On the evening of the 25th, which had been duly observed as Christmas Day, the Nautilus arrived from the southward. She had been at Preservation Island, where, and among the neighbouring islands, she had been tolerably successful in seal-catching. The master left 14 of his people on the island of Cape Barren, to provide as many skins and as much oil as they could against his return. Those with which he now arrived were in a few days sold by auction.

The two whalers, the Indispensable and Britannia, which had been fishing on the coast, returned on the 29th for a few days to repair some defects and refresh their crews. They had cruised chiefly from the latitude of 32 degrees 00 minutes to 35 degrees 00 minutes, and not farther from the coast than from 20 to 30 leagues, and thought themselves rather successful for the time (only two months), the one having got 54, and the other 60 tons of spermaceti oil.

The Eliza (more wisely) put into Botany Bay, to wood and water. She, although much longer at seal had not been so successful, having got only 45 tons of oil. The master of this ship stated, that he saw off the NE part of New Caledonia a ship on shore upon a reef, the lower masts of which were above water, and one of the tops was on the mast. The weather was thick and hazy, and blew too fresh to allow him to send to examine her; but a piece of a boat, which he took to be part of a whale boat, floating near him, he judged the wreck to be that of a whaler. He also fell in with a very dangerous and extensive shoal, lying NNW about 40 leagues from Sandy Cape, upon the coast of New South Wales. It was so large, that, finding himself entered upon it, and unable to get back, it took him from nine in the morning until six in the evening, going at the rate of six knots (or miles) an hour, before he ran through it.

Thus already did the settlement and the public at large derive some advantage from the fishing on the coast, by the discovery of this shoal.

There happened three deaths in this month which were out of the common way: a woman at the Hawkesbury died of the bite of a snake; another woman was drowned in attempting to land at Norfolk island; and on the 19th died, very suddenly, Mr. Stephenson, the store-keeper at Sydney. As his death was not exactly in the common way, so neither had been the latter part of his life; indeed, all that part of it which he had passed in this country; for, by an upright conduct, and a faithful discharge of the duties of the office with which he had been entrusted, he secured to himself the approbation of his superiors while living, and their good name at his death.

Stephenson had been emancipated for his orderly behaviour, and to enable him to execute the office of store-keeper.

The annual election of constables recurring about this time, the magistrates were desired to be very particular in their selection of the persons returned to them for that purpose; as there was reason to fear, from the frequent escapes of prisoners from the different gaols, that the constables had been tampered with, so shamefully to neglect their duty.

The wheat harvest being over, and the country, as happened generally at this season of the year, every where on fire, those who were engaged in farming were reminded of the necessity of their exerting themselves by every practicable means to secure their crops, when stacked, against accident by fire. As yet, none had been heard of. In the early part of the month Farenheit's thermometer at the Hawkesbury stood at 107 degrees in the shade.

Many people were at this time much afflicted with inflammations of the eyes*, attended with extreme pain, and supposed by the medical gentlemen to be occasioned by the excessive dry and sultry weather which had prevailed for a considerable time. Dysenteric complaints were also very common, which were attributed to the water, most of the runs and springs having been nearly dried up. The tanks which were cut in the rocks below the stream by order of Governor Phillip had proved of infinite utility.

[* In the month of April 1794 and 1796, several adults and children were troubled with an inflammation of the eyes, which was then attributed to the variable and unsettled weather that had for some time prevailed. It must be remarked, that the present appearance of this complaint was in the summer, the former in the winter season.]

The seamen belonging to the Supply completed their half-moon battery in this month, and part of that ship's guns were mounted in it.

In addition to other public works, some people were employed in white-washing the houses in the town of Sydney, and repairing such of the buildings as required it; an attention highly necessary at least once in every year, for the preservation of works, the re-construction of which, when suffered to fall to decay, was attended with a great expense.

The live stock and the ground in cultivation had been considerably increased in this year, as will be seen by comparing the following account of each with the return of the preceding year.

LIVE STOCK

Horses 44 Mares 73 Horned Cattle Bulls and Oxen 163 Cows 258 Hogs 2867 Sheep Male 1459 Female 2443 Goats Male 787 Female 1880

LAND IN CULTIVATION

Acres in Wheat 4659 Acres in Maize 1453 Acres in Barley 571/2

It will appear from this account, which is brought down to the month of August, and taken up from that month in the preceding year, that the goats had not increased so much as the sheep. Many had of course been slaughtered; but they were found to be afflicted with diseases which carried them off in numbers, while the sheep were seen to thrive better.



CHAPTER XIV



Certificates granted to convicts Reasons for so doing Unruly behaviour of the Irish Agricultural concerns look ill The Norfolk sloop returns from Van Dieman's Land Particulars Twofold Bay described The natives there Kent's Group Furneaux's Islands Preservation Island Curious petrifaction there Cape Barren Island The wombat described

1799.] January.] On the second of this month, certificates were granted to such convicts as had completed their several terms of transportation.

That none might have it in their power to make a plea of any injustice being exercised upon them with respect to that critical point their servitude, it had been made a rule, three or four times in the year, to issue discharge certificates to such as were found, on consulting the proper documents, to be entitled to them; and, if desirous of being at their own disposal, to strike them off from the victualling books. Many convicts having been sent out, who had not more than two years to serve after their arrival, proved, by claiming their discharge, a considerable drawback on field-labour, as well in Norfolk Island as in New South Wales. But this was not the only evil. In this way there were let loose upon the public a number of idle and worthless characters, who, not having any means of getting out of the country, became a dangerous and troublesome pest. They refused all kind of labour, but continued to form connections with the equally worthless part of the other inhabitants, who, from their domestic situations, had an opportunity of affording the best information where robberies and burglaries could be most readily committed. They also consumed a vast proportion of the provision which was raised in the colony. Still, as the law had spent its force against them, there was no denying them the restoration of their rights as free people. The convicts in general had suffered much through want of clothing and bedding. Indeed, during the late harvest, several gangs were seen labouring in the fields, as free of clothing of any kind as the savages of the country. This had made them insolent; and anonymous letters were dropped, in which were threatenings of what would be done at the proper season.

At this time, when the certificates were granted, a numerous body of the Irish convicts, many of whom had but lately arrived, insisted that 'their times were out,' and could not be persuaded that they were mistaken by any remonstrance or argument. They grew noisy and insolent, and even made use of threats; upon which a few of the most forward and daring were secured, and instantly punished; after which they were ordered to go peaceably back to their work. They had also taken up the idea that Ireland had shaken off its connection with England, and that they were no longer to be considered as convicts under the British government. This was a most pernicious idea to be entertained by such a lawless set of people, and required the strong arm of government to eradicate it.

Agricultural concerns at this time wore a most unpromising appearance. The wheat proved little better than straw or chaff, and the maize was burnt up in the ground for want of rain. From the establishment of the settlement, so much continued drought and suffocating heat had not been experienced. The country was now in flames; the wind northerly and parching; and some showers of rain, which fell on the 7th, were of no advantage, being immediately taken up again by the excessive heat of the sun.

On the 12th, the Norfolk sloop arrived, with Lieutenant Flinders and Mr. Bass, from the examination of Van Diemen's land.

As the result of this little voyage was the complete knowledge of the existence of a strait separating Van Diemen's land from the continent of New Holland, it may not be improper to enter with some degree of minuteness into the particulars of it; and the writer of these pages feels much gratification in being enabled to do this, from the accurate and pleasing journal of Mr. Bass, with the perusal and use of which he has been favoured.

The Norfolk sailed, as has been already stated, upon this voyage of discovery about the 7th of October last, with Lieutenant Flinders and Mr. Bass; and on the 11th, when nearly off Cape Howe, being met by a fresh gale at SW they bore up, and anchored in Twofold Bay. This bay had been visited by Mr. Bass when he was on the coast in the whale boat; but he had not at that time so good an opportunity of examining it as he desired, and now had. He found Twofold Bay situated at the southern end of a short chain of hummocky hills, one part of which is much more conspicuous than the rest, and lies immediately behind the bay. The land on the west side, being a part of this chain of hills, is high and rocky. The shore is divided into steep cliff heads, with small intermediate beaches; the one formed by the most prominent of the ridges, the others by the sand thrown up at the foot of their valleys. Behind the beaches are ponds of brackish water.

The abruptness and sudden rise of the hills for the most part permit the vegetable earth to be washed down into the vallies as fast as it is formed. Some of the more gradual slopes retain a sufficiency of it to produce a thick coat of tolerably succulent grass; but the soil partakes too much of the stony quality of the higher parts to be capable of cultivation.

The dark luxuriant foliage of the valleys points out the advantages which they had received from the impoverished hills. Their soil is rich and deep, but their extent is narrow and limited. Some three or four hundred acres of excellent soil might be found upon the edges of the ponds, and by the sides of the occasional drains that supply them with the fresh part of their water.

