East

direction. About half a mile off it, lies a small detached reef.

Having thus coasted the northern side of the Strait, we proceeded to

cross over to Tasmania to examine the southern side. About halfway is

King Island, extending in a north and south direction, thirty-five miles,

and in an east and west thirteen. It lies right across the entrance of

the Strait, about forty miles from either shore, and from its isolated

position is well adapted for a penal settlement.

The more northern channel of the two formed by this island is the safer,

and the water deepens from 47 to 65 fathoms as you approach it from the

continent. Its outline is not remarkable, the most conspicuous point

being a round hill 600 feet high over the northern point called Cape

Wickham. We anchored in a bay on the North-West side, under New Year

Island, which affords shelter for a few vessels from all winds. There is

a narrow passage between the two, but none between them and the southern

point of the bay, which is open to the north-west. On the summit of one

of these islands boulders of granite are strewed, and they exhibit a very

remarkable white appearance from seaward when the sun has passed his

meridian.

A SEALER'S FAMILY.

A sealer had established himself on the north island with two wives,

natives of Tasmania. They were clothed in very comfortable greatcoats

made of kangaroo skins, and seemed quite contented with their condition.

Their offspring appeared sharp and intelligent. In another part of my

work I shall touch more fully on the history of these sealers, who style

themselves Residents of the islands. They further distinguish their

classes by the names of Eastern and Western Straits-men, according to the

position of the islands they inhabit.

The sealers on New Year Island had a large whaleboat, which I was

somewhat puzzled to know how they managed, there being but one man among

them. He informed me, however, that his wives, the two native women,

assisted him to work the boat, which had been well prepared for the rough

weather they have to encounter in Bass Strait by a canvas half-deck,

which, lacing in the centre, could be rolled up on the gunwale in fine

weather.

THE MUTTON BIRD.

The principal occupation of these people during this month of the year is

taking the Sooty Petrel, called by the colonists the Mutton Bird, from a

fancied resemblance to the taste of that meat. It is at the present month

that they resort to the island for the purpose of incubation. They

constitute the chief sustenance of the sealers, who cure them for use and

sale: their feathers also form a considerable article of trade. Many

parts of the island were perfectly honeycombed with their burrows, which

greatly impede the progress of the pedestrian, and are in some cases

dangerous from snakes lying in them. The sealers told me that they had

lost a cat which died within an hour after the bite of one of these

reptiles. We here found cabbages and water, and the people informed us

that it was always their custom to plant a few vegetables on the islands

they frequented.

From the top of this island we had a good view of the Harbinger reefs,

so-called from a convict ship of that name which was lost upon them and

all hands perished. I was glad to find they were only two detached rocks

lying three miles and a half from the shore, instead of, as reported, one

continued reef lying six or seven miles from the land. They bore north

six miles from our position.

CAPTAIN SMITH.

The sealers informed us that a house which we descried in the bay, was

occupied by a gentleman who had met with a reverse of fortune. We

accordingly paid him a visit next morning, and found that he was a

Captain Smith with whom the world had gone wrong, and who had accordingly

fled as far as possible from the society of civilised man and taken up

his residence on the shores of King Island with his family. He had given

the name of Port Franklin to the bay, which we changed to Franklin Road,

from its not being worthy of the title of a Port. He was led to choose

his position from its being in the neighbourhood of the only secure

anchorage from all winds, and near the best soil he had found after

traversing the whole of the island. According to his account it was

totally unfit for rearing sheep on a large scale; the bushes and grass

being so full of burrs that the wool was completely spoiled. The soil was

everywhere very inferior, and a few patches only of clean land was to be

found, the principal part being overrun with dense scrub and impervious

thickets. There were few elevations on the island, and those not of any

great magnitude, the loftiest point being scarcely seven hundred feet.

The formation of the neighbourhood of Captain Smith's house was granite:

water abounds.

WEST SIDE OF KING ISLAND.

The house in which this modern Robinson Crusoe dwelt was what is called a

Slab Hut, formed of rough boards and thatched with grass. He had a garden

in which grew some cabbages and a few other vegetables; but he complained

sorely of blight from the west winds. There are three varieties of

kangaroos on the island, and plenty of wildfowl on some of the lagoons;

so that supplies are abundant: but the few sheep he possessed were

rendered of little value from the burrs I have before mentioned. I could

not help pitying the condition of this gentleman and his interesting

family--a wife and daughter and three or four fine boys. They had

retained a few of the tastes and habits of civilized life, and I observed

a good library with a flute and music in the Slab Hut. It was with great

pleasure that I afterwards learned that Captain Smith's prospects had

brightened. He is now, I believe, a comfortable settler on the eastern

side of Tasmania.

On the 29th we passed down the western shore of King Island, finding the

coast to be low, treacherous and rocky. We discovered some outlying rocks

a mile and half from shore, and about eleven miles south from New Year

Island. The most remarkable circumstance we noticed in this part of our

cruise, was the leafless appearance of the trees on the higher parts of

the island. It seemed as though a hurricane had stripped them of their

verdure. They reminded me strongly of a wintry day in the north.

About eight miles from the extremity of the island we discovered a bay

affording good anchorage in east winds. It was afterwards called

Fitzmaurice Bay. From its neighbourhood a long dark line of black cliffs

stretches southward until within about three miles of the point, when the

ground sinks suddenly, whence vessels are apt to be misled and to fancy

that the island ends there, whilst in reality it stretches out into a low

dangerous rocky point, named after the writer, for about three miles

more.

SEAL BAY.

Rounding this we anchored on the eastern side of it in Seal Bay--a wild

anchorage, the swell constantly rolling in with too much surf to allow of

our commencing a series of tidal observations. This bay, in the mouth of

which lies a small cluster of rocks, is separated from the one on the

opposite side, by a strip of low sandy land, which, as I have said, may

easily be overlooked by vessels coming from the westward. A ship indeed

has been lost from fancying that the sea was clear south of the black

cliffs that skirt the shore down from Fitzmaurice Bay. The Wallaby are

numerous on this part of the island. Mr. Bynoe shot one (Halmaturus

bellidereii) out of whose pouch he took a young one which he kept on

board and tamed. It subsequently became a great pet with us all.

I noticed here a trappean dyke, but the general formation of this end of

King Island exactly corresponded with that about Captain Smith's house,

which shows that it is a continuous ridge of granite. The south-eastern

shore is rather steep, and the ground which rises abruptly over it is

almost denuded of wood.

Leaving Seal Bay--from the south point of which we saw the principal

dangers at this extremity of Bass Strait, Reid's rocks bearing East by

South 1/4 South 12 miles--we coasted round the eastern shore and anchored

off a sandy bay about the centre of the island. The only remarkable

object was a rock, lying one mile from the shore and five from Seal Bay,

on which we bestowed a name suggested by its form, Brig Rock. Off the

north point of the bay in which we anchored lies a white rock or islet

called Sea Elephant Rock, with a reef a mile off its north point.

Opposite this is a small inlet fed by the drainage of some lagoons or

swamps behind the bay. Northward the character of the coast, as far as we

could see, changes considerably, being lower, with a continued line of

sandy shore.

A breeze from the eastward prevented our completing the survey of the

northern side of the island; but one important result we had arrived at,

namely, that safe anchorage may be obtained in west winds within a

moderate distance of this part of the shore in less than fifteen fathoms.

CROSS THE STRAIT.

