d to rise steadily, and the weather was fine, with
light variable winds, until the Beagle sailed (on the 20th).

Owing to the security of Owen's anchorage, and the good quality of the
bottom, the Beagle rode out this bad weather, without causing the
slightest apprehension to anyone on board; but had a merchant vessel been
in Gage Road, in all probability, she would have added one more to the
list of wrecks, that have already done too much in prejudicing strangers
against the Swan River settlement.

The gale of May, 1840, at Houtman's Abrolhos, commenced in a similar
manner with that already described, but being in a lower latitude, was of
shorter duration, and the indications did not precede it such a length of
time; still they were in every respect similar.

This gale commenced on the 2nd of May, in the evening, and lasted until
the evening of the 4th.
on April the 29th, the barometer stood at 30.17 (having been some days
steadily high); it then commenced to fall, and on the evening of May the
2nd, was 29.86; during this interval we daily experienced strong
East-North-East and North-East winds; they generally commenced after
midnight, and lasted until noon; a bank of clouds was also collecting in
the North-West and there was occasional lightning in that quarter; the
early part of May the 2nd was nearly calm, and there was a heavy bank of
clouds between North and South-West. After noon a light breeze sprang up
from North-West which gradually freshened; and during the night the
barometer fell 17-hundredths.

At sunrise on May the 3rd, there was a fresh breeze from North-North-West
and the weather had a very dull and gloomy appearance, the wind
increasing rapidly, and by noon it blew a heavy gale at West-North-West;
the barometer had fallen to 29.58, at which it continued until midnight,
when the wind drew to the southward of west, and the mercury began to
rise. The gale continued unabated, with squalls and rain, until noon of
the 4th, although the barometer had been rising since the previous
midnight; in the afternoon the wind moderated, and the weather became
fine.

From this it would appear that the barometer gives ample warning of an
approaching North-West gale, as it had been falling nearly four days
before the commencement of the bad weather, this alone ought to be
sufficient to put a man upon his guard if near the shore. Between April
the 29th (the first day of the fresh north-easterly winds) and May the
3rd