elf. Honour him by calling any other places after him
by all means; the name Flinders for the Commonwealth Naval Base in
Westernport is an excellent one, for instance. But his names for natural
features should not be disturbed.)

The boat was reached, after the descent of the mountain and the return
tramp across the sodden flats, at three o'clock in the afternoon. The
party were very weary from this twenty-mile excursion, a feat requiring
some power of endurance, as one who has walked along the same route and
climbed Station Peak several times can testify; and especially hard on
men who were fresh from a long voyage. The party camped for the night at
Indented Head, on the west side of the port, and on Sunday, May 2nd, they
again boarded the Investigator.

The ship was anchored under the shelter of the Nepean Peninsula, nearly
opposite the present Portsea. On the way back Flinders shot "some
delicate teal," near the piece of water which Murray had called Swan
Harbour, and a few black swans were caught.

Port Phillip has since become important as the seat of one of the great
cities of the world, and its channels are used by commercial fleets
flying every colour known to the trading nations. Scarcely an hour of the
day goes by, but the narrow waters dividing the port from the ocean are
churned by the propellers of great ships. The imagination sets itself a
task in trying to realize those few days in May, 1802, when Flinders
called it a "useful but obscure port" and when the only keels that lay
within the bay were those of one small sloop at anchor near the entrance,
and one tiny boat in which her captain was rowing over the surface and
making a map of the outline. And if it is difficult for us to recapture
that scene of spacious solitude, it was quite impossible for Flinders to
foresee what a century would bring forth. He recognised that the
surrounding country "has a pleasing and in many places a fertile
appearance." He described much of it as patently fit for agricultural
purposes. "It is in great measure a grassy country, and capable of
supporting much cattle, though much better calculated for sheep." It was,
indeed, largely on his report that settlement was attempted at Port
Phillip in 1803. But it is quaint, at this time of day, to read his
remark that "were a settlement made at Port Phillip, as doubtless there
will be some time hereafter, the entrance could be easily distinguished,
and it would not be difficult to