We now crossed over to the group of islands fronting the north-western

point of Tasmania, and confining the southern side of the mouth of the

Strait. The tide setting to the South-West at the rate of three knots an

hour* brought us within five miles of Reid's rocks. Passing at that

distance from their eastern side we had 28 and 30 fathoms sand and rock:

and the greatest depth we found in crossing was 37 fathoms towards the

south side of the Strait.

(*Footnote. This set of the tide being rather across the channel renders

the passage between King Island and Reid's rocks by no means

recommendable. Captain King on returning to New South Wales, used this

passage and was very nearly wrecked; the set of the tides at that time

not being known. It appears they saw the south point of King Island just

at dark, and shaped a course well wide of Reid's rocks; they found

themselves, however, drifted by the tide close on them. We made the time

of high-water at the full and change of the moon in this entrance of the

Strait to be half an hour before noon; but the western stream began three

hours and a half before, and the eastern again precedes low-water by the

same amount of time.)

A SECURE ANCHORAGE.

Early on the morning of December 3rd, we reached a secure anchorage

between Three Hummock Island, and Hunter, formerly called Barren Island;

and we had every reason to be thankful at finding ourselves in such a

snug berth, for during our stay, we experienced gales from east and west,

with such sudden changes that no ship could have saved herself. This made

us sensible how necessary it was to choose anchorages sheltered from both

winds. Our surveying operations were sadly delayed by this boisterous

weather.

Three Hummock Island receives its name from three peaks rising on its

eastern side. The south rises abruptly from the water and forms a

singular sugarloaf 790 feet high. It is composed of granite, boulders of

which front many of the points, forming strange figures. The whole of the

island is clothed with an almost impervious scrub, which growing

laterally forms a perfect network, so that it is impossible to traverse

it. Mr. Bynoe procured few specimens of birds in consequence. The

woodcutters one day cut a small brown opossum in half: it seemed to be a

very rare if not a new animal; but unfortunately the head part could not

be found. Small brown rats were very numerous, they had rather short

tails with long hind feet, and sat up like kangaroos.

The trees on this island are small and stunted, being chiefly Banksia and

Eucalypti. Water is plentiful. We supplied the ship from wells dug on the

north point of a sandy bay on the South-East side of the island.*

(*Footnote. The reef that so nearly sealed the Mermaid's fate with

Captain King, we found to lie half a mile north-west from the north-east

end of Three Hummock Island.)

BARREN ISLAND.

Hunter Island well deserves its former name of Barren, for it is

perfectly treeless; a green kind of scrub overruns its surface, which at

its highest point is three hundred feet above the level of the sea. In

form it is like a closed hand with the fore-finger extended, pointing

north. The inclination of its strata differs, dipping to the sea on both

sides, east and west. These at first sight appeared to be of the same

kind of sandstone that we had seen so much of on the North-West coast,

but on closer inspection I found they were raised beaches; the prevailing

mass of the island was a granitoid rock.

THE BLACK PYRAMID.

From stations on Hunter Island we were enabled to determine the positions

of the numerous dangers fronting its west or seaward side, and also that

of a dark mass of rock, 250 feet high, appropriately named the Black

Pyramid, lying 16 miles West by North from the centre of the island, and

in latitude 40 degrees 28 minutes South which places it nearly five miles

south of its position in the old charts. It is quite a finger-post to

this entrance of the Strait, and all ships should pass close to it. When

I looked at these islands and rocks I could not help thinking of poor

Captain Flinders and his enterprising companion Mr. Bass, the discoverers

of the north-western part of Tasmania. What a thrill of excitement must

have shot through their frames when on rounding Hunter Island, in the

little Norfolk cutter, they first felt the long swell of the ocean and

became convinced of the insular character of Tasmania! This discovery

must have amply repaid them for all their toils and privations. Nothing

indeed is so calculated to fill the heart of the navigator with pride, as

the consciousness that he has widened the sphere of geographical science,

and added new seas and new lands to the known world.

The south end of Hunter Island is about three miles from a point of the

mainland, called Woolnorth; but from the rocks and inlets that encumber

the passage and the rapid rush of the tide it is only navigable for small

vessels with great caution. Point Woolnorth is a rather low sloping point

composed of the same rock as Hunter Island. Ten miles south of it a

raised beach again occurs 100 feet above the level of the sea. Behind

Point Woolnorth the country swells into hills nearly six hundred feet

high. Three miles from its extreme is an out-station of the Van Diemen's

Land Agricultural Company, of which I shall say more anon. Some forty

persons are here located under the care of a German, who amused himself

by making a large collection of insects, which he has since taken to

Germany. The soil on this extremity of Tasmania is most productive; but

much labour is required in clearing for the purposes of cultivation. From

thence to Circular Head, bearing East 1/2 South 26 miles, the shore is

low and sinuous, forming three shallow bights.

WALKER ISLAND.

Walker and Robbins islands, which lie together in the shape of an

equilateral triangle, with sides of nine miles, front the coast about

midway, and leave only a narrow boat-channel between them and the main.

On Walker Island our boats met the wives of some sealers whose husbands

had gone to King Island on a sealing excursion. They were clothed like

those on New Year Island. One was half European and half Tasmanian, and

by no means ill-looking; she spoke very good English and appeared to take

more care of her person than her two companions, who were aborigines of

pure blood. A few wild flowers were tastefully entwined with her hair,

which was dressed with some pretensions to elegance. They had a pack of

dogs along with them, and depended in a great measure for their

maintenance on the Wallaby they killed. The skin also of these animals

constitutes to them an important article of trade.

It was the 15th before we had completed for the present our survey of

this part, owing as I have before observed, to the constant bad weather,

which was doubly felt by the boats in which all the materials for the

chart of this neighbourhood were collected.

CIRCULAR HEAD.

We now examined the coast to Circular Head, under the north side of which

we anchored in 7 fathoms on the morning of the 18th, after spending a day

under the South-East corner off Robbins Island, where we found good

anchorage in westerly winds. Making too free with the shore with a low

sun ahead, we grounded for a short time on a shingle spit extending off

the low point North-West from Circular Head. Three quarters of a mile

East-North-East from this point is a dangerous rocky ledge just awash, on

which several vessels have run. By keeping the bluff extreme of Circular

Head open it may always be avoided.

The latter is a singular cliffy mass of trappean rock, rising abruptly

from the water till its flattened crest reaches an elevation of 490 feet.

This strange projection stands on the eastern side of a small peninsula.

On the parts broken off where it joins the sandy bay on the north side,

we found the compass perfectly useless, from the increased quantity of

magnetic iron ore they contain.

It is on this point that the headquarters of the Van Diemen's Land

Agricultural Company are established under the charge of a Mr. Curr,

whose house with its extensive out-buildings and park, occupying some

rising ground on the northern part of the point, greets the eye of the

stranger, to whom the reflection is forcibly suggested by the sight, that

the natural graces of the scene, must soon yield to the restraining

regularity with which man marks his conquests from the wilderness. The

name of this faint memento of home was, we were informed, Hyfield; a

straggling village occupies a flat to the left, and in the bay on the

south side of the head, which is the general anchorage, is a store with a

substantial jetty.

English grasses have been sown at this establishment with great success,

one acre of ground now feeding four sheep, instead of as before, four

acres being required for one; the improvement in the grass was also made

evident by the excellent condition in which all the stock appeared to be.

HYFIELD.

