Chapter 2: 13 (1)

Exploration of Interior. Twofold Bay. Survey of Bass Strait. Dangerous situation of the Beagle. Kent and Hogan Groups. Gipps Land. Wilson's Promontory. The Tamar. Eastern entrance of Strait. Steam communication between India and Australia. New Guinea. Straitsmen. North coast of Tasmania. Aborigines. Port Phillip. Directions for ships passing King Island. Complete survey of Bass Strait. Farewell to Sydney. Moreton Bay. The Comet. State of Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land. Lighthouses in Bass Strait.

EXPLORATION OF INTERIOR.

The most interesting topic of conversation on our arrival at Sydney was the projected expedition into the interior. Two candidates for this important and deeply interesting undertaking had presented themselves--Mr. E.J. Eyre and Sir Thomas Mitchell, both experienced Australian explorers. The latter proposed to start from Fort Bourke on the Darling; and the former from Moreton Bay. In my own humble opinion, strengthened by recent experience, neither of these are practicable routes;* or at any rate, they are not the best that could be selected. The centre of the continent must be reached by the shortest possible journey; it being advisable to avoid the despondency that seizes on a party during a protracted expedition, and to keep up throughout a certain degree of excitement. As, therefore, the greatest indentation on the shores of the continent is the Gulf of Carpentaria, the head of the Albert River, which discharges its waters into the bottom of it, is unquestionably the best point of departure that could be selected, being one-half the distance of Fort Bourke from the centre, and two-thirds nearer than Moreton Bay.

(*Footnote. Whilst this sheet was going through the press, the report of our greatest Australian traveller, Captain Sturt, reached England; wherein he writes, speaking of his furthest (February 1845) in latitude 28 degrees South and longitude about 141 degrees 22 minutes East having apparently entered the central desert, as follows: "I could see no change in the terrible desert to which I had penetrated. The horizon was unbroken by a single mound, from north round to north again, and it was as level as that of the ocean. My view to the north extended about eight miles, but I did not venture to compass that distance, only perhaps to have overlooked a similar heart-rending and desolate scene." This bears out the opinion expressed in the text. I do not hesitate, however, in the face of the interesting evidence brought forward by Captain Sturt, still to doubt the existence of an inland sea. I think the high temperature he experienced contradicts such an hypothesis; and I believe the large expanse of water, reported by the natives, to be the Gulf of Carpentaria, which bore about north (true) six hundred miles from his position, Moreton Bay being nearly equidistant on an east bearing, whilst Adelaide bore South by West 1/2 West about four hundred and thirty miles.

SUGGESTED ROUTE.

I have before recommended the use of camels, with skins for carrying water, in an undertaking of this kind; and I may here add, that they might be procured in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Cutch,* which place the vessel should leave in the North-East monsoon, in time to have the latter end of the North-West monsoon to take her to the Gulf of Carpentaria, where at Sweers Island the final arrangements for disembarking, before alluded to,** could be made.

(*Footnote. Camels are to be procured in this neighbourhood, when they are not required for war service, for about five pounds a head. Besides, the natives of that part are more easily to be obtained as attendants than Arabs.

(*Footnote. See above.)

In a country like Australia, with so varied a surface, it is certainly impossible to indicate with confidence anything beyond the point of departure for an exploring party. Their direction must, of course, depend on the country they find; but I think it may be said from the most recent, and I much fear melancholy, experience, that the routes from neither Moreton Bay nor Fort Bourke are practicable. That from the head of the Albert is, I believe, much superior, and I consider, after mature deliberation, that the plan I have recommended is at once the most expeditious and the most economical way of solving a question of daily increasing interest, and of removing an imputation on English enterprise which is daily becoming more serious.

The other routes of exploration which appear to me both practicable and useful are from Halifax Bay to the Albert,* a distance of above four hundred miles, and from Limmens Bight to the Victoria, about three hundred. These will be found marked in the chart accompanying this work.

(*Footnote. This route I suggested to his Excellency Sir George Gipps, in March, 1842.)

TWOFOLD BAY.

After leaving Sydney we had a succession of south-easterly gales, of three or four days' duration, and equal in severity to any we had experienced since leaving England. To avoid one from the westward we put into Twofold Bay;* a remarkable high-peaked hill, Mount Imlay, lying behind the head of it, bearing South-West 1/2 West, leads in.

(*Footnote. This we found to be a very convenient anchorage; and the constant resort of coasters. From its proximity to the southern parts of the Manero country, it is likely to become a very thriving place, under the auspices of Mr. Boyd, who is erecting a town there. This gentleman, I am happy to say, employs the natives as part of the crew of his yacht; they are also constantly engaged in the boats of the whaling station, where their excellent eye renders them extremely useful in seeing and harpooning the fish; and being particularly well-disposed, they might he made something of.)

I was surprised to find by my observations* here that this part of the coast is laid down ten miles too much to the eastward of Sydney, an error I subsequently found to be continued to Jervis Bay; so that the course from thence to Sydney, instead of being, according to the chart, North 1/4 East magnetic is North by East, a fact that should be borne in mind by masters of vessels, until this part of the coast is properly surveyed.

(*Footnote. Which placed Point Brierly in latitude 37 degrees 6 minutes 40 seconds South, longitude 1 degree 18 minutes 18 seconds west of Sydney; or 149 degrees 57 minutes 42 seconds east of Greenwich, according to what I consider the meridian of Sydney.)