Both hill and valley produce large timber and brush-wood of various heights; upon the hills, the brush grows in small clumps; while in the valleys it not only covers the whole surface, but is also bound together by creeping vines, of every size between small twine and a seven inch hawser.

In the SW corner of the bay, is a lagoon, or small inlet, that communicates with the sea, through the beach at the back of which it lies. The chain of hills here runs back to some little distance from the water, and leaves a few square miles of rather good ground, through which the inlet was found to take its course in a winding direction to the SW for six or eight miles, where it ends in small swamps and marshes. Large boats might enter this place at a third flood, and proceed to the farther part of it. Upon its banks from five to seven hundred acres of a light sandy soil might be picked out, in patches of from fifty to a hundred acres each; but on the side next the mountain it soon became stony, and on that next the lagoon it was wet and salt.

The country along the back of the bay lies in rounded stony hills scarcely fit for pasturage, but covered with timber, and patches of short brush.

On the south side was another shallow inlet, larger than that on the SW running in by the end of a beach, and winding along to the SSW with little or no cultivable or low ground upon its borders. The returning tide did not allow time enough to proceed to the head of it.

On the eastern side, the hills being neither steep nor prominent, some extensive slopes of tolerably good, though sandy soil, have been formed. Several which extended to the water, being well covered with grass and thinly set with timber, had a pleasing appearance from the bay, and resembled some of the most beautiful parts of Mount Edgecumbe, near Plymouth. Speaking generally of the land round the bay, it might be said to be much more barren that productive; that there are several patches of tolerably good, and some few of excellent soil; but by far the greater part is incapable of cultivation, and fit only for pasturage.

The most common timber is a sort of gum tree, the bark of which along the trunk is that of the iron bark of Port Jackson; and its leaf, that of the blue gum tree; but its branches toward the head are of a yellow colour, smooth, and resembling the barked limbs of trees. The wood is longer grained, and more tough, splitting easier and more true than any other species of the gum tree.

The natives are, in person, similar to those living about Port Jackson, but their language was perfectly unintelligible. They used canoes, of which they seemed very careful; for on his rowing round the point of Snug Cove, when Mr. Bass was on his first visit to this bay in the whale boat, a party of them paddled hastily on shore, taking their canoes upon their heads, and running off with them into the woods. They, however, did not appear so shy of their visitors now as they had formerly been; and there was reason to believe that a friendly intercourse might have been easily established with them.

Not meeting with any grass trees, and the few spears that were seen being made of solid wood, it may be conjectured that the light grass reed spear used by the natives of Port Jackson is unknown among these people, as well as the use of the throwing-stick.

But very few marks of the kangaroo were seen. Both quadrupeds and birds appeared to be less numerous here than in other places. The dogs found a porcupine ant-eaters, but they could make no impression on him; he escaped from them by burrowing in the loose sand, not head foremost, but sinking himself directly downwards, and presenting his prickly back opposed to his adversaries.

There were a few ducks, teal, herons, cranes, and a bird named from its bill the Red-bill, upon the lagoons, with some small flights of curlew and plover of a beautiful feather.

The rocks consist of hardened clay, in which are mixed great numbers of small stones, variously tinged, some with red, others with yellow. Small portions of calcareous spar lie scattered about the surface of the rocky ground; strata of which are deposited irregularly in fissures formed in the body of the rocks themselves.

Leaving Twofold Bay upon a favourable shift of wind, the sloop proceeded to the southward, and on the 17th made a small cluster of islands, in latitude 38 degrees 16 minutes, which now bears the name of Kent's Group (a compliment to the commander of his Majesty's ship Supply). These are six or seven in number, and of various sizes. Their height is very considerable, and as irregular in figure as can well be imagined in land whose hummocks are no one of them more lofty than another. This small group appears to be formed of granite, which is imperfectly concealed by long straggling dwarfish brush, and some few still more diminutive trees, and seems cursed with a sterility that might safely bid defiance to Chinese industry itself. Nature is either working very slowly with those islands, or has altogether ceased to work upon them, since a more wild deserted place is not easily to be met with. Even the birds seemed not to frequent them in their usual numbers. There was, in short, nothing that could tempt our explorers to land.

Having passed Kent's Group standing to the southward, the next morning Furneaux's Islands were in sight, and on the following day they anchored at Preservation Island, which is one of them. These islands, from what was seen of them during this run along their shore, and what had been seen of them before by Mr. Bass, appear to consist of two kinds, perfectly dissimilar in figure, and most probably of very unequal ages, but alike in the materials of which they are formed. Both kinds are of granite; but the one is low, and rather level, with a soil of sand covered with low brush and tufted grass: the other is remarkably high, bold, and rocky, and cut into a variety of singular peaks and knobs. Some little vegetable soil lies upon these, and the vegetation is large; trees even of a tolerable size are produced in some places. There are attached to some parts of these high islands slips of low sandy land, of a similar height with the lower islands, and probably coeval with them.

Preservation Island, which takes its respectable name from having preserved the crew of the ship Sydney Cove, arranges itself in the humble class of islands, and is of a very moderate height. A surface of sand, varying in depth, and mixed in different scanty proportions with vegetable soil, scarcely hides from view the base, which is of granite. In several places vast blocks of this stone lie scattered about, as free from vegetation and the injuries of weather as if they had fallen but yesterday: and, what is remarkable, most of them, probably all, are evidently detached from the stone upon which they rest, so entirely that they might be dragged from the places where they lie, if it were thought worth while to apply a power sufficient to produce so useless an effect. It should seem then that these loose blocks have fallen from some place higher than that upon which they were found; but that is impossible, for they are higher than any other part of the island. And the supposition that the injuries of the air and the rain caused the removal of that part of the granite which might originally have been of a corresponding height with these remaining blocks, seems hardly admissible in the present instance. Perhaps subterraneous or volcanic fire may have caused this curious appearance.

The great bulk of these blocks renders them so conspicuous, that the attention is first struck with them upon approaching the island. But, besides granite, there is on the north side, where the island is particularly low and narrow, a slip of calcareous earth, of a few hundred yards in length, which discovers itself near the broken surface of the water. It is not for the most part pure, for broken pieces of the granite are mixed with it in various proportions. Some parts are a mere mass of these broken pieces cemented together by the calcareous matter; whilst others are an almost perfect chalk, and are capable of being burnt into excellent lime. Broken sea shells and other exuviae of marine animals are apparent throughout the whole mass.

Upon the beach at the foot of this chalky rock, was found a very considerable quantity of the black metallic particles which appear in the granite as black shining specks, and are in all probability grains of tin.

To find this small bed of the remains of shell animals, of which chalk is formed wherever found, in such an unexpected situation, excited some surprise; and Mr. Bass endeavoured to investigate the cause of this deposit, by examining the form of the neighbouring parts of the island.

The result of his inquiries and conjectures amounted to this: that as traces of the sea, and of the effects of running waters, were plainly discernible in many parts of the island, and more particularly in the vicinity of this deposit of chalk and granite, it seemed highly probable that it had been formed by two streams of the tide, which, when the island was yet beneath the surface of the sea, having swept round a large lump of rocks, then met and formed an eddy, where every substance would fall to the bottom. The lump of rocks is now a rocky knoll, which runs tapering from the opposite side of the island toward the chalk. On each side of it is a gap, through which the two streams appear to have passed.

The vegetation on the island seems brown and starved. It consists of a few stunted trees; several patches of brush, close set and almost impenetrable; large tufts of sour and wiry grass, and abundance of low saltish plants, chiefly of the creeping kind.

A small spot upon the east end of the island presented a phenomenon which seemed not easily explicable by any known laws of that class of natural history to which it alone was referable.

Amidst a patch of naked sand, upon one of the highest parts of the island, at not less than 100 feet above the level of the sea, within the limits of a few hundred yards square, were lying scattered about a number of short broken branches of old dead trees, of from one to three inches in diameter, and seemingly of a kind similar to the large brush wood. Amid these broken branches were seen sticking up several white stony stumps, of sizes ranging between the above diameters, and in height from a foot to a foot and a half. Their peculiar form, together with a number of prongs of their own quality, projecting in different directions from around their base, and entering the ground in the manner of roots, presented themselves to the mind of an observer, with a striking resemblance to the stumps and roots of small trees. These were extremely brittle, the slightest blow with a stick, or with each other, being sufficient to break them short off; and when taken into the hand, many of them broke to pieces with their own weight.

On being broken transversely, it was immediately seen that the internal part was divided into interior or central, exterior or cortical. The exterior part, which in different specimens occupied various proportions of the whole, resembled a fine white and soft grit-stone; but acids being applied, showed it to be combined with a considerable portion of calcareous matter. The interior or central part was always circular, but seldom found of the same diameter, or of the same composition, on any two stumps. In some the calcareous and sandy matter had taken such entire possession, that every fragment of the wood was completely obliterated; but yet a faint central ring remained. In others was a centre of chalk, beautifully white, that crumbled between the fingers to the finest powder; some consisted of chalk and brown earth, in various quantities, and some others had detained a few frail portions of their woody fibres, the spaces between which were filled up with chalky earth.