The garden at Hyfield was quite in keeping with the other parts of the

establishment, and it was not a little pleasing to observe a number of

English fruit trees. I was told, however, that they suffered exceedingly

from blight which was brought by the west winds. In one corner that at

first escaped my curiosity, so completely had it been shut out from the

gaze of all by a winding bowery walk, I found in a sort of alcove, the

tomb of a child; upon it lay a fresh bouquet of flowers, revealing that

the dead was not forgotten by those who were left behind. It was easy to

divine, and I afterwards learned this to be the case, that it was the

mother, Mrs. Curr, who came every morning to pay this tribute of

affection to the departed. A weeping willow drooped its supple branches

over the tomb; some honey-suckle and sweet-briar surrounded it, loading

the air with their rich fragrance; not even the chirping of a bird

disturbed the solemn silence that reigned around; everything seemed to

conspire to suggest holy and melancholy thoughts, and I lingered awhile

to indulge in them; but perceiving by the few footmarks that I was an

intruder, hastened to retire, by no means sorry, however, to have

discovered this evidence of the enduring love a mother bears her

offspring.

In the Park at Hyfield were some fallow deer, imported from England, and

seeming to thrive exceedingly well. There were also two emus, the sight

of which reminded me of a very curious observation I had before made, and

the truth of which again struck me forcibly, namely, that the face of the

Emu bears a most remarkable likeness to that of the aborigines of New

South Wales. Had there been any intimacy between the native and the Emu,

I might have been disposed to resort to this circumstance as an

explanation; for some maintain that the human countenance partakes of the

expression and even of the form of whatever, whether man or beast, it is

in the habit of associating with.

SURREY HILLS.

The Company have another station about sixty miles South-East from

Circular Head, at the Surrey hills, from whence the road to Launceston is

good and wide. But between it and Circular Head there are several rivers

to ford, and the country is not only very hilly, but densely wooded with

enormous trees, some of which I was informed were 30 feet in

circumference. This causes great difficulty in clearing the land. They

accomplish about fifty acres every year. The establishment consists of

one hundred persons, many of whom are convicts. They are kept in

excellent order; and their being strictly forbidden the use of spirits no

doubt contributes materially to prevent their giving trouble. I could not

help thinking that the Company conducted its operations on too extensive

a scale to render their undertaking profitable. The high pay of their

officers, and the difficulties encountered in clearing the land, are in

themselves considerable drawbacks; especially when we consider, that

after all the pains bestowed, the soil acquired for the purposes of

cultivation is often of very inferior quality.

The soil on the peninsula, of which Circular Head forms the most

remarkable feature, is generally speaking of a poor light character, and

not well watered. The country lying immediately behind it is low and cut

up with branches from a large estuary.

My esteemed friend, Count Strzelecki, traversed the country between

Circular Head and Point

Woolnorth (North-West extreme of Tasmania) and describes it as presenting

"eight rivers as difficult to cross as the Scamander, with deep gullies

and rocky ridges, and marshes more difficult to overcome than either

ridges or rivers."

MINERAL WATERS.

We learned there were some mineral waters about fifteen miles to the

westward of Circular Head. The ingredients they contain, and their

medicinal properties, were discovered by Count Strzelecki, who in

speaking of them, says, "I have endeavoured to ascertain both--the latter

on my own constitution, and the former by chemical analysis. They belong

to a class of carbonated waters." From his examination he concludes,

"that they are aperient and tonic, and sufficiently disgusting to the

palate to pass for highly medicinal."

Whilst here, I was informed that a small party of natives were still at

large, though seldom seen, keeping in the remotest recesses of the woods.

They thus succeeded in avoiding for some years their enemy the white man.

Indeed it was only when pressed by hunger that these aboriginal

possessors of the soil ventured to emerge from their hiding-places, and

rob some of the Company's out-stations of flour. By these means, however,

it was that a knowledge was obtained of their existence. For, though they

managed so secretly, that it was some time before they were found out, a

shepherd at an out-station, began at last frequently to miss flour and

tobacco* in a very mysterious manner. He determined accordingly to watch,

but was for a long time unsuccessful. At length he saw a native woman

steal into the hut, when he drew the door to by a line which communicated

with his place of concealment. Of the treatment this poor woman received

from the hands of her captor I shall treat hereafter. After being kept a

prisoner some time, she was sent to Flinders Island; but it was long

before the discovery was made that she had any companions. I was informed

that the shepherd who took her, afterwards lost his life by the spear of

a native, probably impelled by revenge.

(*Footnote. The fondness exhibited by the aborigines who inhabit the

southern parts of Australia for smoking is extraordinary.)

SAIL FOR THE RIVER TAMAR.

We completed our operations on the evening of the day on which we

arrived, namely, December 18th, and left for the Tamar river, in order to

measure a meridian distance. Passing six miles from Rocky Cape, we had 28

fathoms; and steering east, the depth gradually increased to 42 fathoms,

with a soft muddy bottom, being then twenty miles North-West by West from

Port Dalrymple, the mouth of the Tamar.

The 19th was one of the few fine days it was our good fortune to meet

with, and we enjoyed a splendid view of the Alpine features of Tasmania.

Towering peaks connected sometimes by high tablelands, glittered in the

sun as if capped with snow.*

(*Footnote. Near Hobart, in February 1836, I saw snow on the side of a

mountain.)

PORT DALRYMPLE.

Early in the afternoon, the lighthouse on Low Head appeared like a white

speck resting on the blue horizon; and by evening we found ourselves at

anchor just within the reefs fronting the west entrance point of Port

Dalrymple. The first appearance of the Tamar river is not very inviting

to the seaman. A rapid stream, thrown out of its course, hemmed in by

numerous reefs, and passing over a bottom so uneven as to cause a change

in the soundings from 12 to 26, and then 18 fathoms, with a ripple or

line of broken water across the mouth renders it impossible in strong

North-West winds for a stranger to detect the channels, and raises so

much sea that the pilots cannot reach the vessels that arrive off the

mouth.

As the Beagle passed through the west channel, the shear or first beacon

on the west reefs was on with a round-topped hill some distance up the

river. Although there is very apparent difficulty in navigating the

Tamar, still the first glance shows it to be a stream of importance. Its

valley, although not wide, may be traced for miles abruptly separating

the ranges of hills. We can easily imagine, therefore, the joy

experienced by Captain Flinders on first discovering it in 1798, and thus

bestowing a solid and lasting benefit on the future Tasmanian colonists.

This is not, however, the only portion of Australasia whose inhabitants

are indebted for the riches they are reaping from the soil, to the

enterprising spirit of Captain Flinders.

George Town is a straggling village lying two miles within the entrance

of the Tamar; in its neighbourhood were found greenstone, basalt, and

trappean rocks. Launceston, the northern capital of Tasmania, lies thirty

miles up the river, or rather at the confluence of the two streams called

the North and South Esk, which form it.

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

We found that the Governor was attending not only to the present but the

future welfare of the colonists, by examining into the most eligible

spots for erecting lighthouses at the eastern entrance of Bass Strait,

fronting the North-East extreme of Tasmania, the numerous dangers

besetting which have been fatal to several vessels. These buildings will

be lasting records of the benefits the colony derived from Sir John

Franklin's government.

As we subsequently visited the Tamar, it is needless to give here the

little information we gathered during our brief stay. Our observations

were made on the south point of Lagoon Bay, where we found a whaleboat

belonging to a party of sealers just arrived with birds' feathers and

skins for the Launceston market. They had left their wives and families,

including their dogs, on the islands they inhabit.