The error I found in the position of Twofold Bay induced me to commence our survey there, for the purpose of ascertaining the position of Cape Howe," which I discovered to be rather more out in longitude; while the islet, instead of lying off it, lies four miles to the south-west.

(*Footnote. This Cape, in latitude 38 degrees 31 minutes 00 seconds South and longitude 1 degree 14 minutes 15 seconds West of Sydney, although rather low, is of bold approach, and admirably situated for a lighthouse. Others erected on Montague Island and Point Perpendicular, would light the whole coast as far as Sydney.)

FLINDERS ISLAND.

Leaving, we again spent several days under a close-reefed main-topsail and a reefed fore-sail; but at length reached an anchorage on the eastern shore of Flinders Island within the north-east side of a granitic lump called Babel Islet. The flood tide came from the north-east at this anchorage, which can only be used in easterly winds. There is a curious dome on the inner side of Babel, which is connected by a sandy spit with the large island. Within the eastern point of the latter are the remarkable pyramidal hills, called the Patriarchs, rising out of a scrubby plain, much cut up with lagoons, which forms the character of this side of Flinders. We were enabled to fix the eastern shore of the island, from Babel Islet and the outer Patriarch, whence the view was commanding. A range of bare-topped hills lies to the west, whilst to the south-west, through a mass of clouds, we occasionally caught glimpses of some high peaks, which I named after my friend Count Strzelecki. A heathy valley stretches across the island to the westward, through which I saw the sea on the opposite side; on the northern part the hills are more rounded and lower.

TO KENT GROUP.

From Babel Islet we proceeded towards Kent Group, passing, in 11 or 12 fathoms, along the eastern shore of Flinders Island, where we discovered a dangerous sandy spit extending five miles off; from its extreme the eastern part of the outer Sister bore North 64 degrees West, six miles and a half. After rounding the latter the wind changed in a violent squall to the westward, and gave us a long beat of a day to reach Kent Group, during which we discovered a reef,* just awash at high-water, and bearing East 8 degrees South, five miles and a half from Wright's Rock.**

(*Footnote. Beagle's Reef.)

(**Footnote. A pyramidal lump, three hundred feet high, resembling a cutter under sail.)

This, Endeavour Reef, and a sunken rock, about a mile east of Craggy Island, constitute the chief dangers between Kent Group and Flinders. The extremes are marked to the north and south by Wright's Rock and Craggy Island, between which ships should not pass, although there is a channel close to the south side of the former. It should also be particularly borne in mind that the tides, which here sometimes run two knots, set rather across the channel South-West by South and North-East by North. The north-easterly stream beginning a quarter before noon at the full and change of the moon.

DANGEROUS SITUATION

The Beagle passed half a mile from the north-west side of Wright's Rock, in 29 fathoms, in the evening; and having spent the night standing to-and-fro between it and Kent Group, in the morning was abreast of the opening between the islands called Murray Pass, when we steered towards it. The weather, for the season, was fine; and the sun, although weak, shone brightly from a clear wintry sky--it well-nigh happened for the last time--upon the poor old Beagle!

The sea, still vexed and chafing from the breeze of yesterday, rolled in with solemn grandeur on the storm-beaten sides of the islands; each heaving swell carrying the ship nearer towards the almost fatal opening. Her motions, however, as if she was conscious of the fate that threatened her, were sluggish and slow, and she seemed unwillingly to obey the impulse of the light southerly breeze that aided her progress. Indeed there appeared to be an opposing tide until we drew in between the high rocky sides of the channel, when suddenly the ship was hurried onwards with such rapidity that to prevent our being swept past a cove on the right it was necessary to close with its outer point, towards which a merciless eddy flung the ship's head so rapidly, that before the thrown-aback sails checked her way, her jib-boom was almost over the rocks.* During the few awful moments that succeeded, a breathless silence prevailed; and naught was heard but the din of waters that foamed in fury around, as if impatient to engulf us in their giddy whirl. Still, it must be confessed, that our hearts sickened within at the thought that our little bark, after having braved so many storms, and done so much good service to the state, might be left to whiten a foreign shore with her timbers. Providence, however, decreed it should be otherwise; and the next moment the Beagle's head was slowly paying off from the shore. But her broadside becoming exposed to the swell, she was again driven in towards the point, and so close, that before the well-trimmed sails gave her way, as her stern went down with the swell, the assurance that she must strike, pervaded every shuddering frame. To myself, the sensation was just as if my feet were under the keel; and I almost expected to feel the bones crushing. Still we clung to hope, which can find a place even in the narrowest interval of danger; and our eyes and hearts were lifted up in supplication to Him who had already so miraculously reprieved us. Scarcely, however, had the prayer been formed and preferred, when the peril was past: in the course of an hour we were safely moored in East Cove, Kent Group.

(*Footnote. See the view annexed.)

LIGHTHOUSE HILL.

In this wild and confined anchorage we were detained by constant westerly gales for a fortnight, during the whole of which there was only one really clear day, when I got angles to all the distant points from a hill near the south-east extreme of the group, nine hundred and ten feet high and quite precipitous on its seaward face. We named it Lighthouse Hill, its admirably conspicuous situation suggesting the purpose to which it might be devoted; the materials for building, moreover, are all at hand.

DEAL ISLAND.

