Volume I Part 23 (2/2)

The Company have another station about sixty miles South-East from Circular Head, at the Surrey hills, froood and wide But between it and Circular Head there are several rivers to ford, and the country is not only very hilly, but densely wooded with enormous trees, some of which I was inforreat difficulty in clearing the land They accomplish about fifty acres every year The establishment consists of one hundred persons, many of whom are convicts They are kept in excellent order; and their being strictly forbidden the use of spirits no doubt contributestrouble I could not help thinking that the Company conducted its operations on too extensive a scale to render their undertaking profitable The high pay of their officers, and the difficulties encountered in clearing the land, are in themselves considerable drawbacks; especially e consider, that after all the pains bestowed, the soil acquired for the purposes of cultivation is often of very inferior quality

The soil on the peninsula, of which Circular Head for of a poor light character, and not atered The country lying immediately behind it is low and cut up with branches froe estuary

My esteemed friend, Count Strzelecki, traversed the country between Circular Head and Point Woolnorth (North-West extreht rivers as difficult to cross as the Scaes, and es or rivers”

MINERAL WATERS

We learned there were some mineral waters about fifteen redients they contain, and their medicinal properties, were discovered by Count Strzelecki, who in speaking of them, says, ”I have endeavoured to ascertain both--the latter on my own constitution, and the for to a class of carbonated waters” From his examination he concludes, ”that they are aperient and tonic, and sufficiently disgusting to the palate to pass for highly medicinal”

Whilst here, I was inforh seldo in the remotest recesses of the woods

They thus succeeded in avoiding for some years their enemy the white er that these aboriginal possessors of the soil ventured to e-places, and rob some of the Company's out-stations of flour By these e was obtained of their existence For, though they ed so secretly, that it was some time before they were found out, a shepherd at an out-station, began at last frequently to miss flour and tobacco in a very ly to watch, but was for a long tith he saw a native woman steal into the hut, when he drew the door to by a line which communicated with his place of concealment Of the treatment this poor woman received fro kept a prisoner so before the discovery was made that she had any companions I was informed that the shepherd who took her, afterwards lost his life by the spear of a native, probably ie

(Footnote The fondness exhibited by the aborigines who inhabit the southern parts of Australia for s is extraordinary)

SAIL FOR THE RIVER TAMAR

We co of the day on which we arrived, namely, December 18th, and left for the Ta sixeast, the depth gradually increased to 42 fatho then twenty miles North-West by West from Port Dalrymple, the mouth of the Taood fortune to meet with, and we enjoyed a splendid view of the Alpine features of Tash tablelands, glittered in the sun as if capped with snow

(Footnote Near Hobart, in February 1836, I sa on the side of a mountain)

PORT DALRYMPLE

Early in the afternoon, the lighthouse on Low Head appeared like a white speck resting on the blue horizon; and by evening we found ourselves at anchor just within the reefs fronting the west entrance point of Port Dalrymple The first appearance of the Ta to the seaman A rapid stream, thrown out of its course, he over a bottos from 12 to 26, and then 18 fathoms, with a ripple or line of broken water across theNorth-West winds for a stranger to detect the channels, and raises so much sea that the pilots cannot reach the vessels that arrive off the h the west channel, the shear or first beacon on the west reefs was on with a round-topped hill soh there is very apparent difficulty in navigating the Talance shows it to be a streah not wide, es of hills We can easily iine, therefore, the joy experienced by Captain Flinders on first discovering it in 1798, and thus bestowing a solid and lasting benefit on the future Tasmanian colonists

This is not, however, the only portion of Australasia whose inhabitants are indebted for the riches they are reaping fro spirit of Captain Flinders

George Town is a straggling village lying two hbourhood were found greenstone, basalt, and trappean rocks Launceston, the northern capital of Tasmania, lies thirty miles up the river, or rather at the confluence of the two streams called the North and South Esk, which form it

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN

We found that the Governor was attending not only to the present but the future welfare of the colonists, by exahthouses at the eastern entrance of Bass Strait, fronting the North-East extre which have been fatal to several vessels These buildings will be lasting records of the benefits the colony derived froovernment

As we subsequently visited the Taathered during our brief stay Our observations were oon Bay, where we found a whaleboat belonging to a party of sealers just arrived with birds' feathers and skins for the Launcestontheir dogs, on the islands they inhabit

RETURN TO PORT PHILLIP

On the ain out of the Ta the best of our way to Port Phillip for a meridian distance There was little tide noticed in the reatest depth we found was 47 fathoms, 68 miles North-West frorey muddy sand or marl

At noon on the 23rd, we entered Port Phillip, and ran up through the West Channel in three and three and a half fatho kept open of Shortland bluff--a cliffy projection about two miles within it--leads into the entrance; and a clump of trees on the northern slope of Indented Head, was just over a solitary patch of low red cliffs, as we cleared the northern mouth of the channel From thence to Hobson's Bay, where we anchored at 3 PM, the course is North by West 22 miles across a splendid sheet of water, of which the depth is 11 and 13 fathoms

William Town, the seaport town of Australia Felix, na Willia the southern shore of Hobson's Bay, called Point Gellibrand, after a gentleht stock to Port Phillip He was lost in the bush in a very mysterious manner in 1834 No trace of him or his horse was found till 1842, when so bones lay The point that bears his nae shi+ps shelter from south winds in Hobson's Bay In the North-West corner of the latter is the h only one e, it is very difficult to beanecdote will illustrate the difficulty of detecting the mouths of rivers in Australia Soon after we anchored in Hobson's Bay, a s to Melbourne Several of the officers were at the ti on the poop, and each selected a spot at which the schooner was to enter the river; and although, as I have before stated, ere only one le tall bushy-topped tree, about a mile inland, rose over the schooner as she left the waters of Hobson's Bay