RETURN TO PORT PHILLIP.

On the morning of the 22nd, we were again out of the Tamar, and making

the best of our way to Port Phillip for a meridian distance. There was

little tide noticed in the middle of the Strait; the greatest depth we

found was 47 fathoms, 68 miles North-West from the Tamar, where the

nature of the bottom was a grey muddy sand or marl.

At noon on the 23rd, we entered Port Phillip, and ran up through the West

Channel in three and three and a half fathoms.

Point Lonsdale, the west entrance point, being kept open of Shortland

bluff--a cliffy projection about two miles within it--leads into the

entrance; and a clump of trees on the northern slope of Indented Head,

was just over a solitary patch of low red cliffs, as we cleared the

northern mouth of the channel. From thence to Hobson's Bay, where we

anchored at 3 P.M., the course is North by West 22 miles across a

splendid sheet of water, of which the depth is 11 and 13 fathoms.

William Town, the seaport town of Australia Felix, named after his

Majesty King William IV., stands on a very low piece of land forming the

southern shore of Hobson's Bay, called Point Gellibrand, after a

gentleman from Hobart, one of the first who brought stock to Port

Phillip. He was lost in the bush in a very mysterious manner in 1834. No

trace of him or his horse was found till 1842, when some of the natives

showed where his mouldering bones lay. The point that bears his name

scarcely projects sufficiently to afford large ships shelter from south

winds in Hobson's Bay. In the North-West corner of the latter is the

mouth of the Yarra-yarra river; but although only one mile and a half

from the general anchorage, it is very difficult to be made out. The

following anecdote will illustrate the difficulty of detecting the mouths

of rivers in Australia. Soon after we anchored in Hobson's Bay, a small

schooner passed, going to Melbourne. Several of the officers were at the

time standing on the poop, and each selected a spot at which the schooner

was to enter the river; and although, as I have before stated, we were

only one mile and a half from it, none of us was right. A single tall

bushy-topped tree, about a mile inland, rose over the schooner as she

left the waters of Hobson's Bay.

William Town consisted, at that time, of only a few houses. One

disadvantage under which this place labours is badness of water, while

the country around it is a dead level, with clumps of very open woodland.

The formation is whinstone, but the soil's fertile quality shows an

absence of sandstone.

RIVER YARRA-YARRA.

Proceeding up the Yarra-yarra, we found that about two miles from the

mouth, the river divides, one branch continuing in a northerly direction,

and the other, a narrow sluggish stream, turning suddenly off to the

eastward. The banks are so densely wooded, that it is seldom if ever that

its surface is ruffled by a breeze.

MELBOURNE.

The township of Melbourne on its north bank, five miles from the river's

mouth, we found a very bustling place. Nearly two thousand persons had

already congregated there, and more were arriving every day, so that

great speculation was going on in land. We were delighted with the

park-like appearance of the country, and the rich quality of the soil.

This was the most fertile district we had seen in all Australia; and I

believe everyone allows that such is the case. Its reputation indeed was

at one time so great, that it became the point of attraction for all

settlers from the mother country, where at one time the rage for Port

Phillip became such, that there existed scarcely a village in which some

of the inhabitants, collecting their little all, did not set out for this

land of promise, with the hope of rapidly making a fortune and returning

to end their days in comfort at home. Everyone I think must leave with

such hopes; for who can deliberately gather up his goods and go into a

far country with the settled intention of never returning?

A rocky ledge extends across the river fronting the town, upon which the

plan had been formed of erecting a dam for the purpose of keeping the

water fresh; whereas now the river is salt above the town, and the well

water is not particularly good. The Yarra-yarra is not navigable even for

boats many miles beyond Melbourne, on account of the numerous falls. Some

of the reaches above the town are very picturesque--still glassy sheets

of water stretch between steep banks clothed with rich vegetation down to

the very edge of the stream--the branches of the trees droop over the

smooth surface, and are vividly reflected; and substance is so perfectly

blended with shadow, that it is impossible to detect where they unite.

At the western extremity of Melbourne is a low round hill, fifty-seven

feet above the level of the sea by our observations, and about thirty

above the town. There are now none of the aborigines in the neighbourhood

of Melbourne; but I learned that some of their old men remember the time

when the site of the town was under water, in consequence of one of those

sudden inundations that happen in Australia, and are so much in keeping

with the other strange things that occur there.

SINGULAR CUSTOM.

Having alluded to the natives, I may here mention a singular custom that

came under notice some time after, at the Protectorate in the valley of

the Loddon, in the vicinity of Melbourne. Several women were observed

having their faces completely concealed by their opossum-skin mantles.

Not satisfied with this moreover, in passing a party of men, they moved

in a sidelong manner, so as to render it impossible, even if the covering

came to be displaced, that their faces should be seen. In the evening at

the Corobbery, these persons, three in number, were seated in the circle

of women, so as to have their backs turned to the dancers or actors,

their faces still being wholly concealed. They remained seated,

motionless, taking no part in the singing or the gestures of

encouragement indulged in by the other women. It was subsequently

explained by a protector, that these were women who had daughters

betrothed to the men of their tribe, and that during the period of

betrothment the mothers are always thus rigidly veiled.

Near Mount Macedon, thirty miles North-West from Melbourne, there has

been discovered, I was informed, a quarry of marble of a very fine

quality; and in the same neighbourhood is an extinct crater. The

formation at and in the immediate vicinity of Melbourne, is of tertiary

deposits associated with arenaceous older rocks.

We returned to the ships by a short route leading direct from Melbourne

to the northern shore of Hobson's Bay. During the walk I was much struck

with the great risk that people run in selecting land from a map of this

country, half of our road lying over a rich loam, and the other half over

soft sand. The trees swarmed with large locusts (the cicada) quite

deafening us with their shrill buzzing noise.

MANNA.

We found the branches of these trees and the ground underneath strewed

over with a white substance resembling small flakes of snow, called by

the colonists manna. I am aware that an erroneous idea exists that this

matter is deposited by the locusts; but in fact it is an exudation from

the Eucalyptus; and although I saw it beneath another kind of tree, it

must have been carried there by the wind. A different sort, of a pale

yellow colour, is found on a smaller species of Eucalyptus growing on

highlands, and is much sought after for food by the natives, who

sometimes scrape from the tree as much as a pound in a quarter of an

hour. It has the taste of a delicious sweetmeat, with an almond flavour,

and is so luscious that much cannot be eaten of it. This is well worthy

of attention from our confectioners at home, and it may hereafter form an

article of commerce, although from what has fallen under my own

observation, and from what I have learnt from Mr. Eyre and others, I

should say it is not of frequent occurrence. The first kind, being found

strewed underneath the tree probably exudes from the leaf, whilst the

second oozes from the stem. The wood of the latter is much used for fuel

by the natives, especially in night-fishing, and burns brightly, without

smoke, diffusing also a delicious aromatic smell.

HOBSON'S BAY.

On Christmas day, which we spent in Hobson's Bay, we experienced one of

those hot winds which occasionally occur coming off the land. During its

prevalence, everything assumes a strange appearance--objects are seen

with difficulty, and acquire a tremulous motion like that which is

imparted to everything seen through the air escaping from an over-heated

stove. The thermometer on a wall under the glare of the sun, stood at 135

degrees.

