Volume II Part 39 (2/2)

It is sometimes in the power of these ers in the strait, when driven into difficulties by westerly gales Portions of the islands on which they reside are brought into cultivation; but at Gun Carriage they co been very backward since they were disturbed by the natives, with Mr

Robinson, as they destroyed with fire all the shelter that was afforded

The water throughout the islands is not always very good; grain, however, thrives tolerably, and potatoes do very well indeed The latter are taken, with peas and other garden produce, to Port Dalrymple This is an evident proof of what these islands are capable of producing, and is worthy the attention of Governested, is entertained, of sending convicts thither froe of a very unexpected breeze from the easte left Preservation Island for Port Dalry of the 26th Novehteen miles from the entrance of Banks Strait, and as far as abreast of Waterhouse Island,

and nine s of from 18 to 20 fathoms; afterwards the depth was 30 and 40; whilst in the fairway nine miles from the opposite entrance of the Strait we had 37

(Footnote This island lies about a mile and a half from the main, and affords shelter for shi+ps in westerly winds They should anchor in 6 fathoms, midway in a line between the north points of the island and of the bay lying to the south-east This anchorage being not so far to leeward as those on the western side of Flinders, is the best place of refuge for strangers arriving in a westerly gale off Port Dalryet no assistance from the pilots, they may not like to run in, on account of its treacherous appearance Tenth Island (a mere white rock) and Ninth Island, are ad a shi+p to Waterhouse; the first, bears North-East 1/2 East, twelve miles from the entrance of Port Dalrymple; the course from it to Ninth Island (which should be passed on the outside) is North 52 degrees East, fourteen rees East, seventeen miles The latter islands are veryboth rather loith cliffy faces to the ard, and sloping away in the opposite direction Mount Cauide for Waterhouse Island The great advantage of running for this place, instead of for an anchorage on the western side of Flinders, is that, in the event of h; and should the Anchorage under Swan Island not be tried, shelter will be found in about 15 fathoms under the main to the southward)

MR FORSYTH

Mr Forsyth, in the Vansittart, had again preceded our arrival in the river Tamar by a few days His visit to the west coast had been attended with considerable risk Still, with his usual zeal, he had not lost sight of the important branch of the service in which he was employed, and had made a survey of Port Davy and the coast to the South-west Cape, which completed our chart of the south-western shores of Tasmania

(Footnote Mr Forsyth entered and examined Macquarie Harbour in his boat, and found on an island, in the head of it, two men in a state of starvation These he took with hiale of wind having set in in the ht shelter in Port Davy, lying ninety miles to the southward Day after day passed aithout any sign of the cutter The increase of two, requiring much more than could be afforded, to their sly dealt out; so that, to preserve the lives of his party, Mr Forsyth was obliged to risk a boat-passage, in the depth of winter, and along a storm-beaten coast, to Port Davy, which he h, at one tiunwale by strips of blanket, the sea was so great that they expected each moment would be their last)

The coast on either side of the Taly I undertook the examination of that to the eastward, whilst Mr Fitzh even now scarcely convalescent, proceeded to the ard

DESCRIPTION OF COAST

Without entering into details, I may briefly say, that to the eastward the coast trended North 62 degrees East to Cape Portland, distant fifty-eight hteen, twenty-nine, forty-eight, and fifty-three arooma, empty themselves into wide bays, which increase in depth as they advance eastwards That formed by the point opposite Waterhouse Island and Cape Portland, which receives the two last-arooma Bay, is seven miles deep and fifteen miles wide Mount Cameron lies behind the head of it, where there is a vast extent of boggy land; this is also the case in the next bay to the ard, Anderson Bay, which receives the waters of the Forestier River The only good soil seen was on the large Piper River, so that the disproportion of land fit for cultivation on this part of the northern shore of Tasreat Behind the coast the eye wanders over interether in irregular groups, called by the colonists Tiers They are seldoullies, and are generally covered with an impervious scrub The most conspicuous points, in addition to Mount Cameron, are Mounts Barrow and Arthur, two peaks about 4,500 feet high, verynine miles in a north-west direction from each other Mount Barrow bears, from Launceston, East-North-East, thirteen miles

(Footnote Small vessels anchor behind an island on the west side of this cape, to take away the wool frohbourhood The rivers able for boats, and by theh-water)

(Footnote A s South-South-East, seven miles from Ninth Island, affords shelter for se inside that island should be used with caution)

DON TOMAS

At the large Piper River I passed a night at the station of a gentleman of the name of Noland, whom I found to be the nephew of a person of rereat influence with the Peruvian Government, known only, at Liood deal ofable to explain who he hence he came, or as the source of his influence; and it was rather a curious circumstance that I should learn the explanation of what had so much puzzled me in South America, at a solitary sheep-station in Van Diemen's Land

Shortly before we crossed the Great Piper River a party of convicts had run aith a fishi+ng boat Although only three in number they made the fishermen take them to Banks Strait, where they forced a party of sealers to pass the they were several weeks on the passage, waiting for fine weather at the different islands (the sealers, too, being twice their nuilance that they never allowed them a chance of escape These men were afterwards seen near Sydney

CONVICTS' STORY

The most remarkable coast-feature, between Waterhouse Island and the Ta twelve miles from Port Dalrymple A small sandy bay separates it from a point to the ard, and it is the nearest part of the hbourhood of this headland I was induced to enter a hut at a sheep-station, by seeing stuck round a fence a number of the heads of an animal called by the colonists a hyena, froh not in ferocity, to that beast My object was to obtain a few of these heads, which the hut-keeper, as the only in with an unsolicited history of his own life In the early part we instantly discovered that this loquacious personage hat he afterwards overnmentto the usual story, through mistake It appears that he had been a drover, and that a few beasts were onethrough the West of England He had spent the early part of his servitude at Circular Head, where he was for so flour at a shepherd's hut, belonging to the Van Diericultural Company--a fact mentioned in a former chapter

(Footnote Of basaltic formation; whilst the rocks that prevail to the eastward are of priely on the geology of Tasmania, it will be needless for me to enter further into the subject, except to say, that the raised beaches found on the western side of Flinders, are evidences of an upheaval having recently taken place)

(Footnote This is the only animal the Tasmanian sheep-farmer is annoyed with; and from its paucity, they have not, as in New South Wales, the trouble of securing their flocks in yards or folds every night)

(Footnote See Volume 1)

INHUMAN CONDUCT

I was curious to kno he inal victim; and the inhuman wretch confessed, without a blush--which must rise instead to the cheeks of my readers, when they hear of what barbarities their countryuilty--that he kept the poor creature chained up like a wild beast; and whenever he wanted her to do anything, applied a burning stick, a fire-brand snatched froh I could listen to nouess at the cause of my abrupt departure It is possible that the e of the truth into his usted I ith his narrative; but such is the perversion of feeling a a portion of the colonists, that they cannot conceive how anyone can sympathize with the black race as their fellow ard them as wild beasts whom it is lawful to extirpate There are of course honourable exceptions, although such is a very common sentiment As an instance, Iin Tasmania, with two natives of Australia, was asked, by almost everyone, where he had CAUGHT them? This expression will enable the reader better to appreciate the true state of the case than many instances of ferocity I could enu position in the minds of the whites; and that a radical defect exists in their original conception of their character, and of the ht to be treated