It appeared, that when the people of the Sydney Cove first came upon the island, the pieces of dead branches that at this time were lying round the stumps, then formed, with them, the stem and branches of dead trees complete. But by the time Mr. Bass visited the place, the hands of curiosity, and the frolics of an unruly horse that was saved from the wreck, had reduced them to the state already described.

Mr. Bass had been told from good authority, that when the trees were in a complete state, the diameter of the dead wood of the stem that rose immediately from the stoney part was equal to the diameter of that part; and also that a living leaf was seen upon the uppermost branches of one of them. But he could never learn whether the stony part of the stem was of an equal height in all the trees.

To ascertain to what depth the petrification had extended, Mr. Bass scratched away the sand from the foot of many of the stumps, and in no instance found it to have proceeded more than three or four inches beneath the surface of the sand, as it then lay; for at that depth the brown and crumbling remains of the root came into view. There were, indeed, parts of the roots which had undergone an alteration similar to that which had taken place in the stems: but these tended to establish the limits of the petrifying power; for they had felt it only either at their first outset from the bottom of the stems, or when, being obstructed in their progress, they had of necessity arched upwards toward the surface.

In attempting to account for the cause that had operated to produce this change in the structure of the lower parts of the stems of these trees, Mr. Bass feels the utmost diffidence. He found that all his conjectures which were best supported by existing facts, led him to place them among petrifications; although no strict analogy could be seen between them and the subjects usually met with of this kind.

Admitting them, however, as petrifications, it is certain that there must once have existed a pond in which the petrifying water was contained; but the ground in their neighbourhood retained no positive traces of any such receptacle. There were, indeed, near them, some few lumps or banks consisting of sand, and a little vegetable earth which was held together by dead roots of small trees, and elevated above the rest of the ground, to the height of five, six, or eight feet; but the relative position of these with each other was so confused and irregular, that nothing but the necessity of a once existing reservoir could ever lead any one to conjecture that these might have been parts of its bank. Mr. Bass, however, rather concluded that this must have been the case, and that the remainder of the bank had been torn away, and the pond itself annihilated by some violent effort of an unknown power.

Notwithstanding the narrow limits of the island, abundance of small kangaroos were found to inhabit its brushy parts; but so many had been destroyed by the people of the Sydney Cove, that they had now become scarce.

The sooty petrel had appropriated a certain grassy part of the island to herself, and retained her position with a degree of obstinacy not easily to be overcome. For although it so happened, that the storehouse for the wrecked cargo was erected upon the spot, and the people for more than a year drew the favourite part of their food from these birds, and were besides continually walking over their habitations, yet at the end of that time the returning flights in the evening were as numerous as they had been observed to be upon their first arrival.

When Mr. Hamilton, the commander of the Sydney Cove, quitted the house, he left two hens sitting upon their eggs, some breeding pigeons, and a bag of rice; but no traces were now to be discovered either of the birds or their food. It is probable, that so long as this little colony continued within doors, it did well; but that, when forced by its necessities to go abroad in quest of food, it fell a quiet sacrifice to the rapacity of the hawks.

Several snakes with venomous fangs were found here; but, no person having been bitten by them, the degree of their power was unknown.

The water of the island was thought to have been injurious to the health of the people of the Sydney Cove. It was supposed to contain arsenic, which was highly probable from an experiment that was made with the metallic particles, which were taken to be tin. A large fume of what bore many marks of arsenic arose from the crucible during the time of smelting it. Water was very scarce while these people were upon the island; but, owing to some unusual falls of rain, several little runs and swamps were found by Mr. Bass; and a low piece of ground where they had deposited their dead was now a pond of an excellent quality.

Although he had seen but few of the low islands of Furneaux, yet Mr. Bass had not any doubt but that this account of Preservation Island would in general answer for the description of any of them.

He next proceeds to describe what little he saw of Cape Barren Island, which he understood, from the people of the Nautilus snow, who had been there sealing, was an exact specimen of those of the higher kind, so far as they had observed of them.

Cape Barren Island, which takes its name from the cape so called by Captain Furneaux, is a small island when compared with that lying to the northward of it. From what was seen of it in the sloop, it could only be conjectured that these two were separate islands; but Mr. Bishop had passed in the Nautilus through the channel that divides them.

Mr. Bass did not land upon the large island, and it is only of the southern end of Cape Barren Island that he could speak from his own particular observation.

This island is one of those of the higher kind that consist of both high and low land. The high part is composed of granite, in many places almost bare, in others poorly clothed with moderate sized gum trees, which draw their support through some small quantity of vegetable earth lodged by the broken blocks and fragments of the stone, and some straggling brush-wood shooting up round the trees, and completing the appearance of a continued vegetation.

The base of the low part is granite; its surface chiefly sand; its produce, variety of brush, with some few small gum trees, and a species of fir, that grows tall and straight to the height of 20 or 25 feet. There are within the body of the brush several clear spots, where the ground is partly rocky or sandy, partly wet and spongy. These are somewhat enlivened by beautiful flowering heath, and low shrubs, but have upon the whole a dark sombrous aspect, too much resembling the barren heaths of Hampshire.

A grass tree grows here, similar in every respect to that about Port Jackson, except that no reed, neither living nor dead, could be found to belong to it. It is certain, however, that there must be a reed, or a flowering part of some kind. In the brushes, where the sandy soil is somewhat ameliorated by the decay of vegetation, a few tufts of indifferent grass might be seen; but the greater part of it was the coarse wiry sort that grows in hassocks.

It is singular, that a place wherein food seemed to be so scarce should yet be so thickly inhabited by the small brush kangaroo, and a new quadruped, which was also a grass-eater.

This animal, being a new one, appears to deserve a particular description. The Wombat (or, as it is called by the natives of Port Jackson, the Womback) is a squat, thick, short-legged, and rather inactive quadruped, with great appearance of stumpy strength, and somewhat bigger than a large turnspit dog. Its figure and movements, if they do not exactly resemble those of the bear, at least strongly remind one of that animal.

Its length, from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose, is thirty-one inches, of which its body takes up twenty-three and five-tenths. The head is seven inches, and the tail five-tenths. Its circumference behind the forelegs, twenty-seven inches; across the thickest part of the belly, thirty-one inches. Its weight by hand is somewhat between twenty-five and thirty pounds. The hair is coarse, and about one inch or one inch and five tenths in length, thinly set upon the belly, thicker on the back and head, and thickest upon the loins and rump; the colour of it a light sandy brown, of varying shades, but darkest along the back.

The head is large and flattish, and, when looking the animal full in the face, seems, excluding the ears, to form nearly an equilateral triangle, any side of which is about seven inches and five tenths in length, but the upper side, or that which constitutes the breadth of the head, is rather the shortest. The hair upon the face lies in regular order, as if it were combed, with its ends pointed upwards in a kind of radii, from the nose their centre.

The ears are sharp and erect, of two inches and three-tenths in length, stand well asunder, and are in nowise disproportionate. The eyes are small, and rather sunken than prominent, but quick and lively. They are placed about two inches and five tenths asunder, a little below the centre of the imaginary triangle towards the nose. The nice co-adaptation of their ciliary processes, which are covered with a fine hair, seems to afford the animal an extraordinary power of excluding whatever might be hurtful.

The nose is large or spreading, the nostrils large, long, and capable of being closed. They stand angularly with each other, and a channel is continued from them towards the upper lip, which is divided like the hare's. The whiskers are rather thick and strong, and are in length from two to three inches and five tenths.

The opening of its mouth is small; it contains five long grass-cutting teeth in the front of each jaw, like those of the kangaroo; within them is a vacancy for an inch or more, then appear two small canine teeth of equal height with, and so much similar to, eight molars situated behind, as scarcely to be distinguishable from them. The whole number in both jaws amount to twenty-four.

The neck is thick and short, and greatly restrains the motions of the head, which, according to the common expression, looks as if it was stuck upon the shoulders.

From the neck the back arches a little as far as the loins, whence it goes off at a flat slope to the hindmost parts, where not any tail is visible. A tail, however, may be found by carefully passing the finger over the flat slope in a line with the backbone. After separating the hairs, it is seen of some five tenths of an inch in length, and from three to one tenth of an inch in diameter, naked, except for a few short fine hairs near its end. This curious tall seemed to hold a much bolder proportion in the young than in the full-grown animal.

