EXAMINATION OF COAST.
On the 12th, accordingly, we sailed from Gage Roads, and next morning closed with the land in latitude 29 degrees 13 minutes South being thirteen miles south of the position assigned to Port Grey in Arrowsmith's map, before alluded to. From thence we followed the shore at a distance of between three and five miles, in soundings of 7 and 12 fathoms; the first part trended North by West two miles, and then North-West 1/2 West to Point Grey, lying five miles South by East of Point Moore (a bight of that width being formed between) without any sign of the sought-for harbour. The general appearance of the coast was that of high sandhills, partly covered with vegetation; immediately in the rear of which there appeared a range rather higher, and of a less barren appearance; behind these again, at a distance of eight or nine miles, rose a series of singular table-topped broken ranges, terminating southwards in about latitude 29 degrees 5 minutes South. Mount Fairfax and Wizard Peak are the most conspicuous objects in this range.
REACH CHAMPION BAY.
Owing to the water being very smooth, we found ourselves embayed on approaching the point of the above mentioned bight, by a reef, the outer part of which bore South 37 degrees West fifteen miles from Mount Fairfax. The delay caused in clearing this danger, made it evening by the time we reached Champion Bay, in latitude 28 degrees 47 minutes South, from whence we had previously examined the coast northward for nearly thirty miles. We had, therefore, now satisfactorily ascertained that, excepting Champion Bay, there was no good anchorage on the coast between the latitudes of 28 degrees 20 minutes South and 29 degrees 20 minutes South.*
(*Footnote. For a description of Champion Bay, see above.)
From what I have said it will appear, that the point represented in Arrowsmith's map, as sheltering the north side, has no real existence. It is probable, that the following passage from Mr. Moore's Journal, may have had some share in suggesting the contrivance.
"To the south of the tongue of land which forms the bay, there is also another bay, which would be completely sheltered from all northerly winds, so as to combine, between the two bays, perfect shelter at all seasons of the year."
VISIT MOUNT FAIRFAX.
This point being set at rest, we proceeded with a large armed party at daylight on the morning of the 15th, to examine the country. Landing, we took an East by South direction for Mount Fairfax, the nearest and most commanding point. About one mile and a half from the beach, we crossed the dry bed of a stream, trending South by East about twenty yards wide, with banks from twenty to thirty feet high, composed of reddish earth and sand, having considerable portions of ironstone in it. A few small tea-trees of the colonists grew in the sand that formed the dry bed of the stream. Our course continued afterwards uninterrupted, over a gradually rising plain, of a sandy scrubby nature, until reaching the foot of Mount Fairfax, when we crossed another small watercourse, trending South by West where, for the first time, we noticed a solitary stunted casuarina. Mount Fairfax is the southern and most elevated part of an isolated block, forming Moresby's Flat-topped Range. It rests on a reddish, sandy, sloping plain, on which were occasionally noticed fragments of quartz and ironstone, which latter formation is the character of Mount Fairfax, and apparently of the neighbouring heights. Having completed our observations, which place Mount Fairfax 582 feet above the level of the sea, we continued our journey to the south-east, in the direction of Wizard Peak. Two miles, over a scrubby sandy plain, brought us again to the Chapman or Greenough. Here, for the first time, there was an appearance of fertility; but only in the valley of the river, which was about a quarter of a mile wide.
With the exception of a few brackish pools, the bed, as where we before crossed it, was dry, and formed of white sand, growing in which was a small crooked kind of drooping gum, besides a species of wattle and tea-tree. Its course was about South by West and appeared to come from the valleys, formed by the ranges in the rear of Mount Fairfax, and north of Wizard Peak. Continuing our journey, we proceeded over an undulating plain, on the higher parts of which a reddish sand and ironstone gravel universally prevailed; in the lower parts, and near the watercourses, the soil approached a light mould, and produced the warran, so much sought after by the natives. In all this district the vegetation was of the worst description--the trees, which grew only in the valleys, were small kinds of banksia, wattles, and drooping gums--not large enough to furnish building materials.