(Footnote.  This island, which affords a plentiful supply of fuel, is between five and six miles long, and scarcely half a mile in width, with a North by East trend.  The anchorage lies abreast of the middle Hummock, where the depth is six fathoms, and may be approached by passing round either the north or south end of the island.  Some low islets lie a mile and a half off the latter, with a narrow passage between; and a reef extends three quarters of a mile off the north point, which is in latitude 40 degrees 1 minute South, longitude 3 degrees 27 minutes West of Sydney, or 147 degrees 49 minutes East.  It is distant three miles and a half from the nearest point of Flinders, where is situated the settlement of Tasmanian natives.  A tide of from half to one knot sets through between, and the flood-stream comes from the northward.  The outline of Hummock Island is so remarkable that it cannot fail of being recognised.  In thick weather the navigator may know he is approaching this, and the other islands fronting the western side of Flinders, by having a depth of less than thirty fathoms.)

The north-west part of Flinders Island has a bold rugged outline.  From our position off Cape Frankland, we carried a line of soundings across the passage south of Craggy Island, passing two miles to the eastward of it in twenty-seven fathoms.  We then ran out of the strait and up to Sydney, to leave what stores were not absolutely required during the passage to England, for the use of the ships on the station.

RAILROADS FROM SYDNEY.

Having spoken of the feasibility of railroads in other parts of New South Wales, I cannot leave Sydney without suggesting what appear to me to be the most practicable directions for lines leading from that capital.  As the country between Parramatta and Sydney is very hilly, I would recommend that part of the journey should be performed in a steamer; and that the railroad should commence on the right bank, about seven miles from the town.  An extension of this line would lead into the north-western interior.  Towards the south, and in the direction of the Manero district, the line ought to pass round the head of Botany Bay, and by following some of the valleys trending southwards, might reach nearly to Illawarra, the garden of New South Wales.  In this manner, the rich Manero corn country, and the coalfields of Illawarra, might be brought into connection with Sydney, and a prodigious development imparted to the whole colony.

MORETON BAY.

I regretted being obliged to leave this part of Australia without visiting Moreton Bay, as a survey of the mouth of the Brisbane River would have enabled the settlers of that district, now rapidly increasing, to have sent their produce direct from thence to England; whereas, until a chart of it is published, masters of large ships do not like to go there.  The residents are in consequence obliged to submit to the expense of first shipping their merchandise to Sydney.