An observation of his gave rise in my mind to very curious conjectures; he told me that where he used formerly to anchor the vessel he commanded in the head of Sydney cove, there was now scarcely sufficient water to float even a boat. As the deposits of the small stream that flows into it could not have produced this change, I was led to examine the shore of the harbour, when I found what seemed to me to be the marks of the sea higher than its present level; this, coupled with the decrease in the soundings we found in Darling Harbour, leads to the legitimate inference that this part of the continent is rising; and my reader will recollect that it is a prevalent theory that the whole of the vast plains of Australasia have but recently emerged from the sea.
CHAPTER 1.9. BASS STRAIT.
Leave Sydney.
Enter Bass Strait.
Island at Eastern entrance.
Wilson's Promontory.
Cape Shanck.
Enter Port Phillip.
Tide-race.
Commence Surveying Operations.
First Settlement.
Escaped Convict.
His residence with the Natives.
Sail for King Island.
Examine Coast to Cape Otway.
King Island.
Meet Sealers on New Year Islands.
Franklin Road.
Solitary Residence of Captain Smith.
Soil.
Advantageous position for a Penal Settlement.
Leafless appearance of Trees.
Examine West Coast.
Fitzmaurice Bay.
Stokes' Point.
Seal Bay.
Geological Formation.
Examine Coast to Sea Elephant Rock.
Brig Rock.
Cross the Strait to Hunter Island.
Strong Tide near Reid's Rocks.
Three Hummock Island.
Rats.
The Black Pyramid.
Point Woolnorth.
Raised Beach.
Coast to Circular Head.
Headquarters of the Agricultural Company.
Capture of a Native.
Mouth of the Tamar River.
Return to Port Phillip.
West Channel.
Yarra-yarra River.
Melbourne.
Custom of Natives.
Manna.
Visit Geelong.
Station Peak.
Aboriginal Names.
South Channel.
Examine Western Port.
Adventure with a Snake.
Black Swans.
Cape Patterson.
Deep Soundings.
Revisit King and Hunter Islands.
Fire.
Circular Head.
Gales of Wind.
Reid's Rocks.
Sea Elephant Rock.
Wild Dogs.
Navarin and Harbinger Reefs.
Arrive at Port Phillip.
Sail for Sydney.
Pigeon House.
Drought.
Mr. Usborne leaves.
Before quitting Sydney I must express my gratitude for the hospitality we experienced during our stay, which prepared us with greater cheerfulness to encounter the difficulties we might expect to meet with in the boisterous waters that rolled between the then imperfectly known shores, and islands of Bass Strait. It was not until the 11th of November that we bade adieu to our friends, and sailed to commence our contemplated operations. On the 14th we passed the rocky islands (Kent's Group) at the eastern entrance of the Strait, their barren and bleak appearance bespoke the constant gales that swept over them, checking every tendency to vegetation. As we approached them the soundings decreased to 28 fathoms, the observation of which fact apprises vessels coming from the eastward in thick weather, of their proximity. After leaving these islands we progressed but slowly, and the passage through the Strait promised to be tedious: yet, as the wind was fair and the weather fine, we had no reason to complain, considering moreover the remarkably mild reception we met with in the Funnel, the name commonly and most appropriately given by the colonists to Bass Strait, from the constant strong winds that sweep through it.
WILSON'S PROMONTORY.
On the 17th we passed Wilson's Promontory, the southern extremity of Australia, connected with the main by a low sandy isthmus, only left dry it is probable of late years. It is a very mountainous tract, rearing its many peaks in solemn grandeur from the waves and burying their summits* at most seasons of the year, in a canopy of grey mist. On some occasions, however, the bold outline of the mountains is relieved against a clear sky, and their loftiest points catch the first rays of the morning sun, as it rises from the eastern ocean. Many small islands are dispersed over the sea in front of this promontory, and partake of its character, being apparently the tops of mountains thrusting themselves up from the deep, and suggesting the belief that new countries are about to be disclosed. Passing Port Western, generally called Western Port, a high mound on the south-eastern extremity of Grant Island was the most conspicuous object. The next remarkable feature in the coast is Cape Shanck, a projection at the western end of a long line of cliffs. Lying close off it is a rock, named, from its exact resemblance, Pulpit Rock.
(*Footnote. Nearly 3000 feet high.)
PORT PHILLIP.
In a small bay on the east side of this headland we caught a glimpse of some rich valleys; but from thence for a distance of 16 miles, the coast retains a barren sandy character to Port Phillip, which we reached on the afternoon of the 18th. We scarcely found any ripplings in the entrance, an occurrence of extreme rarity; for it will readily be imagined that a body of water required to fill a bay thirty miles deep and twenty broad, passing through an entrance one mile and a half in width, must rush with great violence; and when we take into account the extreme unevenness of the bottom (soundings varying from 40 to 25 and even 9 fathoms) no surprise can be felt that such a stream, particularly when opposed to a strong wind, should raise a dangerous sea. The force of it may be conjectured from a fact of which I was myself witness. Standing on one of the entrance points, I saw a schooner trying to get in with all sails set before a fresh breeze, and yet she was carried out by the current. Another observation is also recorded for the guidance of the stranger passing into the port. When in the middle of the entrance, a low clump of dark bushes breaking the line of white sand beach beyond Shortlands Bluff, was just seen clear of the latter.