We surveyed Hobson's Bay during our stay, and connected it by

triangulation with Melbourne. Our observations were made at the inner end

of a small jetty. The mouth of the Yarra-yarra is closed up by a bar,

which from its soft muddy nature may be easily removed. The deepest water

we found on it at high tide was nine feet.

CORIO HARBOUR.

Having completed our operations, we next morning, January 1st, 1839,

departed for Corio Harbour, situated at the head of a deep inlet midway

on the western shore of Port Phillip. We found our progress impeded as we

beat up it by a long spit, extending two thirds of the way across from a

low projecting point lying midway on the north shore. On the opposite

side, the land is of moderate elevation, and has in many places a most

inviting rich park-like appearance, swelling on all sides into grassy

downs, with patches of open woodland interspersed. In the afternoon we

anchored in three fathoms, about a quarter of a mile from the south point

of Corio Harbour. This is a level expanse of land named Point Henry, from

which a long spit extends, leaving only a shoal channel between it and

the northern shore. Thus, though the harbour has apparently a broad open

mouth, it is impossible for a large vessel to enter it.

January 2.

After breakfast a party of us went to visit Captain Fyans, the police

magistrate of the district, for the purpose of arranging a trip to

Station Peak. We landed on the South-West corner of Corio Harbour, where

we found four fathoms close to the beach, immediately over which is the

north end of the township of Geelong. A kind of store and two other

wooden buildings pointed out its locality. Captain Fyans was living in a

log-hut on the banks of the Marabul River. Our road thither lay west

about three miles across a woody down.

RIVER BARWON.

The Marabul runs to the southward, and joins the Barwon flowing from the

west; after which the united streams take a south-easterly direction. The

course of the latter I was anxious to trace, having seen its mouth in

passing along the coast west from Port Phillip. Very opportunely I met

with Mr. Smith, belonging to the colonial surveying department, who being

employed in the neighbourhood, took me to a commanding station on some

low hills about three miles to the south, called by the natives Barabul.

We crossed the Barwon running to the south-east at the foot of them, near

where it fell some height over a rocky shelf forming a pretty waterfall.

Turning to the left from this roar of water, you find the stream

meandering silently between rich grassy flats. On one of these Mr.

Smith's tents were pitched, overlooked by a craggy height on the opposite

side of the river; and the blue stream of smoke that arose from the fire

of his party, helped to impart life and beauty to the scene. From the

Barabul hills I almost traced the Barwon to its confluence with the sea.

Five miles to the south-east from where we stood it communicated with a

large lagoon; after leaving which, I was informed there was only a depth

of three feet, and a width of one eighth of a mile. It is not, however,

this alone that renders the Barwon useless for water-carriage to the town

of Geelong; for the exposed situation of its mouth almost always prevents

boats from entering.

The singular sloping treeless sides of the Barabul hills, and the

declivities of the valley of the Marabul river, bear a striking

resemblance to many parts of Eastern Patagonia. They appear as if they

had just emerged from the sea, which had as it were scooped out their

hollows and smoothed their sides. A remarkable high round hill, perfectly

bare of trees, and called by the natives Moriac, bore West 1/2 South six

miles from where we stood. On our return we met some of the natives; they

were the first I had seen of the aborigines of this part of the

continent, and were certainly a finer race than the people on the western

coasts. They complained of the white men bringing animals into their

country that scare away the kangaroo, and destroy the roots which at

certain seasons of the year form part of their sustenance. This, Mr.

Smith told me, was a very general complaint.

I spent a very pleasant evening at Captain Fyans' comfortable quarters,

in the course of which arrangements were made for next day's journey to

Station Peak, Mr. Smith kindly offering to lend me a horse and to

accompany me.

STATION PEAK.

January 3.

We started for Station Peak very early. The morning air had a

delightfully bracing effect; and the grass glittered with a copious fall

of dew. The first five miles of road lay over a high down, with pretty

patches of woodland interspersed; and the remaining ten over a low plain

that stretches to the foot of the peak. Six miles from the latter we

crossed a hollow where I noticed some calcareous matter, in which were

included shells of recent species, evidently showing that an upheaval had

taken place in this part of the continent. We saw on the plain several

large bustards resembling a light brown domestic turkey.

Leaving our horses at the foot of the peak, we ascended it by a sloping

ridge on the south-east face. Huge blocks of granite--some poised on a

point as if the slightest touch would send them rolling and thundering to

the plains below--covered the sides and summits of this and the smaller

peak, to the north of which are several others scattered over about a

mile of ground.

On reaching the summit, I hastened to a pile of stones which Captain

Flinders had erected to commemorate his visit; but, alas, the bottle and

paper left by him were gone, and I have not since been able to learn who

it was that took away this interesting and valuable record.

VIEW FROM STATION PEAK.

The view commanded all points of the splendid sheet of water called Port

Phillip, which stretched away its shining expanse seemingly almost from

our very feet; whilst north-east two long wavy lines of trees showed the

course of the Little and Weariby rivers meandering through

the plain.

The natives call this cluster of peaks Ude (great) Youang, and the other

West-North-West seven miles, Anuke (little) Youang. Another solitary high

round hill, fifteen miles further nearly, in the same direction, is

called Bununyong.

We have thus five native names of places in the immediate neighbourhood

of Port Phillip, having the termination ng, and we may perhaps add

another, the Barwon being probably Barwong. At King George's Sound in

Western Australia, the names end in up, and again to the eastward, near

Gipps' Land, the final letter is n. These observations may probably

assist in directing the attention of philologists to the subject of the

distribution of the Australian dialects or languages.

Ude Youang, or as Captain Flinders named it, Station Peak, is a granite

mass elevated 1370 feet above the sea. At Geelong there is some confusion

in the formation. The rocks, however, that prevail are trappean.

FOSSIL SHELLS.

In digging a well there, a fossil cowrie (Cypraea eximia) of an extinct

species was once found at the depth of sixty feet. Another specimen of

the same shell was dug up at Franklin village near Launceston, from a

hundred and forty feet below the surface of the soil. Count Strzelecki

gives a figure of it in his interesting work.

Mr. Ronald Gunn, in his observations on the flora of Geelong, observes

that out of a hundred species of plants collected indiscriminately,

sixty-seven were also to be found in Tasmania, leaving only thirty-three

to indicate the peculiarities of the Geelong vegetation.

Some of the officers of the Beagle exhibited at this place symptoms of

being infected with the land-speculating mania we had witnessed at

Melbourne, by bidding for some of the allotments of the township of

Geelong, which were just then selling. One that was bought for 80 pounds

might have been sold a year afterwards for 700 pounds. I mention this

fact that the reader may see what a ruinous system was then in vogue.

ARTHUR'S SEAT.

On the morning of January 5, we left Geelong, touched at Hobson's Bay for

a chronometric departure, and proceeded to sea by the south channel.

Arthur's Seat is a good guide for its entrance from Hobson's Bay, the

channel passing close under the foot of it. The eastern extremity of the

northern banks, we found very difficult to make out, from the water being

but slightly discoloured on it. It is, moreover, on account of its

steepness, dangerous to approach. From this eastern corner of the bank,

Arthur's Seat bears South 50 1/2 degrees West and a solitary patch of

cliff, westward of the latter, South 68 degrees East.