The principal islands of Kent Group have been named Deal and Erith; they occupy a square of four miles, and are separated by Murray Pass, a channel half a mile wide. Conical granitic hills, in some cases clothed to their very summits with an impervious scrub, are scattered over them. On Deal, the eastern isle, there are charred stumps of a few large eucalypti: but otherwise the trees are small, the largest being a few casuarinas over the head of East Cove. The valleys on the north side are rich; and in one leading from Garden Cove we found a quantity of fine carrots, planted by some sealers; their seed had been carried by the wind until the whole valley was filled with them; fresh water also is abundant on that side of Deal Island; and as limestone crops out at the head of East Cove, a small party of convicts might be kept here and advantageously employed in erecting the lighthouse and cultivating the soil. By holding out to them a slight reward, many of the islands in Bass Strait might be brought under cultivation, and supply grain, potatoes, etc., for the consumption of the prisoners in Tasmania. This plan of dispersing the convicts would also be beneficial in producing a change for the better in themselves; for whilst together they are certainly more likely to brood mischief.

ERITH ISLAND.

Besides East Cove there are others on the north-east and south-east sides of Deal Island; whilst on Erith there is only one called West Cove, in the north part of Murray Pass; it is subject to violent gusts that do not reach East Cove.

The formation of this group is a little singular, the calcareous limestone on Deal occurring two hundred feet above the sea and between granite; whilst on Erith vesicular lava was found. These islands are connected with Flinders by a sand ridge, on which the depth is 28 and 30 fathoms; but the islets and rocks between would appear, from the evidence of upheaval we have just cited, to be elevated portions of a submerged piece of land about to disclose itself.*

(*Footnote. The observations on the tides at these islands make the time of high-water on the full and change of the moon a quarter past eleven, when it rises eight feet. The stream in Murray Pass, which runs from two to five knots, changes to the northward twenty minutes after high-water.)

In a valley behind East Cove there was a stream of water, which strange to say was quite salt and came from the middle of the island. In the same neighbourhood I turned loose about a dozen rabbits for the benefit of any unfortunate voyagers who might be thrown hungry ashore in this locality. During the few days that we were there they appeared to thrive very well, and I have no doubt that if not disturbed the island will soon be overrun with them, there being no wallabies to offer molestation.

HOGAN GROUP.

We were not sorry to find ourselves one fine morning turning our backs on the scene of one of the Beagle's many narrow escapes; so favourable did the weather continue, that, although in the first week in June, we were able to pass both the following nights at anchor in the middle of the strait;* on the first occasion between the Devil's Tower and Curtis's Island;** and on the second, five miles to the southward of Hogan Group.

(*Footnote. I gladly seized these opportunities of ascertaining exactly the set of the tides. At the first anchorage they ran East-North-East and South-East only from half to a quarter of a knot, the latter beginning half an hour before low-water at Kent Group; at the second the tide set North-East by East, one knot, and South-South-West a knot and a half; the southerly stream began one hour and a half after low-water at Kent Group: on both occasions there was a light westerly wind.

(**Footnote. The central position of this island renders it quite a finger-post for ships passing through the Strait. It has at the south end a square summit 1060 feet high, in latitude 39 degrees 28 minutes 20 seconds South, and longitude 4 degrees 33 minutes 45 seconds West of Sydney; towards the north it slopes away something in the shape of a shoe, from which it is called by the sealers The Slipper. Two sugarloaf rocks, each 350 feet high, lie two miles and a half off its southern end.)

I landed on the largest island;* which I found to be a mile and a half in extent, inhabited by a number of dogs left by sealers, that had become quite wild; in a cave on the south-east point were some fur seals. Two small islets front a boat-cove on the north-east side, where there is fresh water; and outside these there is a rock just awash. The summit of the large island was a most important station; and with Lighthouse Hill at Kent Group, formed an astronomical base for the survey.

(*Footnote. The highest point I found to be in latitude 39 degrees 13 minutes 04 seconds South, and longitude 4 degrees 13 minutes 15 seconds west of Sydney; and 430 feet high.)

CORNER INLET.

From Hogan Group we stood to the northward, and were able to pass another night at anchor six miles from a low sandy shore, and fourteen to the eastward of Corner Inlet, which we found on examination had a bar extending off six miles from the entrance, on which at low tide there is water for vessels drawing sixteen and eighteen feet. A group of islets, named from their utility Direction Isles, lies in the fairway, a few miles outside the bar.

During the examination of this great useless sheet of water, the ship lay near a small islet close to the Promontory about seven miles from the entrance, which, from the abundance of rabbits, we called Rabbit Island;* I have since learnt that these animals had multiplied from a single pair turned loose by a praiseworthy sealer six years before; and the sight of their number did not a little encourage me to expect a similar result from the gift I had bestowed on Kent Group.

(*Footnote. The outer extreme of this island, in one with Cape Wellington, forms a leading mark into Corner Inlet, but vessels should get them on within a mile of the island. These marks are of use until the eastern and highest of the Direction Isles opens out just clear of the others, when by keeping it in that position, or steering for the middle of the entrance, a ship may be taken safely in. The tide rises eight feet at springs, when the time of high-water is twenty minutes before noon.)

GIPPS' LAND.

