Volume II Part 37 (2/2)

(Footnote The central position of this island renders it quite a finger-post for shi+ps passing through the Strait It has at the south end a square surees 28 rees 33 minutes 45 seconds West of Sydney; towards the north it slopes away so in the shape of a shoe, froarloaf 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 s 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 sue island was a hthouse Hill at Kent Group, formed an astronohest point I found to be in latitude 39 degrees 13 rees 13 h)

CORNER INLET

Froan 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 exa 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 reat useless sheet of water, the shi+p 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 anile pair turned loose by a praiseworthy sealer six years before; and the sight of their nue ift I had bestowed on Kent Group

(Footnote The outer extreton, foret them on within a mile of the island These hest 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 shi+p s, when the tih-water is twenty hest hill on the south-eastern point I had obtained a reat resemblance to a basin I have before called it useless, froable a mile or tithin 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 ard as far as Cape Liptrap over the low neck connecting Wilson's Pro 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 in 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 theof 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 suh, over the north shore of Corner Inlet, Mount Fatigue The only vegetation this part of the prourass-trees near the crests of the hills which are generally bare ranite Behind a sandy beach on the east side beneath where I stood were sinuous lines of low sandhills, re 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, fro: ”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 ues 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 instruht, continued to pioneer his exhausted coh an almost irasses, vines, s, 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 hi 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 the the last eighteen days of their journey, consisted of a very scanty supply of the flesh of the native bear or ame the country afforded, the travellers must have perished from utter starvationOn the twenty-second day after they had abandoned their horses, the travellers caht 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 ree The trees on the south-west side were large and ht 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 e

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 nize any particular point)

REFUGE COVE

Refuge Cove, lying seven e It was so na the only place a vessel can find shelter in from the eastward on this side of the Proh 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 s only a cable wide at the entrance nized by Kersop Peak, which rises over the south part, and froton and Horn Point, and also fro the first sandy beach that opens north of the former

(Footnote This projection has two pointed hu horns)

Such of us as had been in Tierra del Fuego were particularly struck with the resee Cove; the s the water's edge, the usts that swept down the valleys and roared through the rigging, forcibly recalled to our recollection that region of stor establishment in the south-east corner, and the houses for the boats and their crews fore, with one or two others, reuard 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 tearoos nor wallabies, and but few birds A 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 rees 02 rees 44 h-water on the full and change of the moon, takes place at 12 hours 5the northern and ebb streains at 11 hours 40 minutes Past the south end of the promontory the same stream sweeps round from the ard, sometimes at the rate of two knots and a half)

WATERLOO BAY