led and interesting narrative of the whole affair.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE NAVIGATION OF THE MOUTH OF THE TAMAR.

The few quiet days we had during our stay at Port Dalrymple, enabled us
satisfactorily to complete the soundings at the entrance. Beacons were
also erected on the shore by the Beagle's crew, for guiding vessels
through the channels; they, however, require to be kept white, in order
to show well against the dark ground behind. I furnished Lieutenant M.
Friend, R.N. the port officer, with a few notes on the navigation of the
Tamar, which, for the sake of the nautical reader, I give below.*

(*Footnote. The most formidable shoal in the mouth of the Tamar, bearing
the name of the Middle Ground, is a rocky patch, with, according to
report, only 9 feet on one spot at low-water, spring tides, but the least
depth found on it by the (Beagle's) boats was 12 feet. The north extreme
of Low Head, in one with the first black cliffy projection to the
eastward of it, or the flagstaff on Low Head, open northward of the
lighthouse, clears the northern edge of it. The leading marks for
entering eastward of the Middle Ground, generally called the Eastern
Channel, are the Shear and West Beacons. The latter stands in front of
Dr. Browne's house, which is the first inside Point Friend, the western
entrance point. The Shear Beacon must be kept a little open to the left
or eastward of the West Beacon, until you get abreast of the lighthouse;
after which, both beacons should be kept in one. When within two cables
and a half of the Shear Beacon, the course should be changed in the
direction of the Red Beacon on the Barrel Rock, the first on the eastern
side, to avoid a patch of kelp, extending one cable and a half in an
easterly direction from the Shear Beacon, the depth, there, at low-water
is 9 fathoms, and the least in the channel is 4 fathoms, on a ledge,
apparently extending from Low Head to the Middle Ground.

The Western Channel is two cables wide, with a depth, in the shoalest
part, of 10 fathoms; it is formed by the Middle Ground on the eastern
side, and the Yellow Rock Reef on the western; the latter is an extensive
patch of kelp, with a double light-coloured rock near its extremity. The
least water on it at low-water is 6 feet; from the Shear Beacon, it bears
North 50 degrees West five-tenths of a mile, and from the lighthouse,
South 52 degrees West eight-tenths of a mile. The Shear Beacon and the
flagstaff at George Town in