d that both time and labour had been
expended in their construction. A good garden stocked with abundance of
vegetables already smiled on Portland Bay; the soil was very rich on the
overhanging cliffs, and the potatoes and turnips produced there surpassed
in magnitude and quality any I had ever seen elsewhere.

WHALE FISHERY.

I learnt that the bay was much resorted to by vessels engaged in the
whale fishery and that upwards of 700 tons of oil had been shipped that
season. I was likewise informed that only a few days before my arrival
five vessels lay at anchor together in that bay, and that a communication
was regularly kept up with Van Diemen's Land by means of vessels from
Launceston. Messrs. Henty were importing sheep and cattle as fast as
vessels could be found to bring them over, and the numerous whalers
touching at or fishing on the coast were found to be good customers for
farm produce and whatever else could be spared from the establishment.

Portland Bay is well sheltered from all winds except the east-south-east,
and the anchorage is so good that a vessel is said to have rode out a
gale even from this quarter. The part of the western shore where the land
is highest shelters a small bay which might be made a tolerable harbour
by means of two piers or quays erected on reefs of a kind of rock
apparently very favourable for the purpose, namely amygdaloidal trap in
rounded boulders. The present anchorage in four fathoms is on the outside
of these reefs, and the water in this little bay is in general smooth
enough for the landing of boats. A fine stream falls into the bay there
and the situation seems altogether a most eligible one for the site of a
town. The rock is trap consisting principally of felspar; and the soil is
excellent as was amply testified by the luxuriant vegetation in Mr.
Henty's garden.

EXCURSION TO CAPE NELSON.

August 30.

I proceeded with the theodolite to a height near Cape Nelson and from it
I intersected that cape and also Cape Bridgewater, Cape Sir William
Grant, the islands to the eastward, etc.

MOUNT KINCAID.

I here recognised also the high hill which appeared within these capes
when first seen from the westward. It formed the most elevated part of
the Rifle range at its termination on the coast and I was informed by Mr.
Henty that there was a fine lake at its base. I named the hill Mount
Kincaid after my old and esteemed friend of Peninsular recollections.
Returning to the p