The fore legs are very strong and muscular: their length, to the sole of the paw, is five inches five tenths, and the distance between them is five inches and five tenths. The paws are fleshy, round, and large, being one inch and nine tenths in diameter. Their claws are five in number, attached to as many short digitations. The three middle claws are strong, and about eight or nine tenths of an inch in length; the thumb and little finger claws are also strong, but shorter than the others, being only from six to seven tenths of an inch. The fleshy root of the thumb claw is smaller and more flexible than the others. The sole of the paw is hard, and the upper part is covered with the common hair, down to the roots of the claws which it overhangs. The hind legs are less strong and muscular than the fore; their length, to the sole, is five inches and five tenths; the distance between, seven inches and five tenths. The hind paw is longer than the fore, but not less fleshy; its length is two inches and seven tenths, its breadth two inches and six tenths. The claws are four in number: the three inner ones are less strong, but about two tenths of an inch longer than the longest of the fore claws; and there is a fleshy spur in the place of a thumb claw. The whole paw has a curve, which throws its fore part rather inward.

In size the two sexes are nearly the same, but the female is perhaps rather the heaviest.

In the opinion of Mr. Bass, this Wombat seemed to be very economically made; but he thought it unnecessary to give an account of its internal structure in his journal.

This animal has not any claim to swiftness of foot, as most men could run it down. Its pace is hobbling or shuffling, something like the awkward gait of a bear. In disposition it is mild and gentle, as becomes a grass-eater; but it bites hard, and is furious when provoked. Mr. Bass never heard its voice but at that time; it was a low cry, between a hissing and a whizzing, which could not be heard at a distance of more than thirty or forty yards. He chased one, and with his hands under his belly suddenly lifted him off the ground without hurting him, and laid him upon his back along his arm, like a child. It made no noise, nor any effort to escape, not even a struggle. Its countenance was placid and undisturbed, and it seemed as contented as if it had been nursed by Mr. Bass* from its infancy. He carried the beast upwards of a mile, and often shifted him from arm to arm, sometimes laying him upon his shoulder, all of which he took in good part; until, being obliged to secure his legs while he went into the brush to cut a specimen of a new wood, the creature's anger arose with the pinching of the twine; he whizzed with all his might, kicked and scratched most furiously, and snapped off a piece from the elbow of Mr. Bass's Jacket with his grass-cutting teeth. Their friendship was here at an end, and the creature remained implacable all the way to the boat, ceasing to kick only when he was exhausted.

[* The kangaroo, and some other animals in New South Wales, were remarkable for being domesticated as soon as taken.]

This circumstance seemed to indicate, that with kind treatment the Wombat might soon be rendered extremely docile, and probably affectionate; but let his tutor beware of giving him provocation, at least if he should be full grown.

Besides Furneaux's Islands, the Wombat inhabits, as has been seen, the mountains to the westward of Port Jackson. In both these places its habitation is under ground, being admirably formed for burrowing, but to what depth it descends does not seem to be ascertained. According to the account given of it by the natives, the wombat of the mountains is never seen during the day, but lives retired in his hole, feeding only in the night; but that of the islands is seen to feed in all parts of the day. His food is not yet well known; but it seems probable that he varies it, according to the situation in which he may be placed. The stomachs of such as Mr. Bass examined were distended with the coarse wiry grass, and he, as well as others, had seen the animal scratching among the dry ricks of sea-weed thrown up upon the shores, but could never discover what it was in search of. Now the inhabitant of the mountains can have no recourse to the sea-shore for his food, nor can he find there any wiry grass of the islands, but must live upon the food that circumstances present to him.

The annexed representation of this new and curious addition to the animals of New South Wales was taken from a living subject, which was a female, and had the characteristic mark which classed it with the opossum tribe, the pouch or bag for its young.

Cape Barren Island, besides the kangaroo and wombat, is inhabited by the porcupine ant-eater; a rat with webbed feet; paroquets, and small birds unknown at Port Jackson, some few of which were of beautiful plumage. Black snakes with the venomous fangs were numerous upon the edges of the brush. The rocks toward the sea were covered with fur-seals of great beauty. This species of seal seemed to approach nearest to that named by naturalists the Falkland Island Seal.

'In point of animated life nature seems (says Mr. Bass) to have acted so oddly with this and the neighbouring islands, that if their rich stores were thoroughly ransacked, I doubt not but the departments of natural history would be enlarged by more new and valuable specimens than they ever before acquired from any land of many times their extent.'



CHAPTER XV



The Norfolk proceeds on her voyage The Swan Isles; why so named Waterhouse Isle Discover Port Dalrymple Account of the country within it Natural productions Animals Sagacity and numbers of the black swan Inhabitants; inferior to those of the continent Range of the thermometer Pass Table Cape Circular head Three Hummock Island Albatross Island Hunter's Isles Proceed to the southward and westward

Leaving Furneaux's Islands, the Norfolk proceeded toward the North coast of Van Diemen's land; and on the 1st of November she anchored for a tide at the largest of the Swan isles, two small islands so named by Lieutenant Flinders, when he was here in the Francis, because a European who belonged to the Sydney Cove had assured him that he had met with vast numbers of breeding swans upon them.

The isle at which the sloop anchored bore a great resemblance to Preservation Island, being low, sandy, and barren, but differed from it in the composition of its rocks, or that substance which formed the basis of its support. This had not any affinity to granite, nor did Mr. Bass remember to have seen any of a similar kind upon any part of New South Wales. It was of various colours, but generally either a light brown, or a sort of grey. It seemed to be lamellated, but the lamellae were placed vertically, sometimes radiated with a diameter of four or five feet, and sometimes they were placed parallel. Upon breaking the stone, the fracture was vitreous, or like that of glass, and it scintillated on steel being applied. Rust of iron was visible in several parts, the stone breaking easily in those parts into plates correspondent to the length and direction of the rust; but where that was not, it broke with great difficulty. On the first view, the stone looked like a clay; but as it produced fire with steel, there must have been a large portion of flint in it. It appeared to contain iron in rather a large quantity, and probably some other metallic substances.

Notwithstanding the information given by the European, not a single swan was found upon the island; but several geese were breeding there, and the sooty petrel possessed the grassy parts; the swans of the sailor, in this instance, therefore, turned out to be geese. This bird had been seen before upon Preservation Island, and was either a Brent or a Barnacle goose, or between the two. It had a long and slender neck, with a small short head, and a rounded crown; a short, thick arched bill, partly covered with a pea-green membrane which soon shrivelled up, and came away in the dried specimens. Its plumage was, for the most part, of a dove colour, set with black spots. It had a deep, hoarse, clanging, and, though a short, yet an inflected voice. In size it was rather less than our tame geese, and lived upon grass. The flesh was excellent.

Early in the morning of the first of November they left the Swan Isles, steering to the westward along shore. At nine o'clock the north coast of Van Diemen's land lay extended from about SE by E to West, the nearest part of it being distant two and a half or three miles. Its general trending seemed to be about ESE and WNW with a small island lying off the western extreme. The shores were chiefly beaches, the front land was of a moderate height, the back was mountainous. One ridge of mountains that bore south was very high and rugged, and from the white patches in it was concluded to be rocky and barren.

If any judgment could be hazarded of the quality of the country, at the distance the sloop was at, it might be supposed, from the beauty of the lower head-land, to be somewhat above mediocrity. Extensive tracts of open ground that come down towards the sea in gradual green slopes were varied by clumps of wood and large single trees.

A column of smoke that arose some few miles inland, was the only sign of its being inhabited.

At noon the latitude was 40 degrees 44 minutes 08 seconds, the peak of Cape Barren Island then in sight. At this time they were two miles to the westward of the small island, which was low and rocky, lying about two miles and a half off a sharp, sandy point, with which it was nearly connected by some lumps of rock that almost closed up the passage. A long curved line of ripple extended to the northward.

The aspect of the low land here became less pleasing, the mountains approaching nearer to the sea, and the country appearing to be more wooded. The coast seemed inclined to a more southerly direction, and the western extremity, which bore SW by W, appeared broken, like Islands. At five in the afternoon they anchored two miles and a half to the westward of the small island, it being calm, and the tide of ebb setting the vessel to the Northward.

They weighed at nine the next morning with an easterly wind, and steered in towards a small break that presented itself in the bottom of an extensive but not deep bay, or rather bight, lying between the two extremes then in view. The break was not sufficiently distinct to have justified in itself alone a reasonable supposition of an inlet, but that it was corroborated by the direction of the ebb tide, which, while the sloop was at anchor, was observed to come from the SSW or directly out of the bight, running at the rate of two miles and a half per hour. By noon, it being ascertained that there was not any inlet, they bore away to the Westward along the land.

Their distance from the shore did not exceed a mile and a half. The back country consisted of high hummocky mountains, whose parallel edges were lying elevated one above another to a considerable distance inland. The land in front was woody and bushy, of a moderate height, but sandy.

At three in the afternoon they ran through between a sandy point, with shoal water off it, and two islands. One of these, named Waterhouse Isle, is between two and three miles in length, rather high, but level, and covered with large wood. The other is small, low, rocky, and almost bare. The coast now trended to the SSW the land sloping up gradually from the sea to a moderate height, with more open than wooded ground, and but little brush; but the soil appeared sandy, and the grass but thinly grown. The hummocky mountains still retained their general figure in the more interior parts.

