I understood it frequently happened that several parties of fishermen left by different whaling vessels would engage in the pursuit of the same whale, and that in the struggle for possession the whale would occasionally escape from them all and run ashore, in which case it is of little value to whalers as the removal, etc., would be too tedious and they in such cases carry away part of the head matter only.  The natives never approach these whalers, nor had they ever shown themselves to the white people of Portland Bay but, as they have taken to eat the castaway whales, it is their custom to send up a column of smoke when a whale appears in the bay, and the fishers understand the signal.  This affords an instance of the sagacity of the natives for they must have reflected that, by thus giving timely notice, a greater number will become competitors for the whale and that consequently there will be a better chance of the whale running ashore, in which case a share must fall finally to them.  The fishers whom I saw were fine able fellows; and with their large ships and courageous struggles with the whales they must seem terrible men of the sea to the natives.  The neat trim of their boats set up on stanchions on the beach looked well, with oars and in perfect readiness to dash at the moment’s notice into the angry surge.  Upon the whole, what with the perils they undergo and their incessant labour in boiling the oil, these men do not earn too cheaply the profits derived from that kind of speculation.  I saw on the shore the wreck of a fine boat which had been cut in two by a single stroke of the tail of a whale.  The men were about to cast their net into the sea to procure a supply of fish for us when the whale suddenly engaged all hands.

We returned along the shore of the bay, intersecting at its estuary the mouth of the little river last crossed and which, at the request of Mr. Henty, I have named the Surry.  This river enters Portland Bay in latitude 38 degrees 15 minutes 43 seconds South; longitude (by my survey)141 degrees 58 minutes East.  We encamped on the rich grassy land just beyond and I occupied for the night a snug old hut of the natives.

August 31.

Early this morning Richardson caught a fine bream and I had indeed been informed by Messrs. Henty that these streams abound with this fish.

MOUNT CLAY.

On ascending the highest point of the hill immediately behind the estuary of the Surry and which I named Mount Clay, I found it consisted of good forest land, and that its ramifications extended over as much as three miles.  Beyond it we descended into the valley of the Fitzroy, and at noon I ascertained the latitude where we had before forded it to be 38 degrees 8 minutes 51 seconds South.  The river had risen in the interim a foot and a half, so that we were obliged to carry the flour across on the heads of the men wading up to the neck.  When we reached the summit of Mount Eckersley, the horizon being clear, I completed my series of angles on points visible from that station by observing the Julian Island and Mount Abrupt, two of great importance in my survey which were hidden from our sight by the squally weather when I was last on this hill.