From the highest hill on the south-eastern point I had obtained a most excellent view of Corner Inlet, which bore a great resemblance to a basin. I have before called it useless, from its being only navigable a mile or two within the entrance and that chiefly on the northern side, the rest being occupied by mud flats. It was a bitter cold day; but between the sleet squalls I was able to trace the coast westward as far as Cape Liptrap over the low neck connecting Wilson's Promontory with the main, and forming the south-western shore of Corner Basin; and eastward beyond Shallow Inlet,* where the Clonmel steamer was lost. About six miles to the north-east the masts of some vessels pointed out the approach to Alberton. The intervening space was filled with islands and mud banks; which character the shore appeared to retain further eastward, being fronted by a margin of low sandy land, sometimes broken by the pressure of the sea from without or of the waters from within, when the streams that add to the fertility of Gipps' Land are swollen by the melting of the snows on the Australian Alps.

(*Footnote. Vessels bound to Alberton, the capital of Gipps' Land, generally pass through this inlet, but as the water is shallow, and breaks across the entrance, if there is any swell, it is more prudent to enter by Corner Inlet, and take the second opening on the right within the entrance.)

STRZELECKI.

To commemorate my friend Count Strzelecki's discovery of this important and valuable district, which he named in honour of His Excellency the Governor, I called the summit of a woody range 2110 feet high, over the north shore of Corner Inlet, Mount Fatigue.* The only vegetation this part of the promontory supports is a wiry grass, stunted gums and banksias in the valleys, and a few grass-trees near the crests of the hills which are generally bare masses of granite. Behind a sandy beach on the east side beneath where I stood were sinuous lines of low sandhills, remarkable for their regularity, resembling the waves that rolled in on the shore.

(*Footnote. It was in the rear of this range that Count Strzelecki and his companions, on their way to Western Port, experienced the sufferings related in the Port Phillip Herald, June 1840, from which I extract the following: "The party was now in a most deplorable condition. Messrs. MacArthur and Riley and their attendants had become so exhausted as to be unable to cope with the difficulties which beset their progress. The Count, being more inured to the fatigues and privations attendant upon a pedestrian journey through the wilds of our inhospitable interior, alone retained possession of his strength, and although burdened with a load of instruments and papers of forty-five pounds weight, continued to pioneer his exhausted companions day after day through an almost impervious tea-tree scrub, closely interwoven with climbing grasses, vines, willows, fern and reeds. Here the Count was to be seen breaking a passage with his hands and knees through the centre of the scrub; there throwing himself at full length among the dense underwood, and thus opening by the weight of his body a pathway for his companions in distress. Thus the party inch by inch forced their way; the incessant rains preventing them from taking rest by night or day. Their provisions, during the last eighteen days of their journey, consisted of a very scanty supply of the flesh of the native bear or monkey, but for which, the only game the country afforded, the travellers must have perished from utter starvation...On the twenty-second day after they had abandoned their horses, the travellers came in sight of Western Port.")

SEALER'S COVE.

Water and fuel are abundant on the point abreast of Rabbit Island. Southward from this projection a sandy beach extends five miles, with a rivulet at either end, and separated from a small deep bay* open to the east, by a remarkable bluff, the abrupt termination of a high-woody ridge. The trees on the south-west side were large and measured eight feet in diameter. In the humid shelter they afforded the tree and a variety of other kinds of fern were growing in great luxuriance, with a profusion of creepers matted together in a dense mass of rich foliage. From thence southwards the shore is rocky and the water deep.

(*Footnote. This bay is evidently Sealer's Cove in the old charts; but this part of the Strait is so much in error that it is hardly possible to recognize any particular point.)

REFUGE COVE.

Refuge Cove, lying seven miles South 1/4 West from Rabbit Island, was our next anchorage. It was so named from its being the only place a vessel can find shelter in from the eastward on this side of the Promontory. Of this we ourselves felt the benefit; for although in the middle of June east winds prevailed the first few days we stayed there, with thick hazy weather, whilst at Rabbit Island we had constant westerly gales with a great deal of hail and sleet. This small cove, being only a cable wide at the entrance may be recognized by Kersop Peak, which rises over the south part, and from its lying between Cape Wellington and Horn Point,* and also from its being the first sandy beach that opens north of the former.

(*Footnote. This projection has two pointed hummocks on it resembling horns.)

Such of us as had been in Tierra del Fuego were particularly struck with the resemblance of the scenery in Refuge Cove; the smooth quiet sand beaches, and dense forests reaching the water's edge, the mist-capped hills, and the gusts that swept down the valleys and roared through the rigging, forcibly recalled to our recollection that region of storms.

We found a whaling establishment in the south-east corner,* and the houses for the boats and their crews formed quite a little village. The person in charge, with one or two others, remains during the summer. These people had a novel safeguard against the attacks of the natives: a horrible looking figure, dressed so as to represent the evil spirit, of which the Australian aborigines are so much afraid, was placed in a conspicuous place; but whether it would have had the desired effect was not proved, as the natives had never been seen in those parts. There can, indeed, be little to tempt them to wander thither; for there are neither kangaroos nor wallabies, and but few birds. Among the most curious of those belonging to the land, is a kind of finch, with a black head, yellow beak, a dark brown back, and dirty white belly; across the wings and arching over the back, at the stump of the tail, was a stripe of white.

