Volume II Part 39 (1/2)

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 ti 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 inforenerally the case

(Footnote The result of these observations e 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 15neaps 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 streas, and 0 hours 50 ins 0 hours 40 s, and 0 hours 10 minutes before it at neaps The velocity of the strea 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

Whilst in other respects the tides are the sah only at the northern side of the strait, is 1 hour 15 reat difference is caused by the influence of the flood-strea the west side of Flinders Island The flood-streah Banks Strait, and to the south-ard past the north-west end of Flinders, meet about ten miles to the ard of the Chappell Isles, when their united strearadually weaker, and soon after passing thein the e space free froressiveneutralized by their mutual opposition There is, however, an easterly current of nearly a knot an hour, in strong westerly winds Theof the tides on the west side of Flinders also leaves a space, close to the shore near the centre, free from any stream At the eastern entrance of Franklin Channel there is also afrom North-North-East and the other froe two boats belonging to the whaling station on Wilson's Promontory passed on their way to Hobart, which they reached in safety They e, hazardous for boats, across the strait by touching at Hogan and Kent Groups and so over to Flinders Island

CAPE PORTLAND

Leaving, we beat through between Swan Islands and the ood channel, a e depth of ten fatho the western islet the south side of the strait should be given a wide berth, particularly on approaching Cape Portland, off which soround and a sunken rock at their extreme, extend two miles and a half The surees East and Mount Caer; whichto the southward in the strait, and in running for it fro South 40 degrees East leads into the western entrance)

PRESERVATION ISLAND

Crossing Banks Strait we anchored under Preservation Island, lying between the western extreme of Clarke and Barren Islands; it owes its name to the preservation of the crew of a shi+p run ashore upon it in a sinking state The value of the shelter this anchorage affords is in so off three miles from the eastern side of Preservation Island Two small rocky islets lie a mile and a half off the western side of the latter, and several ugly rocks are scattered along the face of Barren Island, and as far as Chappell Group; on the outer isle of this group, which is low and level, the lighthouse bearing North 60 degrees West fifteen miles and a half forms a very conspicuous object, and is visible to the eye in clear weather from the top of Preservation Island Over the northern point of the latter, towers the su a sort of double h

STRAITSMEN

I found Preservation Island inhabited by an old sealer of the na of the Eastern Straitsmen

Another man and three or four native women completed the settlement, if such a term may be applied They lived in a few rude huts on a bleak flat, with scarce a tree near, but sheltered frooats and fowls constituted their livestock In this desolate place Monro had been for upwards of twenty-three years; andperiod It is astonishi+ng what a charm such a wild mode of existence possesses for these men, whoh laborious and soer so appropriate as it was for, in consequence of the increasing scarcity of the object of their original pursuit Straitsmen is the name by which those who inhabit the eastern and western entrance of Bass Strait are known; they class theive the following account of their origin: Between the years 1800 and 1805, the islands in Bass Strait and those fronting the south coast of Australia, as far ard as the Gulfs of St Vincent and Spencer were frequented by sealing vessels from the old and the new country, if I land and Australia Many of their crews became so attached to the islands they were in the habit of visiting, that when their vessels were about to leave the neighbourhood, they preferred to re with them a boat and other stores as payment for their work There can be no doubt, however, that their numbers were afterwards recruited by runaway convicts

NATIVE WIVES

On one island reside seldom more than two families The latter ill at once satisfy the reader that these people were not deprived of the pleasures of female companionshi+p: man was never born to be satisfied with his own society; and the Straitsmen of course found beauties suitable to their taste in the natives of the shores of Bass Strait It appears that a party of thee's Rocks when a tribe canal for the with them the carcasses of two or three seals, for which the natives gave as e, as the aborigines of Tasmania often treat theht sweethearts to an island in Banks Strait, and there left the one day, they were surprised to find their huts well supplied allaby by the native woht otherwise have been but temporary Visions of fortunes accumulated by the sale of wallaby skins flashed across the minds of the sealers; who, however, to their credit be it spoken, generally treated their savage spouses with anything but unkindness; though in some instances the contrary was the case Itonce discovered the utility of the native wo the excursions, principally to the shores of Australia, for the express purpose of obtaining by violence or stealth such valuable partners

(Footnote The islands were never inhabited by the aborigines until the reovernment to Flinders)

HALF-CASTE CHILDREN

Thus coreat service to shi+pping, particularly as they make excellent sailors, and excel as headse eyes, and their dexterity in throwing the spear, render the half-castes I saere very interesting, having a ruddy dark complexion, with fine eyes and teeth On Preservation, and the islands in the neighbourhood, there were twenty-five children; a boys Had the survey just been cole Their fathers, I aive them all the instruction in their power: many can read the Bible, and a ferite

The coration of souls did not extend, I was glad to find, beyond thecould induce to think otherwise When ere at Preservation Island, there was a young woman on her way, in company with her father, to Port Dalrymple, to be y person who appeared to be so well aware of the sole

MUTTON BIRDS

The principal trade of the Straitsmen is in the feathers of mutton birds (Sooty Petrels) which annually visit the islands, between the 15th and 20th of November, for the purposes of incubation Each bird lays only two eggs, about the size of that of a goose, and alood in flavour

Theto sea in turn to feed As soon as the young take wing they leave the islands Their nests are two or three feet underground, and so close that it is scarcely possible to ithout falling The collection of the eggs and birds, which is the business of the woreat risk, as venomous snakes are often found in the holes When the sealers wish to catch thee a little above the beach, soht, when the birds are about to put to sea, the men station the able to take flight off the ground, run doards the water until obstructed by the hedge, when they are driven towards the centre, where a hole about five feet deep is prepared to receive them; in this they effectually smother each other

The birds are then plucked and their carcasses generally thrown in a heap to waste, whilst the feathers are pressed in bags and taken to Launceston for sale The feathers of twenty birds weigh one pound; and the cargoes of two boats I saw, consisted of thirty bags, each weighing nearly thirty pounds--the spoil of eighteen thousand birds! I , the s oose feathers So, and for h none of us could perceive the similarity

(Footnote They now fetch 3 pence a pound; for)

PRODUCE OF ISLANDS

The habitations of these people are generally slab and plaster, of very rude and uninviting exterior, but tolerably clean and coenerally take what they may have for the market to Launceston twice in the year, lay in stores for the next sixback any spirits, so that while on the islands, they lead, from necessity, a temperate life