(which they have since made) as far as the volcanic mountains, Schanck and Gambier, where there is some rich country, recently visited from Adelaide, by Governor Grey, who has discovered that the barrier of desert between New South Wales and South Australia, is less marked than was supposed; there being patches of good land intervening, so that at no very distant day, we may hope to see the whole of the coast, from Port Phillip to Spencer’s Gulf, supporting a scattered white population.

I noticed that there was a vast superiority in the soil on the north-west side of the hills; but saw none equal in richness to the five-mile patch at Mount Eckersley.

The steep sides of a part of the valley of the Wannon, however, a few miles to the eastward of the Sugarloaf, are very fertile, and being clothed with patches of woodland, form extremely pretty scenery.  The rocks of this part of the country are chiefly trappean; in the immediate neighbourhood of Portland, they consist of limestone, ferruginous sandstone, and trap.

CAPE BRIDGEWATER.

After having extended our ride to above seventy miles, we returned, having satisfied ourselves, from what we had seen and heard, that there was a greater extent of good land here, than at South Australia; though it was more scattered, and farther from the sea.  On our way, we met a party of natives; and seeing a bundle of spears leaning against a tree, I rode up to examine them, but the owner instantly ran and seized them, in a manner that confirmed the report I had before heard, to the effect, that the settlers and the aborigines of this part, either through the mismanagement of the one, or the evil disposition of the other, are not on very good terms.

February 17.

I went this day to Cape Bridgewater, to make a sketch of the coast, and visit some caves lying four miles north of it.  These we found to be from forty to fifty feet high, and of the same depth; the ceilings were encrusted with stalactites and the mouths overlooked some pretty freshwater lakes, three miles in extent separated from the sea by a narrow chain of sandhills; upon these were a few swans, and a black and white kind of goose, one of which Mr. Bynoe shot; it resembled the species we had seen flying over the Albert in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

ARRIVE AT HOBART.

February 20.

A slight cessation of the easterly wind allowed us to leave Portland Bay in the morning; but scarcely had we got outside, when it blew strong again from the same quarter:  accordingly, it being highly desirable that I should consult with His Excellency, Sir John Franklin, before we commenced the survey of Bass Strait, we proceeded direct to Hobart, where we arrived on the 26th.  The latitude of the south-west cape was determined on the passage to be 42 degrees 35 minutes South:  and a running survey was made of the south coast of Tasmania.