(*Footnote. Our observations made this spot in latitude 39 degrees 02 minutes 30 seconds South, and longitude 4 degrees 44 minutes 45 seconds West of Sydney. High-water on the full and change of the moon, takes place at 12 hours 5 minutes when the tide rises eight feet; a mile in the offing the northern and ebb stream, which runs from one to two knots, begins at 11 hours 40 minutes. Past the south end of the promontory the same stream sweeps round from the westward, sometimes at the rate of two knots and a half.)

WATERLOO BAY.

Cape Wellington, the eastern projection of the Promontory, forms the north point of Waterloo Bay, which is wide and spacious. These names were suggested by the fact that the day of our anchoring there was the anniversary of one of the greatest triumphs ever achieved by British arms. At the head of the bay, lies the low valley, three miles in length, which stretches across the promontory and forms a very conspicuous break in the high land. On the northern side of it, the highest hill, Mount Wilson, rises abruptly until its woody crest reaches an elevation of 2350 feet. On the southern, was a ridge strewn over with immense boulders of granite, one, near where I stood, measuring eighty feet in height, and resting with such apparent insecurity, that little seemed required to send it rolling and crashing into the valley below, along which a rivulet winds, and falls into the sea at the north end of a sandy beach, forming the head of Waterloo Bay. The depth in the middle of the latter is 12 fathoms, muddy bottom; it lies four miles from the south end of the Promontory, and there is no good anchorage between.

SAIL FOR PORT DALRYMPLE.

From a small flattened sugarloaf, forming the summit of Cape Wellington, I got an angle to the Crocodile Rock,* and with others from the south-west end of the Promontory, and from the ship on passing, I determined the position of this danger most satisfactorily.

(*Footnote. This rock, in latitude 39 degrees 21 minutes 30 seconds South, and longitude 4 degrees 41 minutes 45 seconds West of Sydney, lies in a line midway between the western extremities of Curtis and Rodondo Islands, nearly nine miles from each. It is a smooth round-topped granite boulder, just protruding above the surface; and in fine weather the sea runs over it without breaking. The depth being 43 fathoms close to it, if the waters of the Strait were drawn off the shape of it would be that of a column nearly 260 feet high.)

As we had not, as I expected, met the Vansittart, I was anxious to learn something of her, and crossing over to the south side of the Strait, for the purpose, entered Port Dalrymple, where I found that Mr. Forsyth and his party had preceded our arrival by a day or two. The Vansittart's employment had been the examination of the north-east extreme of Tasmania, some portions of which were found to be nine miles out in latitude; the greater part was fronted with kelp and rocky patches. The work, also, included a portion of Banks' Strait, and the southern part of the western side of Flinders Island, among the islets fronting which were discovered several good anchorages: the best in westerly winds being under Goose or Western Chappell Island, where a lighthouse was in course of construction.

YORK TOWN.

His Excellency, Sir John Franklin, requesting that I would send the Vansittart round to Macquarie Harbour, on the west coast, after a party of runaway convicts, we were for a time deprived of her services. As the rise of the tide in the Tamar was sufficient for laying the ship ashore, I took the opportunity of doing so on the west bank, just above Garden Island, to examine her bottom, and found it so defective that 130 sheets of copper were required to make good the damage; in some places the two-inch sheathing was completely destroyed. The original settlement, York Town, was at the head of a shoal bight just above us; I found it almost quite in ruins, though there were one or two of the original settlers there; the chief part of the inhabitants were a lawless set, who were said to live, chiefly, by plunder.

LAUNCESTON.

Whilst the ship underwent these repairs, the triangulation was extended to Launceston,* at the head of the Tamar, thirty miles from the sea. Large vessels are prevented from approaching close to the town by a bar. The greatest difficulty found in navigating the river is Whirlpool Reach; near the middle of this lies a rock, an attempt to remove which, by blasting, was made; the top was blown off, so that now vessels are liable to be carried upon it, whereas, before, when it broke the surface, such was not the case.

(*Footnote. The latitude of the Port office I found to be 41 degrees 26 minutes 5 seconds South longitude 4 degrees 42 minutes 24 seconds West of Sydney. High water 3 hours 35 minutes; springs rise 12 feet. During the winter, after rains, the stream sets down for days together at the rate of from one to three knots.)

The valley, through which the Tamar winds, is narrow, with sides generally steep and densely wooded; in some places, the reaches are wide, and the hills recede; on their lower slopes, near Launceston, are situated many pretty villas, peeping through garden shrubberies; whilst further down are the straggling habitations of the more recent settlers, surrounded by clear patches, with difficulty won from the forest by the axe and the firebrand. On the whole, therefore, it may be said that art and nature combine to render beautiful the scenery on the banks of this important stream.

The first view of Launceston, the second town in Tasmania, is very pretty. The valley of the river expands as you approach, and over a low tract of land on the east bank, the straggling mass of buildings forming the town is descried. Though very healthy it lies on a kind of flat, backed with open woodland undulations at the junction of the North and South Esks; and, during the winter, is subject to fogs so dense that many persons well acquainted with the town frequently lose themselves. Where the streams unite, they become the Tamar, one of the principal rivers in Tasmania. At the distance of half a mile from the confluence, the North Esk makes a by no means insignificant waterfall. This forms one of the first sights to which strangers arriving at Launceston are conducted, by a path which, winding along the face of a precipice, suddenly brings the cataract in sight, tumbling and roaring over the rocks into the pool, which seethes like a cauldron below, and sends up a steaming mist into the air. From the waters of the South Esk, the country around Launceston derives its fertility; and perhaps there is no part of our southern colonies that more resembles England. The number of gentlemen's seats, before alluded to, thickly scattered over an undulating country cleared of all timber, save a few monumental trees, and well cultivated, strongly suggested thoughts of home.