As they proceeded, the shore no longer preserved any regular line of direction, but fell back into sandy bights. Hauling off for the night, a little to the westward of a small rocky and barren island, lying about four miles from the land, at six o'clock the following morning they came in with it again, near where they had left it the preceding evening, and began their course along the shore, which trended to the SSW in an irregular manner, with a sandy country at its back.

At eleven o'clock they passed within a mile of a high grassy cape, which is the seaward extremity of a ridge, that, rising up by a gentle ascent, retreats and joins some chains of lofty mountains. A small rocky island lay two miles from it to the WSW. At noon the latitude was 40 degrees 55 minutes 25 seconds, and the longitude 147 degrees 16 minutes 30 seconds.

Early in the afternoon a gap in the land situated at the back of a deep narrow bight, which had for some time attracted attention, began to assume the appearance of an inlet, which they bore away to examine; and, after running three miles, they found they had shut in the line of the coast on each side, and were impelled forward by a strong inset of tide. Continuing their course for the gap, some back points within the entrance soon became distinguishable, and the rapidity of the flood tide was observed to increase with the increasing contiguity of the shores. When the sloop was on the point of entering the harbour, which appeared to be fairly open before her, the water shoaled suddenly, and she struck the ground and lay fast; but fortunately the strong flood in a few minutes dragged her over into deep water, and shot her into the entrance with uncommon velocity.

Having advanced within the entrance, the harbour began to expand itself in a kind of large basin. Its shores were broken into points and projections, between some of which the great strength of the flood tide led them to expect it would branch off into arms. The land lying immediately upon its borders was low, but not flat; well wooded; and those points near which the sloop passed were clothed with a very unusual degree of verdure. The sun being down, the vessel was anchored for the night, and the next day they proceeded with their researches.

They were employed during sixteen days in the examination of this place; and the result of the observations which were made by Mr. Bass in different parts of it, and the neighbouring country, are thrown by that gentleman into one general account.

This harbour, or inlet, which was named by the governor Port Dalrymple, in compliment to Alexander Dalrymple, esq takes its course from the SE between two chains of rounded mountains, stretching inland from the sea with an almost imperceptible increase of elevation; and, after gradually approximating each other, seemed to unite, at the distance of between thirty and forty miles, in a body of rugged mountains more lofty than themselves. These two chains in their relative positions formed an acute angle, being at their greatest distance asunder, as measured along the sea coast, only sixteen miles.

Being limited in point of time (twelve weeks having been deemed by the governor sufficient for the execution of this service), the apprehension of losing a wind favourable for the prosecution of the principal object of the voyage, that of sailing through the strait, deterred them from attempting to reach the head of the river; but it was hardly to be doubted, that its principal source proceeded from some part near the point of union of the two chains of mountains. Allowing this supposition, a great part of its stream must be perfectly fresh; for at the place where they ended their examination, which was not more than half the whole supposed distance or length of the river, it had become half fresh half salt, although its breadth was from half a mile to a mile and a half, and its depth eight or nine fathoms.

The country which Mr. Bass had an opportunity of observing, was a certain portion of that lying within the angle formed by the two chains of mountains, and more especially of the parts which lay contiguous to the water, rather than of those situated in the vicinity of the chains.

The quality of the ground, taking it in the aggregate, was much superior to that of the borders of any of the salt water inlets of New South Wales, Western Port excepted (seen by Mr Bass on his first excursion in the whale boat). The vegetable mould was, however, found to be of no great depth, and was sometimes, perhaps advantageously, mixed with small quantities of sand.

The best of the soil was found upon the sides of sloping hills, and in the broad valleys between them. Some parts that were low and level had a wet and peat-like surface, bounded by small tracts of flowering shrubs and odoriferous plants, that perfumed the air with the fragrance of their oils.* These retained in general the appearance of those in New South Wales, while they were in reality very different. The rich and vivid colouring of the more northern flowers, and that soft and exquisite gradation of their tints, for which they are so singularly distinguished hold with those here, but in a less eminent degree. The two countries present a perfect similarity in this, that the more barren spots are the most gaily adorned. The curious florist, and scientific botanist, would find ample subject of exultation in their different researches in Port Dalrymple.

[* In this particular they differ from the flowering shrubs of New South Wales; none or very few of which were ever found, beautiful as they were in other respects, to possess the smallest particle of odour.]

Except in these places, the grass grows not in tufts, but covers the land equally with a short nutritious herbage, better adapted, possibly, to the bite of small than of large cattle. The food for the latter grows in the bottoms of the valleys and upon the damp flats. A large proportion of the soil promised a fair return to the labours of the cultivator, and a lesser ensures an ample reward; but the greater part would perhaps be more advantageously employed, if left for pasturage, than if thrown into cultivation; it would be poor as the one, but rich as the other.

Water was found in runs more than in ponds, and, though not abundant, was far from being scarce.

The west side of the river furnishes the largest quantity of the best ground, because the mountains on that side are at a greater distance than those on the east. The country lying near the west arm is chiefly rather flat, and might be converted to many useful purposes, both in agriculture and in pasturage, for which last it is probably well calculated. If it should ever be proposed to make a settlement here, this part seems to merit very particular attention.

The best land seems to be that fine hilly country which lies at the back of an island named Middle-island; but access to it is not easy on account of a large shoal extending along its front, which is dry at low water, as far out as the island itself. The shape of the land is very pleasingly variegated with hill and valley; the soil is in general a rich black mould, shallow, and even sometimes a little stony upon the hills, but in the valleys is of abundant depth and richness. A close coat of grass of a uniform thickness over-spreads it every where. It appears to be watered only by swampy ponds, which in many places are at some distance from each other; but it is hardly to be doubted, that wells sunk in the valleys would furnish water sufficient for all domestic purposes.

In sailing up the river, the points and shores present an appearance of fertility that astonishes an eye used to those of the rocky harbours of New South Wales. They are mostly grassed as well as wooded close down to the water side, the wood, perhaps, thin; the grass every where thick, every where a dark luxuriant vegetation, that, either from the thinness of the wood, or the gradual rounding of the hills and points, is visible to a very considerable extent of ground.

The tides run so uncommonly rapid, that if the port were colonised, and the principal town built, as it no doubt would be, near the entrance, the produce of the villages and farms scattered along its banks might be brought to market with the greatest ease, expedition, and certainty.

The heavy timber is chiefly gum tree of various species; of which two are different from any that have been yet seen in this country. Nothing new was observed in the quality of the wood; but, from the few trees that were felled, it was thought to be more sound at heart than they are usually met with. The she oaks were more inclined to spread than grow tall. The smaller trees and shrubs resemble, with some variety, those of the continent.* The tree producing the yellow gum is of a very diminutive size; but, unlike that of Cape Barren island, it bears a reed correspondent to itself. These were going into flower, and their length was only from nine inches to two feet.**

[* Mr. Pennant allows its claim to this distinction. Vide Pennant's 'Outlines of the Globe.']

[** This dwarf gum tree is of much use to the natives of New South Wales, as may be seen by the following distribution of its properties. The gum from the body of the tree, which they term Goolgad-ye, is used for repairing their canoes. Of the reed they make a fiz-gig, which they call Moo-ting. Of the grass or rushes which grow at the top of the tree, they make torches, named Boo-do. A gum which they extract from these rushes, and which is named Wangye, they use in fastening the joints of their spears; and from the centre of the tree they procure a loathsome worm, which they call Boo-roo-gal, and deem a great luxury. The tree itself is named Ye-gal.]

The few rocky shores of the river presented nothing remarkable, being generally either of a rough iron-stone, or a soft grid-stone.

The grey kangaroo of a very large size, abounded in the open forest; the brushes were tenanted by the smaller black kind, or, as it is named by the natives of Port Jackson, the Wal-li-bah.

The plumage of the parrots forms a gloomy contrast with the rich lustre of those near the settlement, their colours being rather grave than gay. The melancholy cry of the bell-bird (dil boong, after which Bennillong named his infant child) seems to be unknown here. Many aquatic birds, both web-footed and waders, frequent the arms and coves of the river; but the black swans alone are remarkable in point of number. Mr. Bass once made a rough calculation of three hundred swimming within the space of a quarter of a mile square; and heard the 'dying song' of some scores; that song, so celebrated by the poets of former times, exactly resembled the creaking of a rusty sign on a windy day! Not more than two thirds of any of the flocks which they fell in with could fly, the rest could do no more than flap along upon the surface of the water, being either moulting, or not yet come to their full feather and growth, which they require two years to attain. They swam and flapped alternately, and went along surprisingly fast. It was some times a long chase, but the boat generally tired them out. When in danger, and speed makes no part of their escape, they immerse their bodies so far, that the water makes a passage between their neck and back, and in this position they would frequently turn aside a heavy load of shot. They seemed to be endowed with much sagacity; in chase they soon learned the weakest point of their pursuers, and, instead of swimming directly from them, as they did at first, always endeavoured in the most artful manner to gain the wind, which could only be prevented by anticipating their movements, and by a dexterous management of the boat.

