(Footnote.  A horse-shoe reef, extending nearly two miles from the shore, lies two miles to the eastward.)

A range of hills, nearly 2000 feet high, in which asbestos is found, lies midway between Port Sorel and the Tamar; and immediately over Dial Point rises a peaked range, of the same name; whilst Valentine Peak,* 4000 feet in height, is situated twenty-three miles South 40 degrees West from the above point.  This peak is a bare mass of granite, and as it glistens in the first beams of the morning sun like an immense spire, forms the most remarkable hill-feature in the north side of Tasmania.  High level ranges extend to the eastward of it for some distance.

(Footnote.  In latitude 41 degrees 17 minutes South and longitude 5 degrees 28 1/2 minutes West of Sydney, and when bearing South by West is a distant guide to Emu Bay.)

From Dial Point to Circular Head the coast trends North 72 degrees West, and as far as Rocky Point the shore is steep and woody.  Emu Bay* lies at the end of the first ten miles; it is a confined anchorage, affording shelter in westerly winds.  A river of the same name runs into it, and another called the Blyth joins the sea a mile and a half on the Tamar side of the east point, which has a remarkable round hill on it:  nearly four and five and a half miles to the westward of this bay are other small streams.  An islet lies at the mouth of the eastern one; and in its neighbourhood only the shore, which falls back a little, is sandy and faced with rocks.

(Footnote.  The North-West or Blackman’s Point is low, and in latitude 41 degrees 2 minutes 45 seconds South, longitude 5 degrees 18 minutes 50 seconds West of Sydney.)

ROCKY CAPE.

The River Inglis is of a good size; but a reef extends off the mouth and some distance to the eastward; it is two miles and a half to the South-South-East of a headland, called Table Cape, the distances between which, Rocky Cape, Circular Head, and Emu Bay, are equal, namely, eleven miles and a half.  Rocky Cape has a high pointed summit, with other peaks in the rear; a sunken rock is said to lie a mile and a half north of it; and the coast from thence to Circular Head falls back, forming a bight; five miles to the south-east of it is a sandy bay with a small rivulet running into it.  The Sisters, two round hills, 870 feet high, renders the east point remarkable; an islet with a reef of considerable extent fronts it for some distance.

ESCAPED CONVICTS.

One of the pilots at Port Dalrymple, I found, had travelled along the west coast of Tasmania, from Macquarie Harbour to Point Woolnorth.  He crossed four or five small rivers; but the country was covered with a low scrub, growing in an impenetrable network along the surface of the soil, so that he could only make progress by keeping the shore.  He was landed from a colonial vessel, by a party of convicts who had taken possession of it, and afterwards succeeded