GEORGE TOWN.

When the weather permitted, the boats were employed in continuing the survey of Port Dalrymple. Observations were made at the flagstaff in George Town,* which we found to be in latitude 41 degrees 6 minutes 20 seconds South and longitude 4 degrees 23 minutes 44 seconds West of Sydney; variation 9 3/4 East. This place is only a straggling village, situated on the east bank, about three miles and a half from the mouth of the Tamar, upon a flat, forming the north side of a snug cove at the western foot of a group of conical hills; on one of them is a signal station, by means of which, with another intervening, communication is kept up with Launceston.

(*Footnote. The geological formation in the neighbourhood of this place will be found in Volume 1.)

CRAGGY ISLAND.

The entire month of July was occupied by the repairs of the ship, and the surveying operations; when we sailed from the Tamar and examined the passage at the eastern entrance of the strait, between Craggy Island and Flinders, which we found perfectly free from danger--a fact of great importance, as it had, hitherto, been reported full of sunken rocks. The Beagle passed a mile and a half from the south side of Craggy Island in 25 and 28 fathoms. This passage has a depth of 26 and 27 fathoms, and is six miles wide, whilst between Wright's Rock and Kent Group the width is nearly eleven miles. There appears, by the ripplings, to be foul ground between Craggy Island and Endeavour Reef, and the space intervening has, accordingly, been marked as one shoal in the chart.

THE BEAGLE ORDERED HOME.

Leaving the eastern entrance of the strait, we ran up to Sydney, for the supplies that had not arrived from England on our last visit; we now found them waiting for us, together with orders for the Beagle to return to England. Fortunately, however, the survey of Bass Strait was in such a forward state, thanks to Sir John Franklin's kind assistance in lending the Vansittart, that I could take upon myself the responsibility of waiting a few months to complete it.* I was, however, compelled by the brief interval of time allowed me, and the urgent demand that existed for a correct chart of the whole strait, to work on a smaller scale than I could have wished. It seemed to me that detached portions on a very large scale would be of far inferior utility to a complete survey on a comparatively small one.

(*Footnote. This step was approved of by the Commander in chief.)

It was not, however, my being prevented from completing Bass Strait in the manner most satisfactory to myself that occasioned the greatest part of the regret that accompanied this summons for the old Beagle to wend her way homewards; for we were thus also deprived of the opportunity of gratifying our desire to explore the southern parts of New Guinea, which we had always looked forward to as one of the most interesting parts of our voyage, containing elements of excitement sufficient to cheer the hearts that were yearning for home, and a character of novelty that would have amply compensated for whatever fatigue and exertion we might have experienced. On many occasions, during the heavy and monotonous part of our labours, the anticipated delights of discovery refreshed our imaginations and elevated our spirits, imparting to our most irksome occupations an interest that did not belong to them, but was borrowed from those hoped-for scenes of adventure on the unvisited shores of New Guinea to which we believed that each dull day's hard work brought us nearer. But it was not destined to be our lot to add any more new lands to the geography of this part of the world; and H.M.S. Fly and Bramble had been commissioned at home for surveying service in Australasia. This expedition, under the command of Captain F.P. Blackwood, arrived at Sydney on the 10th of October, whilst we were there, and sailed soon after our departure, to commence tracing the outer Barrier Reefs, a service attended with no ordinary risk, but which has been happily completed, and a beacon erected to show vessels the best entrance, without a mishap.

Since the early part of this work was written this valuable addition to the survey of New Holland has induced an enterprising master of a merchant vessel to try the eastward passage through Torres Strait. As a proof of the practicability of this route I may state, that the above vessel passed through Torres Strait in January, went to Sydney, and returned for another cargo to Ballytown, in Allas Strait, by the May following. This passage, an account of which has been published in the Nautical Magazine, was made through the Barrier Reef by Captain Blackwood's Beacon on Raines Islet; but as this is out of the limits of the westerly monsoon, a better passage, doubtless, would have been effected by following a more northerly route, as recommended by Captain Blackwood.*

(*Footnote. See Nautical Magazine for December 1845.)

STEAM COMMUNICATION BETWEEN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA.

With reference, however, to the anticipated steam communication* between India and Australia, which will bring Sydney within nearly sixty days of England, I think with Captain Blackwood that steamers should at all times use Captain King's inner route;** and much of the delay occasioned by anchoring at night would be obviated by cautiously approaching, at reduced speed, the reefs, the position of which might be distinguished by means of a powerful light at the vessel's head or bowsprit end; when a course might be shaped for the next and so on. As the smooth water within the shelter of the Great Barrier Reefs affords facilities for steering with great nicety, a steamer, with care, might effect a saving of fuel as well as time by passing through Torres Strait without anchoring.