The swan is said to feed upon fish, frogs, and water-slugs; but in the gizzards of many that at different times and in different places were examined by Mr. Bass, nothing ever appeared but small water plants, mostly a kind of broad leaved grass, and some little sand. To their affection for their young he had seen some lamentable sacrifices; but of their fierceness, at least when opposed to man, or their great strength, he had seen no instance.

Among other reptiles were found the snake with venomous fangs, and some large brown guanoes.

This country is inhabited by men; and, if any judgment could be formed from the number of huts which they met, in about the same proportion as in New South Wales. Their extreme shyness prevented any communication. They never even got sight of them but once, and then at a great distance. They had made fires abreast of where the sloop was at anchor; but as soon as the boat approached the shore they ran off into the woods. Their huts, of which seven or eight were frequently found together like a little encampment, were constructed of bark torn in long stripes from some neighbouring tree, after being divided transversely at the bottom, in such breadths as they judge their strength would be able to disengage from its adherence to the wood, and the connecting bark on each side. It is then broken into convenient lengths, and placed, slopingwise, against the elbowing part of some dead branch that has fallen off from the distorted limbs of the gum tree; and a little grass is sometimes thrown over the top. But, after all their labour, they have not ingenuity sufficient to place the slips of bark in such a manner as to preclude the free admission of the rain. It is somewhat strange, that in the latitude of 41 degrees, want should not have sharpened their ideas to the invention of some more convenient habitation, especially since they have been left by nature without the confined dwelling of a hollow tree, or the more agreeable accommodation of a hole under the rock.

The single utensil that was observed lying near their huts was a kind of basket made of long wiry grass, that grows along the shores of the river. The two ends of a large bunch of this grass are tied to the two ends of a smaller bunch; the large one is then spread out to form the basket, while the smaller answers the purpose of a handle. Their apparent use is, to bring shell fish from the mud banks where they are to be collected. The large heaps of mussel shells that were found near each hut proclaimed the mud banks to be a principal source of food. The most scrupulous examination of their fire places discovered nothing, except a few bones of the opossum, a squirrel, and here and there those of a small kangaroo. No remains of fish were even seen.

The mode of taking the opossum seemed to be similar to that practised in New South Wales*, except that it is probable they use a rope in ascending the tree; for once, at the foot of a notched tree, about eight feet of a two inch rope made of grass was found with a knot in it, near which it appeared to have broken.

[* Vide Vol I Appendix II.]

A canoe was never met with, and concurring circumstances showed that this convenience was unknown here; nor was any tree ever observed to be barked in the manner requisite for this purpose; though birds bred upon little islands to which access might be had in the smallest canoe. Those made of solid timber seemed to be wholly out of the question. The roughness of the notches left by the stone hatchet upon the bark of the trees bore no very favourable testimony to its excellence. They were rather the marks of a rough than of a sharp-edged tool, and seemed more beaten than cut, which was not the case with the marks left by the mo-go, or stone hatchet, of New South Wales.

Hence, from the little that has been seen of the condition of our own species in this place, it appears to be much inferior in some essential points of convenience to that of the despised inhabitants of the continent. How miserable a being would the latter be, his canoe taken from him, his stone hatchet blunted, his hut pervious to the smallest shower of rain, and few or no excavations in the rocks to fly to! But happiness, like every thing else, exists only by comparison with the stage above and the stage below our own. The circumstances which occasioned this difference between the people of two countries so near to each other, and so much alike in their natural productions, must remain hidden from our observation, until perhaps some permanent European settlement shall be made in Van Diemen's land.

The range of the thermometer, taken in various parts of the port, was at night from 49 degrees to 52 degrees, and at noon from 58 degrees to 64 degrees.

On the 20th of November they left Port Dalrymple with a light breeze at NE and proceeded very slowly to the westward. At daylight the following morning, the wind shifted to the W by N which drove them back to Furneaux's islands, where, the gale continuing at west, they were kept until the 3rd of December, when they were enabled to proceed to the westward. The land here trended to the WNW as far as was visible through the haze, which allowed them only to distinguish that it was high and uneven. At noon the latitude was 40 degrees 58 minutes, and the longitude 146 degrees 44 minutes. Their progress was slow, and unavoidably at too great a distance from the shore to form any just idea of the country; but what was seen of it appeared high and mountainous, the mountains forming into hummocks and low peaks, to which a few large shapeless knobs added a great singularity of appearance. On the haze clearing away, and the shore being distinctly seen, it appeared rocky, but wooded nearly down to the water's edge. Here and there were seen spaces of open ground, some of which sloped toward the sea, and had a few large trees growing irregularly upon them. A remarkable peaked mountain, some few miles inland, might have been thought, from its shape and height, to have been once a volcano. A very singular lump of high level, or table land, lay at a few miles to the westward in the coast line; and at some distance beyond it, a point appeared with three knobs of land lying off it, resembling islands. This land was named Table Cape.

To the extreme eastern point of this land, a fine easterly breeze had brought them at daylight of the 6th; when they found that what they had on the preceding evening taken to be islands were three lumps or ridges of the point itself, lessening in bulk as they advanced toward its seaward extremity. The very uncommon figure of this point may perhaps be best conceived by comparing it to a spear with several barbs. It was extremely barren and rocky. Beyond the point, the coast trended more northerly, but fell back into an extensive bay, with a sandy beach in its rear. The western point of this bay was formed by a high, steep, and round bluff, named Circular Head, that might easily be taken for an island, but was a peninsula. The land behind was of moderate height, and rose gradually from the sea. It was clothed in a poor coat of either grass or short brush; among which were seen some dwarf gum trees, that appeared to be in a sickly and dying state, apparently for want of sufficient soil to expand in.

Towards noon, soon after passing Circular Head, the outermost land in sight stretched so far to the northward, that the course to clear it was NNW. It formed like two hummocks, and in steering for it they were compelled to leave a large bight unexamined. The coast at its back was too distant to form any judgment of it, except in the general outline. Its westernmost part seemed broken and intersected, like islands and gaps; but, as the wind blew fresh and directly into it, they passed on.

Nothing new presented itself on the following day, but some small flights of sooty petrels.

On the 8th, being threatened with a gale, they came to anchor under the land, off a small beach on its NE part, where the SW wind could not molest the vessel. Here Mr. Bass landed to examine the country, but found it impenetrable. The tall sturdy brush wood grew so close that their dogs could hardly make their way through it. Large patches appeared to have been burnt many months ago, but the small brush and creeping vines only were destroyed; the closeness of the blackened saplings were still irresistible. A few starved gum trees erected their sickly heads above the brush, and the whole wore an aspect of poverty which the sandy soil confirmed. And yet this place was inhabited by men, as was shown by the old fire places strewed round with shells of the sea ear. The rocks were composed of quartz, probably a species of granite, but much unlike that which formed Furneaux's Islands.

Leaving this place on the 9th, they steered for the outermost land in sight, which bore to the southward of west, and was distant three or four leagues. After rounding the seaward end of the land under which they had anchored, its shores fell back, and at last discovered to them that it was an island of from fifteen to twenty miles in circuit, and situated between four and five from the main. It was with the greatest astonishment that they recollected the fire places and sea shells which they had the preceding evening seen upon the island. That the inhabitants of this part of Van Diemen's land should possess canoes capable of crossing over four or five miles of open sea, while those of Port Dalrymple were without any, seemed highly improbable. The island itself was certainly unequal to the maintenance of any settled inhabitants, and yet there were unequivocal vestiges of men upon it. Long and frequent reflection upon facts in themselves so contradictory had never produced any rational solution of the difficulty. This island took the descriptive name of Three Hummock Island.

For several hours during the early part of the morning, a vast stream of sooty petrels issued from the deep bight which had been left unexplored, and passed the vessel on their way to the westward. There must have been some millions of birds. Thence they were well assured there was at least one island in that bight, if not more than one, as they had imagined.

Having passed within a mile of a pointed part of the main, which in height and starved vegetation very much resembled Three Hummock island, towards noon they came up with some land, which proved to be a small island, high and very steep; and a long swell, which had just before made its first appearance, broke violently upon it, making a furious surf on all sides. Its summit was whitened over with birds. With some difficulty a landing was effected at the foot of a chasm filled up with loose stones; and, after a slight rencontre with some seals that stood above, they reached the top. The birds they found were albatrosses innumerable. The spread of their wings was from seven to nine feet. Their colour was more white than black, and the appearance of their visitors did not occasion much disturbance among them, even when they approached close to them. This was the season of their breeding. The females sat upon nests not more than a foot and a half apart, built of muddy earth, bound with coarse grass, raised about four inches from the ground, and formed into a concavity of nearly that depth, with a diameter of five or six inches. One young bird only was in each nest: it was of the size of a small pullet, but at that time covered with a beautifully white down. The shapeless lump at some distance resembled a ball of cotton. Some nests held an addled egg of a dingy white colour, and equal in size to that of a goose. The nests were so near each other, and the birds so conscious of the great strength of their sharp bills, that in going through them the voyagers were obliged to make use of their seal clubs, to procure themselves a passage. Even the young ones spouted plentiful mouthfuls of a not inodorous oil upon them.