In consequence of bad weather it was three days before we passed through

the channel, which, we were pleased to find navigable for line of battle

ships. A West 3/4 North course led through, and the least water was five

fathoms on a bar at the eastern entrance, where the width is only

three-tenths of a mile, whilst in the western it is one mile, with a

depth of seventeen fathoms. When in the latter we saw Flinders Point

between Lonsdale and Nepean Points, and as we came down the channel, the

last two points were just open of each other.

PORT WESTERN.

Leaving Port Phillip, we surveyed the coast to the eastward, and anchored

in the entrance of Port Western, after dark on the 10th. Next morning we

examined the south-west part of Grant island, and moved the ship to a

more secure anchorage off its North-East point. Port Western is formed

between Grant and French islands in rather a remarkable manner: two great

bays lie one within the other, the inner being nearly filled up by French

island, whilst the outer is sheltered by Grant Island, stretching across

it almost from point to point, and leaving a wide ship-channel on its

western side, whilst on the eastern the passage is narrow and fit only

for boats and small vessels.

Gales between North-West and South-West detained us here until the 19th.

We found water by digging on the North-East extreme of Grant Island,

which at high tide is a low sandy islet. On first landing there, we found

in a clump of bushes a kangaroo, very dark-coloured, indeed almost black.

His retreat being cut off he took to the water, and before a boat could

reach him, sank. This not only disappointed but surprised us; for in

Tasmania a kangaroo has been known to swim nearly two miles. Black swans

were very numerous, and it being the moulting season, were easily run

down by the boats. Their outstretched necks and the quick flap of their

wings as they moved along, reminded us forcibly of a steamboat. At this

season of the year when the swans cannot fly, a great act of cruelty is

practised on them by those who reside on the Islands in Bass Strait, and

of whom I have before spoken as sealers: they take them in large numbers

and place them in confinement, without anything to eat, in fact almost

starve them to death, in order that the down may not be injured by the

fat which generally covers their bodies.

Scarcely any traces are now to be found of the old settlement on a cliffy

point of the eastern shore of the harbour. The rapid growth of indigenous

vegetation has completely concealed all signs of human industry, and the

few settlers in the neighbourhood have helped themselves to the bricks to

build their own homes.

We noticed, however, one or two remaining indications of the fact that a

settlement had formerly existed on that spot, among others an old

flagstaff still erect, on a bluff near the North-East end of Grant

Island. A very large domestic cat, also, was seen on the South-East

point, doubtless another relic of the first settlers.

The rocks chiefly to be met with at Port Western are analogous to those

of the Carboniferous series. Over its eastern shore rises a range of

woody hills to the height of between five and seven hundred feet,

stretching away in a North-East direction. This harbour presents one very

curious feature, namely, a sort of canal or gut in the mud flats that

front the eastern side of Grant Island. Its depth varies from six to

seven fathoms, whilst the width is half a mile. The most remarkable

object, however, is the helmet-shaped headland, rising abruptly from the

sea to the height of 480 feet, and forming the South-East extreme of

Grant Island. It is the more conspicuous from the circumstance that all

the rest of the island is covered with low hills, clothed in an almost

impervious scrub. The land at the head of the inner of the two bays I

have alluded to in describing Port Western, partakes of the same

character, and is intersected by a number of creeks. This greatly

increases the difficulty of the overland communication between Port

Phillip and the available land on Port Western, travellers being

compelled to take a very circuitous road in order to avoid this almost

impassable tract, and reach the banks of Bass river, where the best soil

is found, and which has been named after the enterprising man whose

memory must for ever remain intimately connected with this part of the

world.

SNAKE ADVENTURE.

A few rare insects were collected by Mr. Emery, whose adventures with

snakes bear a great resemblance to some of Waterton's. He was walking out

once on Grant Island, when his attention was attracted by the pitiful

cries of a bird in a tree close at hand. He soon discovered that a snake*

was in the act of robbing the nest, whilst the mother fluttering round,

was endeavouring to scare away the spoiler. Mr. Emery immediately climbed

up, and with a courage which few other men would have exhibited, seized

the reptile by the back of the neck and killed it. We found that it had

already swallowed one of the young ones, which had so extended the skin,

and made so large a lump, that we were quite puzzled to know how it could

have been got down.

(*Footnote. Lieutenant Emery has this snake still in his possession,

stuffed in a masterly style, and set up with the bird in its mouth.)

CAPABILITIES OF PORT WESTERN.

We were astonished to find the tide here nearly an hour later than at

Port Phillip, and higher by six feet. The cause of this peculiarity is no

doubt to be attributed to the fact of the tides at Port Western being

influenced by the easterly flood-stream. The bad weather we experienced

during our stay enabled us to judge of the capabilities of the Port,

which we were glad to find the finest we had yet seen in Bass Strait, not

so much, however, from its size, for above Grant Island the extent of

deep water is limited, as from the great facility of access.

On the 19th we left Port Western, passing out by keeping an isolated

piece of tableland, called Tortoise Head, on the South-East extremity of

French Island, open of the North-East point of Grant Island. The only

danger is a sandbank, lying in the centre of the channel, four miles

within the entrance. It may always be avoided by keeping a cable's length

from the eastern shore.

The western half of the south side of Grant Island, is a line of cliffs,

from one to three hundred feet in height. A remarkable pyramidal rock

marks the point where this terminates, after which a long range of low

hills, covered with scrub, stretches to Cape Wollami, the helmet-shaped

headland before-mentioned. A light North-East wind rendered our progress

slow towards Cape Patterson, we reaching it by daylight of the 20th. It

is a low point, covered with scattered sand hillocks; a few rocky patches

here and there front its sand beach.

Finding from the succession of dense fogs that we could not prosecute an

easterly examination of the coast, we returned towards Port Phillip, and

experienced some unusual swells off Port Western.

EXTRAORDINARY SOUNDINGS.

The soundings were in general tolerably regular; but in the same

neighbourhood we had some extraordinary ones--SEVENTY FATHOMS, on a

gravelly bottom. This was nearly one third of the way across from Grant

Island to Cape Shanck, seven miles from the latter. The same strange

depth was likewise found three miles south from Cape Wollami, with the

same kind of gravel bottom, or a very fine kind of shingle. It was a

single cast of the lead. On either side in this last case were 39 and 33

fathoms fine sand and shells. Had it not been for the change in the

quality of the bottom, I should have doubted so great a depth, which is

the more remarkable from its being the greatest within the Strait.

The next day towards evening we again anchored in Hobson's Bay, where we

stayed till the 23rd. This time in getting out of Port Phillip through

the southern channel, we met with an accident. I have before mentioned

the difficulty of seeing the eastern part of the north bank, which, on

this occasion, combined with the dazzling effect of the sun's rays ahead,

was the cause of our grounding for a short time near the inner entrance.

It was, therefore, noon next day before we were again outside, when we

steered across for the north end of King Island.

January 26.

In passing Franklin Road the next morning, we saw a cutter at anchor,

doubtless the colonial vessel which is occasionally allowed to visit

Captain Smith, and afford him supplies. We passed down four miles from

the western side of King Island, carrying an outer line of soundings,

varying from 40 to 50 fathoms; and in the evening anchored in Fitzmaurice

Bay.

BELL ROCK.