(*Footnote. Steam communication between Sydney and Singapore would require three vessels of six hundred tons, one of which should leave Sydney and Singapore on the 1st of each month. Their engines should be of 200 horse-power, and furnished with tubular boilers, which consume a fifth less fuel than the others; they must carry at the least 200 tons, which, at the rate of 14 tons per diem, is sufficient for fourteen days fullspeed steaming, in which time, at the rate of 7 knots an hour, 2,352 miles will have been traversed, which is about 100 miles more than the distance between Sydney and Port Essington, and about 420 miles more than between the latter place and Singapore. This clearly shows that Port Essington is, as I have before stated, the best place for a coal-depot; and that one there would suffice for the whole line of communication. As, moreover, it is necessary that such a station should have protection against the natives, it further enhances the value of the settlement at Port Essington. This depot might be economically made, from the cheapness and abundance of coals in New South Wales; and the number of ships that are constantly passing Port Essington in ballast would be glad of the freight so far. The cost of steam vessels of the size mentioned would be about 20,000 pounds, if built of wood, and 16,000 pounds, if of iron; and the annual expense of running one would be between 3,000 and 4000 pounds.)

(**Footnote. On this inshore track steamers would be able to replace with wood any deficiency in their fuel. I take this opportunity of saying that vessels carrying troops from Sydney to India should be compelled to use it, the chances of the loss of life being much less. On one occasion a ship called the Ferguson sailed from Sydney with part of a regiment, whilst we were there. The master ridiculed the advice given him by one of the Beagle's officers, to take the inner passage. The next news we heard of her was, that she had been wrecked on the outer Barrier at four in the morning; no observation having been taken since the previous noon, by which they might have found a current drifting them to the northward. Fortunately, another ship was in company, and saved the loss of life, but that of property was great. The fact that the lives of so many souls should be placed at the mercy of careless masters of ships, who run such risks, in spite of the warnings of experience, deserves the serious attention of Government.)

NEW GUINEA.

The part of New Guinea above alluded to, which had often afforded us the materials of interesting speculation, also formed part of the survey of Captain Blackwood, who writes as follows: "On the coast of New Guinea we found a delta of fine rivers, and a numerous population, all indicating a rich and fruitful country. It is true that we found the inhabitants very hostile; but it must be considered that we were the first Europeans that they had ever seen; and I have no doubt that, on a further acquaintance, and convinced of our power, they might be easily conciliated. Their houses, arms, and cultivation, all indicate a considerable degree of civilization, and no small intelligence in the construction of their canoes; and I think it probable that a trade might be opened with this hitherto perfectly unknown people and country."* The people inhabiting the islands fronting the coast, Captain Blackwood found to be highly inclined to trade, readily bartering a valuable species of tortoise-shell for European articles of hardware.

(*Footnote. See Nautical Magazine for December 1845.)

H.M.S. FAVOURITE.

During our stay at Sydney we also met H.M.S. Favourite, Captain T.R. Sullivan, just returned from visiting the Eastern Polynesian Isles, having succeeded in rescuing the guns that were lost from the ship in a melancholy and much to be lamented affray with the natives of Tongataboo, previous to the command of Captain Sullivan, whose adventure in this affair was very interesting, and cleverly managed.

HURRICANE.

The Favourite had experienced a hurricane* off Mangaia Island, the natives of which gave notice of its approach; and at Tahiti Captain Sullivan was also told that he might expect a hurricane before long. From this, and the experience of other navigators, it appears that rotatory gales are prevalent in the Pacific as well as in the Indian Ocean.

(*Footnote. Although this hurricane has been noticed, and the Favourite's Log published in the Nautical Magazine, I think it will be useful to continue the practice of entering into some detail respecting every hurricane that came under my observation. This storm, it appears, was encountered off Mangaia, one of the Harvey Isles, lying about midway between the Society and Hapai Groups. The Favourite was in latitude 21 degrees 58 minutes South, longitude 158 degrees 02 minutes West, five miles South-West by West from Mangaia, at noon on the 17th December, 1842, steering West by South 1/2 South before a moderate gale from East-North-East, with cloudy rainy weather. At 3 P.M. she had gone 27 miles, when the wind, which had increased to a strong gale, veering to North-East, the course before it was now South-West; but at the end of another hour, having run eight miles, the wind increased to a storm, and veering again to the eastward, the ship was brought to the wind on the port tack under a main trysail. For the hours 5 and 6, she headed from South to South-West, which would give for the direction of the wind about South-East by East. At 6.30 a man was washed away with the lee quarter-boat. At 8, the wind had veered to South by West, having blown a hurricane, with constant rain for the last hour; at 9 most of the half-ports were washed away, the sea making a clean sweep over the decks. By midnight the wind had subsided to a whole gale; but still veering had reached the West-South-West point, and at 3 the next morning it was blowing only a moderate breeze from West-North-West, with tolerably clear weather. Sail was now made, and a South-West by South course held for 28 miles, when by the noon observation the latitude was 22 degrees 1 minute South, longitude, by chronometer, 158 degrees 44 minutes West. The day following the hurricane the wind was moderate from the westward; and on that previous to it of about the same strength from the northward. The ship's position at noon of the latter day was about 130 miles to the North-East by East of Mangaia Island. The duration of this storm, then, may be considered to have been from 4 P.M. to midnight, in which eight hours the wind had veered gradually from East round by South to West-South-West. The veering being much more rapid between 8 and 9 P.M. when the storm was at its height, the ship must at that time, have been nearer the focus. The tack on which the Favourite was hove to carried her into the course of the hurricane, or rather placed her in a position to be overtaken by it, as it passed along to the southward and westward; but as the ship broke off to the westward and northward, she fell out of its north-western edge. Doubtless, if a West-North-West course had been pursued in the first instance, or at noon on the 17th, the Favourite would have avoided the storm. It is to be regretted that the barometer was broken in the commencement of the hurricane, when it was unusually low, having been falling for some time before. Besides this, there was ample warning in the unusually gloomy lurid appearance of the sky; the weather also was misty, with showers of rain as the ship approached the course of the storm.)