The island, which obtained the name of Albatross Island, was a mere mass of stone, without any other vegetation than a few tufts of coarse grass. Besides albatrosses, it afforded shelter to a few scores of hair seals, and the large gull. The latitude was 40 degrees 24 minutes, the longitude 145 degrees 02 minutes.

Several other islands were seen to the southward, and the coast of the main seemed trending in the same direction. A deep bight lay at the back of these islands, with points and openings visible in its most distant part. There was reason to believe, that the sea here had a communication through into the unexplored bight to the eastward of Three Hummock Island; in which case the pointed part of the main, whose vegetation bore so great a resemblance to that of Three Hummock island, would also be an island. They passed sufficiently near to determine that they were high, steep, and difficult of access. Their tops and sloping parts were grown over with either coarse grass or short brush; but not any trees appeared. The largest might be seven or eight miles in circuit, the smaller were mere masses of rock of various sizes; and the whole cluster, in number about twelve, including Three Hummock Island, obtained the name of Hunter's Isles.

A fresh gale at ENE and a heavy swell from the SW drove the vessel fast to the southward and westward; and on the 11th, the gale having moderated, they stretched in for the land, a large extent of which was indistinctly visible through a light haze that hung about the horizon. At noon the latitude was 41 degrees 13 minutes, and the longitude 148 degrees 58 minutes. With a fresh breeze at NNE they bore away along the shore, which trends to the SE by E and was distant three or four miles.

From a shore of beach, with short rocky points at intervals, the land rose gradually to a considerable height, the aspect of which was barren and brushy, and the soil sandy. Several short reefs of rocks lay in front of the beaches, and broke the long swell into a surf of a tremendous appearance.

Dreading a gale of wind from the west, which was threatening, and might have proved fatal to their little vessel, they hauled out to the SSW; but the weather remained moderate.

On the following morning the wind flew round to the northward, and they continued their route along the shore. Early in the forenoon they passed a singularly formed point, with a number of lumps of rock lying some two or three miles off it to the SW. It resembled an artificial pier, or mole, with warehouses upon it, and a lighthouse on the end next the water. Large masses of detached oblong rocks gave the appearance of warehouses, and a remarkably long one standing upon its end, that of the light-house.

Their latitude at noon was 42 degrees 02 minutes and the longitude 145 degrees 16 minutes; the coast still trended to the SSE and the land began to change that uniformly regular figure which it had hitherto preserved. It was becoming mountainous and uneven, but was still barren.



CHAPTER XVI



The Norfolk passes the strait Observations thereon Proceeds to the southward Passes the S. W. Cape; and S. Cape Remarks on the latter De Witt's Isles Storm Bay Passage Tasman's Head Fluted Cape Frederick Henry Bay Enter the Derwent river, first seen in the ship Duke, of Bengal Observations on the Derwent Some natives seen Particulars of one Venomous snake One destroys itself Comparison between New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land Arrive at Port Jackson Advantages of the strait

Mr. Bass and his fellow voyager, Lieutenant Flinders, did not hesitate now to think that they had passed through the strait, and from the Pacific had entered the southern Indian ocean; for what within the extent of a vast sea could give birth to the monstrous swell that was rolling in before their eyes? and the coast was evidently trending towards the SW cape.

Mr. Bass says (with all the feeling and spirit of an explorer), that 'he already began to taste the enjoyment resulting from the completion of this discovery, which had been commenced in the whale-boat, under a complication of anxieties, hazard, and fatigue, known only to those who conducted her;' modestly sharing the praises, to which he alone was entitled, with those who accompanied him.

It was worthy of remark (Mr. Bass says), that the northern shore of the strait from Wilson's Promontory (seen in the whale-boat) to Western Port resembled the bluff bold shore of an open sea, with a swell rolling in, and a large surf breaking upon it; while the southern shore, or what is the coast of Van Diemen's land, appeared like the inner shore of a cluster of islands, whose outer parts break off the great weight of the sea. The cause of this is immediately obvious, on recollecting that the swell of the Indian ocean enters the strait from the southward of west. The greater part of the southern shore lies in a bight, whose western extreme is Hunter's Isles, and the NW Cape of Van Diemen's land. Now as the swell comes from the southward, as well as the westward, it must, after striking upon the northwest part of the southern shore, evidently run on in a direction somewhat diagonal with the two sides of the strait, until it expands itself upon the northern shore, where both swell and surf are found. But to the southward of this diagonal line the swell must quickly take off, and totally disappear, long before it can reach the shore to make a surf. Hence arises the difference.

That the swell of the Indian ocean comes, by far the greater part of the way, from the southward of west, can hardly be doubted, since it is well known that the prevailing winds are from that quarter.

Early in the afternoon (of the 11th) a piece of land stood out from the line of the coast like an island, but it was soon found to be joined to the main by a sandy beach. The shore beyond it looked rugged and craggy, and the land equalled the most sterile and stoney that had been seen. At night the vessel stood off to the westward from abreast of a pyramidal rock lying close to the main. At daylight the following morning, they came in again with the land at the same place, and ran along the shore with a fresh breeze at NW, the coast trending in a waving line to the SSE.

Towards noon the coast began to rise into chains of lofty mountains, which ran along in nearly the same line as the coast. The latitude was 43 degrees 07 minutes, the longitude 145 degrees 42 minutes. A large smoke that got up astern of the vessel was the first sign of inhabitants that had been seen upon this west coast, the appearance of which was miserably barren.

On the morning of the 13th they found that they had been carried in the night to leeward of a break in the land, which had been seen the preceding evening, and had the appearance of being the entrance to a harbour. The north point of this imaginary inlet was named Point St. Vincent. The coast here trended to the eastward, the land of which was mountainous and steep to the sea. Some islands were in sight ahead, lying near the land.

At 8 in the evening they passed the SW cape of Van Diemen's land, hitherto known as that of New Holland. It is a narrow piece of land, projecting from the higher land at no great distance, with two flattish hummocks, that gave it some little resemblance to the Ram Head near Plymouth. Having passed the Cape, they hauled up, and went between the islands, which are De Witt's Isles, and the main. At sunset they were about a mile and a half from the South Cape.

The south west and south Capes lie nearly east and west of each other, and are distant about fifteen leagues. The intermediate coast forms the southern boundary of Van Diemen's land; but if taken upon the more extensive scale of the whole southern hemisphere, it appears, as the south point of New Holland, to be of equal respectability with the extremity of Terra del Fuego, and of the Cape of Good Hope, the south points of the continents of America and Africa.

The relative situations of these three points, when viewed upon a chart drawn on the plane of the equator, or upon an artificial globe, are particularly striking. They will be found to lie at nearly equal distances from each other in the circumference, and each extending itself so directly towards the south, that, if continued on in the same line, they would certainly meet somewhere near the pole. The effect that is produced upon the whole globe, by this peculiar disposition of three of its most prominent points, seems indeterminable.

Like that of Terra del Fuego, the extremity of Van Diemen's land presents a rugged and determined front to the icy regions of the south pole; and, like it, seems once to have extended further south than it does at present. To a very unusual elevation is added an irregularity of form, that justly entitles it to rank among the foremost of the grand and wildly magnificent scenes of nature. It abounds with peaks and ridges, gaps and fissures, that not only disdain the smallest uniformity of figure, but are ever changing shape, as the point of view shifts. Beneath this strange confusion, the western part of this waving coast-line observes a regularity equally remarkable as the wild disorder which prevails above. Lofty ridges of mountain, bounded by tremendous cliffs, project from two to four miles into the sea, at nearly equal distances from each other, with a breadth varying from two miles to two and a half. The bights or bays lying between them are backed by sandy beaches. These vast buttresses appear to be the southern extremities of the mountains of Van Diemen's land; which, it can hardly be doubted, have once projected into the sea far beyond their present abrupt termination, and have been united with the now detached land, De Witt's Isles.

If a corresponding height of similar strata was observable on the islands and on the main, it would amount to a proof that they were originally connected; but this proof was wanting. The same kind of strata appeared in both; but, as far as could be determined in passing hastily by, the necessary correspondence seemed to be deficient. They did not land upon either the islands or the main; but two kinds of rock, one with strata and the other without, were plainly discernible. That without strata formed by far the largest part; it appeared whitish and shining, was certainly a quartz, and probably a granite. The layers of the rock with strata were of various dark colours, and perfectly distinct.

It was evident, that land so much exposed to the violence of extensive oceans must have undergone some very material changes, by the incessant attrition of their vast waves. Two of the isles, either from this or a more sudden cause, have so far deviated from their centre, that their parallel strata form angles of between sixteens and eighteen degrees in one instance, and in another between twenty-five and thirty degrees, with the horizontal line. But it is difficult to explain, by the action of water, how a large block of the white stone without strata is caused to overhang an almost perpendicular corner of one of the islands, which beneath that block consists of the dark coloured stone lying in strata.