Next morning we proceeded in search of Bell Rock,* lying in the middle of

the south entrance of Bass Strait, eight miles South from the northern

and largest of Reid's Rocks; but there being only a light air stirring

from the westward, we were almost wholly at the mercy of the tide, which

carried us midway between its assigned position and the last-mentioned

dangers. We passed near several small eddies and slight whirlpools, in

which no bottom was found in the boats with 25 fathoms. The North-West

extremity of Reid's Rock might with propriety be described as a small

islet, it being a dark mass some half a mile long, and rising 25 feet out

of the water. The French charts exhibit some sunken rocks to the north of

this; but, if they really exist, of which there is great doubt, we saw

nothing of them. I may here mention, that great circumspection should be

used by vessels in the neighbourhood of Reid's Rocks, as the soundings do

not indicate their approach, and as the tide runs among them with great

rapidity.

(*Footnote. A rock was seen in H.M.S. Conway five miles West-South-West

from Bell Rock.)

BLACK PYRAMID.

Between them and the Black Pyramid we had 35 and 32 fathoms.

We passed the night standing to and fro close to the Pyramid, which I

have before described as a dark rocky lump 240 feet high. Its western

side is a sombre storm-beaten cliff, whilst to the east it slopes away

almost to the water's edge. A few patches of coarse grass may be seen on

some sheltered spots. Sealers, I am informed, have landed upon it on

certain rare occasions of fine weather, and have been repaid for their

daring by capturing a few fur-seals from the rookery that there exists.

The Black Pyramid from some points of view, greatly resembles Curtis

Island, near the eastern entrance of the Strait. A mile and a half from

its eastern side, there was only 24 fathoms, which was the least water we

were in during the night.

January 27.

We found ourselves at daylight in 35 fathoms, two miles South-West from

the Pyramid, when we stood away East-South-East, to sound and have a

seaward view of the entrance between Hunter Island and Point Woolnorth.

This examination confirmed our former opinion that no ship-channel

existed there. But even if there had been one, the passage is so strewed

with rocks and disturbed by such heavy tide ripples, that it wears a most

dangerous appearance from the offing.

Rounding the south side of the south Black Rock, we went between it and

Steep Island in 19 fathoms. From thence we steered between the north

Black Rock and the west point of Hunter Island in 24 fathoms, having 15

fathoms midway between.

ALBATROSS ISLAND.

Continuing our northern course, we passed a mile from the west side of

Albatross Island, in 30 and 33 fathoms. It is a dark cliffy isle, the

summit of which although 125 feet high, appears to be sometimes washed by

the sea. There are one or two finger-shaped points of rock at the south

end; and a singular split in the entire island may be seen on the bearing

of North 75 degrees East. The wind had now increased to a gale from the

westward, and we were obliged to seek shelter under Hunter Island.

January 28.

In the morning the breeze was moderate from North-East, to which quarter

it had changed suddenly during the night, veering round from west by the

north. By noon it had shifted to East-North-East and had increased to a

gale. At 8 P.M. it blew a strong gale with gusts from that quarter. The

barometer had now just begun to fall, and was at 29.9. During the day it

had been steady at 30.02. This gale lasted, blowing with the same

violence (latterly from East) until 1 P.M. the next day, when after a

calm of about a quarter of an hour the wind changed suddenly to North

with rain, thunder, and vivid lightning, and by 4 P.M. had veered to west

and increased once more to a strong gale with heavy squalls. The

barometer at the same time began to rise; it had been stationary at 29.6

since the morning.

It was the evening of the 31st before this gale blew over, after veering

to the South-West. The barometer at the time was at 29.9, having risen to

that height in the morning. The rotatory character of this storm, which

resembled those we had experienced on our former visit, induces me to

enter thus into details respecting it. These observations, too, may

evince more plainly, the necessity of an anchorage at this time of the

year being sheltered from both east and west winds.

FIRE ON THREE HUMMOCK ISLAND.

The fire that had been accidentally kindled on Three Hummock Island, when

we were last there, was still burning. This conflagration had almost been

fatal to Mr. Bynoe, who was out in the scrubs when it burst forth, having

with great difficulty forced his way among them in search of specimens

for his collection of birds. His attention was suddenly roused by the

roaring of the flames as they swept down the sides of the hills, wrapping

them in a sheet of fire. The predicament in which he was placed was a

most critical one, as he hardly knew which way to turn to avoid the

pressing danger. Even when, fortunately, he had taken the right

direction, it was with the greatest exertion that he burst through the

matted thicket and reached the water's edge before the fire.

Our fishermen were very successful with the hook and line, taking near

the rocks great numbers of fish, some of which were a species of rock

cod. Alongside the ship we only caught sharks, one of which contained

thirty-six young ones.

Although the barometer remained stationery at 29.9 the weather continued

so boisterous, and westerly squalls followed each other in such rapid

succession, that it was the 3rd of February, before we could commence

work in earnest. On that day the ship was moved to near the south end of

Hunter Island, where we found a nice quiet anchorage with scarcely any

tide off a long sandy beach.

LEAVE FOR CIRCULAR HEAD.

By the 6th we completed what remained to be done of the survey of this

part, and proceeded to collect the necessary soundings between Three

Hummock Island, and Circular Head, anchoring under the latter the same

evening. Here we met Mr. Curr, the Company's Superintendent, who was

absent during our first visit. From him we experienced so great

hospitality, that our stay appeared shorter than it really was. On the

morning of the 9th we again left. It was our intention to have stood over

midway across the Strait in search of some islands reported by the French

to be thereabouts, though all the local information we could gain on the

subject tended to induce a disbelief of their existence.

HEAVY GALE.

But the sky assuming a threatening aspect, and the wind increasing from

the westward, we sought shelter under the South-East end of Robbin

Island. And it was well we did so; for during the following two days, it

blew the heaviest gale we had yet met with in the Strait. A succession of

violent gusts from the west, with loud thunder, vivid lightning, and much

rain, constantly reminded us of the wisdom of our cautious proceeding. At

Port Phillip this same storm was felt very severely. Such was its

strength and violence, that many houses were unroofed, and other damage

done to a large amount. It passed over both Melbourne and Geelong,

darkening the air with the clouds of dust it bore along with it, and

filling the minds of the inhabitants with the greatest terror and

apprehension. They called it a tornado; and it appeared to have quite the

rotatory character of a hurricane.

February 11.

We left this anchorage, and passed three miles from the North-East side

of Three Hummock Island where we found only six fathoms, apparently on a

bank thrown up by the tide sweeping round its sides. From thence we

steered across the Strait to Sea Elephant Rock on the eastern shore of

King Island. We saw nothing of the islands laid down by the French,

thirteen leagues east of it, and it was my firm belief that they had no

existence. Subsequent observation has confirmed this belief. We however

found the shoal water supposed to exist thereabouts.

The northern termination of the highland over the south-eastern part of

the island which marks Sea Elephant Bay was very apparent as we

approached. In the evening we anchored in seven fathoms on the north side

of Sea Elephant Rock, which we visited the following morning. It is

nearly a mile in circumference, and 120 feet high, clothed with a coarse

wiry grass. A small vessel if properly moored might find shelter under it

from easterly gales. We were surprised to find the time of high-water

here nearly two hours earlier than at Three Hummock Island; the

flood-stream came from the southward.

WILD DOGS.