BANKS STRAIT.

Leaving Sydney, we resumed our work to the southward; and towards the end of October anchored under Swan Island, lying midway on the south side of Banks Strait, which trends West by North, with a width of twelve miles, a length of seventeen, and a depth of from 16 to 25 fathoms; it is formed by the north-east point of Tasmania and the islands lying to the south of Flinders. Barren Island, one of the latter, has a remarkable peak at its south-eastern end, and some high rounded hills on the north-western; it is twenty-two miles in extent, lying in an east and west direction. It is separated from Flinders by a channel, which I named after Sir John Franklin, four miles wide, thickly strewed with islands and shoals. The eastern entrance is almost blocked up by sandbanks, extending off five miles and a half from a large island (called by us after the Vansittart, but known to the sealers by the name of Gun-carriage Island) and leaving only a narrow, shifting passage of 2 and 4 fathoms between their northern side and Flinders Island. The anchorages which lie in the western part of Franklin Channel are not so sheltered as those between Barren and Clarke Islands. The latter has two rounded summits, the highest 690 feet, resembling a saddle, either from west or east. The rugged peaks of Strzelecki, reaching an elevation of 2,550 feet, rise immediately over the northern point of the west entrance of Franklin Channel.

BLACK REEF.

The north-east extreme of Tasmania is singularly low, with a coastline of sandhills. Out of this level tract rise Mounts William and Cameron; the latter, 1,730 feet high, is the highest of a group of peaks, cresting a ridge, whilst the former is a solitary pyramidal hill, 730 feet high, used as a guide for craft in working through the strait. When it bears South by West, vessels may close with the south shore, being then past the Black Reef,* and the rocks that lie off the coast to the eastward, as far as Eddystone Point. The most outlying and remarkable are the St. George's Rocks, a cluster of grey granite boulders, 66 feet high; a patch of moored kelp, however, on which the water sometimes breaks, lies three miles East-South-East from the Black Reef. The principal danger on the northern side of the eastern entrance of the strait is Moriarty Bank, which extends off four miles and a half east from the south-east point of Clarke Island; there is, however, a narrow passage of 16 fathoms close to the latter. This Bank, which has a couple of rocks near its north-eastern part, is steep to, and may be avoided by keeping the south point of Clarke Island, to bear to the southward of West 12 degrees North. Mount William, also, bearing South 7 degrees West clears the outer end of it.

(*Footnote. This reef is a low, dark, rocky islet, with reefs extending off North 45 degrees West three quarters of a mile, and South 56 degrees East, one mile. There is a passage of 7 fathoms, a mile wide, between it and the main, through which the highest St. George's Rock, bearing South 52 degrees East, leads. Black Reef bears from the latter North 45 degrees West, six miles and a half, and from the summit of Swan Island, South 53 degrees East, eight miles and three-quarters. Mount William, also, bears from it South 22 degrees West.)

I may here mention, that the importance of Banks Strait is great, as all the trade between Hobart, Launceston, and Port Phillip, passes through it.

SWAN ISLAND.

Swan Island is a narrow hummocky strip of land, a mile and a half long, trending South-West by West; the loftiest part, 90 feet high, near the north end,* was selected by Sir John Franklin for the site of a lighthouse, the foundation of which he laid, after resigning the reins of government; it was the last benefit he was able to confer on the colony.

(*Footnote. In latitude 40 degrees 43 minutes 36 seconds South, longitude 3 degrees 5 minutes 50 seconds West of Sydney, and 148 degrees 10 minutes 10 seconds East of Greenwich; variation, 10 east.)

A well of indifferent water was found near the north-west end of the island; and some sealers had recently turned loose a couple of pigs, to which I added a third.

Two small islets lie one mile and a half West-North-West from Swan Island, and a dangerous patch of rocks, one and a quarter North-West by West from the summit; they are all connected with the large island by shoal water.

TIDES.

We found the best anchorage to be a quarter of a mile off the south point of a sandy bay, near the outer end of the island. During the time we lay here for the purpose of obtaining a series of tidal observations,* and verifying a few of the principal points of Messrs. Forsyth and Pasco's survey, constant strong westerly gales prevailed; and from all the local information obtained it appeared that such was generally the case.

(*Footnote. The result of these observations makes the time of high-water at the full and change of the moon 9 hours 36 minutes when the rise of the tide is six feet and three at neaps. The flood-stream comes from the eastward; and both it and the ebb is of 6 hours 15 minutes duration at springs; but during neaps the flood runs 7 hours 0 minutes and the ebb 5 hours 30 minutes. The interval of slack-water never exceeded a quarter of an hour, and the western stream begins 0 hours 30 minutes after low-water at springs, and 0 hours 50 minutes after it at neaps; whilst the eastern begins 0 hours 40 minutes after high-water at springs, and 0 hours 10 minutes before it at neaps. The velocity of the stream was from one to three knots, the strongest being the ebb, which at springs and with a strong westerly breeze attains a strength in the middle of the strait of nearly four knots, and causes, when opposed to the wind, a high-topping sea, dangerous for small craft.