De Witt's Isles, (so named, probably, by Tasman) twelve in number, are of various sizes. The two largest are from three to four miles in circuit. Their sides are steep, but their height is inferior to that of the main. The largest is the lowest. The smaller isles are little more than large lumps of rock, of which that named by Captain Cook the mew stone is the southernmost. Their aspect, like that of the main, bespeaks extreme sterility; but, superior to the greater part of it, they produce a continued covering of brush; and upon the sloping sides of some of their gullies are a few stinted, half dead gum trees.

They could not account for the vestiges of fires that appeared upon the two inner large islands; the innermost in particular, which lay at some distance from the nearest point of the main, was burnt in patches upon different parts of it. It must have been effected either by lightning, or by the hand of man; but it was so much unlike the usual effects of the former, that, with all its difficulties, they chose to attribute it to the latter cause.

A great smoke that arose at the back of one of the bights showed the main to be inhabited; but they could not suppose the people of this place to be furnished with canoes, when those of Adventure Bay, in their neighbourhood, were unprovided with them. Nothing, therefore, was left to their choice, but to allow that they might transport themselves over, either upon logs of wood, or by swimming across: and, as the most probable reward of such an exertion would be the capture of birds, whilst breeding, or the seizure of their eggs, the utility of spreading fires in facilitating such operations is obvious.

The south cape may be easily distinguished from any other projection in its vicinity. Besides being the southernmost, it is a promontory making like a foreland, and sloping very gradually as it runs towards the sea, where it ends in a perpendicular cliff.

About sunset the fresh NW wind died away suddenly; and a strong squall from the westward, with thunder, lightning, and heavy rain, soon carried them round the south cape, and, by dark, brought them off what was formerly called Storm Bay, where they hauled to the wind with the sloop's head up the bay, intending, in the morning, to proceed by this Storm Bay passage into the Derwent river.

The night was squally, and by day light the next morning (the 14th), it was found that the vessel had drifted across the mouth of Storm Bay, or more properly Storm Bay Passage. Tasman's Head, its eastern point, bore NE distant three miles. Being too far to leeward to fetch up the passage, and the gale continuing, they bore away round Tasman's Head, and hauled up along shore for Adventure Bay.

Nothing remarkable was observed about Tasman's Head, except two small islands lying off it, at the distance of half or three quarters of a mile; and close to them were the two conical basaltic rocks named by Captain Furneaux the Friars. The vegetation upon the inner most of the two small islands had been burnt in a manner similar to that on the De Witt's isles. If it were possible to account for those fires in any other way than by the agency of man, it would be more satisfactory, than to suppose that people, always believed to be without canoes, had crossed over from a rather steep and rocky head, to an island equally rocky, but more steep.

Having passed Fluted Cape, a fine piece of basalt, and Penguin island, they fetched up under Cape Frederick Henry, the north point of Adventure Bay; but, as the wind blew strong directly off it, and the sloop was light and leewardly, they bore away round the Cape Frederick Henry, hauling upon the north side of it into the bay of that name, purposing to go into the Derwent river, discovered a few years since by Mr. Hayes, master of the ship Duke, of Bengal: but, finding that they were likely to lose ground by tacking, they stood into Henshaw's bay (so named by Hayes), and were greatly surprised to find that, instead of its being a mere shallow bight, as laid down in Mr. Hayes's chart, it extended many miles to the northward. The whole now bears the name of Frederick Henry Bay; that given by Hayes is lost. In this very extensive bay they remained a week, traversing and measuring various parts of its shores.

The surrounding country was found to be miserable, presenting but very little that was fit even for pasturage, and none good enough for cultivation, except near a shallow lagoon on the west side, on the border of which were seven or eight hundred acres of low ground, of a black mould, rather sandy, which might be cultivated with great advantage. Contiguous to the best part, was a large fresh water swamp, overgrown with reeds and bulrushes.

In the evening of the 21st they entered the mouth of the Derwent.

In passing between two islands, the heads of the seaweed, which, from its size, is named the Gigantic, were showing themselves above the surface in six or eight fathoms water: a diminutive plant when compared with those of the kind seen in higher latitudes, but of vast magnitude in comparison with the generality of seaweeds.

On their various movements in the Derwent, Mr. Bass is silent, confining his narrative to a general account of what he learned and saw of the neighbouring country.

If the Derwent river have any claim to respectability, it is indebted for it more to the paucity of inlets into Van Diemen's land, than to any intrinsic merits of its own. After a sleepy course of not more than twenty-five or twenty-seven miles to the NW it falls into Frederick Henry Bay. Its breadth there is two miles and a quarter, and its depth ten fathoms. A few hundred yards above its mouth, it is joined, on the west side, by the Storm Bay Passage, and this union makes an island of that slip of land which is Adventure Bay. This island, the Derwent river, and the Storm Bay Passage, were the discovery of Mr. Hayes, of which he made a chart; wherein it was found, by the minute examination of the whole scene which it now underwent, that the smallest runs had been magnified into rivers, and coves into bays and ports. Such glaring errors could not be suffered to exist; but the name, where it was possible, was retained, though the geographical term was necessarily altered.

This dull lifeless stream, the Derwent, is so little affected by the tides, that its navigation is extremely tedious with a foul wind. It takes its way through a country that on the east and north sides it hilly, on the west and north mountainous. The hills to the eastward arise immediately from the banks; but the mountains to the westward have retired to the distance of a few miles from the water, and have left in their front hilly land similar to that on the east side. All the hills are very thinly set with light timber, chiefly short she oaks; but are admirably covered with thick nutritious grass, in general free from brush or patches of shrubs. The soil in which it grows is a black vegetable mould, deep only in the valleys, frequently very shallow, with occasionally a small mixture of sand or small stones. Many large tracts of land appear cultivable both for maize and wheat, but which, as pasture land, would be excellent.

The hills descend with such gentle slopes, that the valleys between them are extensive and flat. Several contain an indeterminate depth of rich soil, capable of supporting the most exhausting vegetation, and are tolerably well watered by chains of small ponds, or occasional drains, which empty themselves into the river by a cove or creek.

One mountain to the west, lying about three miles from the water, and so remarkably conspicuous as to be seen from every part of the Derwent and its vicinity, Mr. Bass ascended; and he was much surprised to find it abounding with fine tall gum-tree timber uncommonly straight.

The shore on the east side of the river, proceeding up, is covered with a good but shallow soil, and lightly wooded; cultivable for the greater part with any kind of grain, and the whole fit for pasturage, though, perhaps, not sufficiently watered for large cattle which require much drink.

On the west side the country rises too suddenly into stony hills to be in general so good as in most other places. It would, however, afford tolerable pasturage; and a few patches of eighty or one hundred acres each were excellent arable land.

The shore here, as in many other parts of the river, exhibited signs of internal or subterraneous disturbance. The strata of cliffs were broken and disjoined, lying sloping in different directions. Near a small point several pieces of petrified wood, and lumps of stone of every kind and every size, were enveloped, or rather stuck into the matter of the rock, which, although in colour much like a yellow tinged clay, yet had the usual rough porous surface peculiar to substances that have been in a state of fusion. It was here, as in other places, hard, but did not scintillate with steel, and was divided, by lines of a still harder iron-tinged stone, into squares and parallelograms of various sizes. From one of these intersecting lines, Mr. Bass took a small lump of this ferruginous stone, that seemed to have bubbled up, and to have hardened in the form of an ill-shaped bunch of small grapes. Some of the neighbouring cliffs, for several yards, were formed into basaltic columns.

In walking across one of the steep heads between two small bays, he met with a large deep hole in the ground, that appeared to have been occasioned by the falling-in of the earth which had formerly occupied its space. Its extent was about twenty-two yards by seventeen; its depth perhaps sixty feet. The sides were not excavated, but rather smooth and perpendicular. They were rocks of the same yellow tinge as those of the shore. A little surf that washed up within it showed a communication with the river, by a narrow subterraneous passage of some ten or sixteen feet in height, and, according to the distance of the hole from the edge of the cliff, about thirty-five yards in length. Appearances seemed to agree, that the period at which this earth fell in could not be very remote.

Continuing on the west side from Point William to Shoal Point (places named by Mr. Hayes), the land is too stony upon the hills for cultivation, but is proper for pasturage. The valleys are, as usual, adapted to grain.

The land round Prince of Wales's Cove is rather level, and frequently clayey: the worst of it produces excellent food for cattle, even up to the foot of the high mountain lying at its back. Being a stiff close soil, it is perhaps adapted to the growth of grape vines, rather than of grain. About three hundred acres of open ground, called by Mr. Hayes King George's Plains (could this have been in derision?) seem well calculated for this purpose, and for this only.