Of the number of wild dogs that we had heard of as being on this island,

we saw only two. From the bones we found of others it is more than

probable that they live upon each other at the seasons of the year when

the mutton birds having departed; they would otherwise have to depend

solely for subsistence on the few shellfish adhering to the rocks. This

reminded me of what I once witnessed on an island off the eastern coast

of Patagonia. Several herds of deer had once existed upon it; but some

persons having turned a number of dogs loose, the original inhabitants

were soon destroyed, and the newcomers afterwards devoured each other, so

that when I saw them, but a small remnant remained. The dogs on Sea

Elephant Rock, which were left by sealers, had grown so wild that they

would not allow us to approach them. I saw here some small penguins, a

bird we rarely met with in the Strait.

This part of King Island is clothed with thick scrubs, among which we saw

numerous tracks of kangaroos, a certain sign that it is not much

frequented by civilized or uncivilized man. Leaving this anchorage we

examined the eastern shore of the island which we found, as I have before

described, to be low and sandy. Passing along two miles from it, we had a

depth of from 8 to 12 and 15 fathoms. As we approached the northern end,

the character of the coast changed, it being formed by rocky points with

small sand bays intervening. The reef laid down by the French, two miles

from the North-East extremity of the island, we found to be only half a

mile South-South-West from it, one of the many errors we discovered in

the French chart of the strait. It is a small ugly ledge quite beneath

the water, and from the absence of rocky points on the low sandy shore it

fronts, is quite unlooked for.

NAVARIN AND HARBINGER ROCKS.

The next day, February 13th, we examined the dangers fronting the north

side of the island, consisting of Navarin and Harbinger Rocks, neither of

which we found so formidable or so far from the shore as had been

reported. The former lies only a mile and a half off the north end, and

although we did not pass between it and the shore, there is little doubt

that a passage exists. We passed between the Harbinger rocks in 27

fathoms; this great depth in their immediate vicinity, gives no warning

of their proximity in the night or during thick weather.

COMPLETE THE SURVEY OF PORT PHILLIP.

As it was now necessary for us to think of preparing for our return to

the North coast, the proper season for passing through Torres Strait also

approaching, and the increasing importance of Port Phillip, rendering it

desirable to complete our survey of its entrance before our departure; we

consequently proceeded thither. We found even soundings of 53 fathoms

extend twenty miles North by East from Harbinger Reef, but from thence

northwards, the depths gradually decreased. Calms and light winds

rendered the passage across very tedious. We spent one night at anchor in

31 fathoms near the entrance, about six miles south from Point Flinders,

where the tide scarcely ran a knot an hour; the flood-stream set

North-East. With these operations closed our work in Bass Strait, for the

present. We had completed the western entrance from Port Western on the

north shore and Circular Head on the south. The weather had prevented our

doing more, and obtaining as many soundings as we could have wished. It

had been unusually boisterous and unsettled, much more so than the winter

generally is. From all I could learn such a season had not been

experienced in the memory of the oldest inhabitants.

March 1.

Bidding adieu to our hospitable friends, we left Port Phillip, and having

spent a night at Port Western, stood out from it next morning, and passed

over in 12 and 15 fathoms, the patch of discoloured water discovered by

Flinders, two miles south of the remarkable round islet, that lies off

the western extreme of Grant Island. Pursuing our course to the eastward,

we were detained by contrary winds for some time among the islands at the

eastern entrance of the Strait. All these we found to be considerably out

in position, showing the necessity of an accurate survey. We were

exceedingly delighted when on the 5th we were enabled fairly to turn our

back on Bass Strait, that region of storms, which stretched behind us as

we receded like a black mass resting on the horizon. A strong

south-wester soon carried us far away from it in the direction we had

been so long endeavouring to pursue.

At noon on the 8th, we were close in with the land in the neighbourhood

of Jervis Bay. A long line of cliffs fronts the shore; but the highlands

recede as in the neighbourhood of Sydney, leaving a low tract of country

between them and the sea.

PIGEON HOUSE.

To the South-West of this bay, we had an excellent view of that singular

landmark, which Captain Cook, with his usual felicity in the choice of

names, called the Pigeon House. It was just open of the south end of some

tablelands, and resembled a cupola superimposed upon a large dome.

Next day in the forenoon, we again arrived at Sydney; where we remained

from March 10th to May 21st, employing the time in completing our charts,

sending home tracings of them, and preparing for our cruise on the

Northern coast. I was glad to find the return meridian distance between

Port Phillip and Sydney agree with the going one, placing the jetty at

William's Town 6 degrees 19 minutes 14 seconds west of Fort Macquarie.

DROUGHT AT SYDNEY.

Everything was still suffering from one of those fearful droughts that

occasionally visit this colony, but are as yet unknown in Western

Australia, where the seasons are certain, although available land is

scarce. An idea may be formed of the nature of this visitation, when I

say, that for some time previous to our former departure from Sydney,

during the whole of our absence, and for several months subsequent to our

return, not a drop of rain fell. The consequence of this was, that the

whole country was dried up, and the dust lay on the roads, especially

towards Parramatta, at least a foot thick. Whoever attempted to travel,

therefore, seemed, if the wind blew, as though he had been passing

through a mill. It will readily be imagined that so long a succession of

dry seasons, did prodigious injury to the stock, and utterly ruined the

wheat crops. To add to the distress then occasioned, the people of

Tasmania seizing on the opportunity, raised the price of grain, expecting

to make a large profit. But their avidity in this instance over-reached

itself. Instead of sending to them for corn, the people of Sydney

despatched vessels to South America, and as the early cargoes that

arrived sold to advantage, a great deal of money was embarked in the

speculation. Soon, however, the natural consequence ensued. The market

became glutted, cargo after cargo came in, the purchasers held back,

prices fell, and in many instances the importers were glad to dispose of

their wheat at a rate far inferior to what it had been shipped at. I have

no doubt that the financial derangement caused by so large an amount of

bullion going out of the country (for all these cargoes were bought with

ready money) had much to do with the subsequent depression.

I may here take an opportunity of remarking that, as a general rule, it

is the labouring classes that thrive best at Sydney. They can in

tolerably prosperous times, earn sufficient in three or four days, to

support themselves throughout the week. During the remainder of the time,

the sober and industrious man employs himself in building a house; but I

am sorry to say that the generality repair to the vast number of public

houses that swarm on every side, and get drunk. This is evident from the

annual revenue derived from rum, which in 1839 was 190,000 pounds,

amounting to more than seven gallons for every individual in the colony.

MR. USBORNE LEAVES.

It caused us extreme regret that before our departure from Sydney, we

were deprived of Mr. Usborne's valuable services. He was compelled to

return home in consequence of the dreadful wound he had received from a

musket ball, which, as has already been related, passed through his body.

In him the expedition sustained a great loss; his presence and society

were missed by all; and his departure was generally felt. It may easily

be conceived indeed that the separation from a friend and messmate under

such circumstances, must have cast for a time a shade of sadness over our

minds. Mr. Usborne took charge of the charts which we sent to England on

this occasion.

MR. CUNNINGHAM.

I cannot leave Sydney without alluding to our meeting with Mr.

Cunningham, the Botanist, whose death I have already mentioned, as having

taken place two months after our departure from Sydney. Though worn out

by disease, and evidently on the brink of the grave, the fire of

enthusiasm kindled in his frame, and his eyes glistened as he talked of

our projected enterprise; and it was with difficulty that he could be

dissuaded from accompanying us. His name, which will be remembered by his

friends on account of his many amiable qualities, will not be forgotten

by posterity; for it has become associated with the lands he explored, as

well as with the natural productions he described. The presence and

attention of his valued friend Captain P.P. King, contributed to soothe

his last moments.