be imagined that a
body of water required to fill a bay thirty miles deep and twenty broad,
passing through an entrance one mile and a half in width, must rush with
great violence; and when we take into account the extreme unevenness of
the bottom (soundings varying from 40 to 25 and even 9 fathoms) no
surprise can be felt that such a stream, particularly when opposed to a
strong wind, should raise a dangerous sea. The force of it may be
conjectured from a fact of which I was myself witness. Standing on one of
the entrance points, I saw a schooner trying to get in with all sails set
before a fresh breeze, and yet she was carried out by the current.
Another observation is also recorded for the guidance of the stranger
passing into the port. When in the middle of the entrance, a low clump of
dark bushes breaking the line of white sand beach beyond Shortlands
Bluff, was just seen clear of the latter.

The first appearance of Port Phillip is very striking, and the effect of
the view is enhanced by the contrast with the turbulent waves without and
in the entrance. As soon as these have been passed, a broad expanse of
placid water displays itself on every side; and one might almost fancy
oneself in a small sea. But the presence of a distant highland forming a
bluff in the North-East soon dispels this idea. Besides this bluff
(called by the natives Dandonong) Arthur's Seat, and Station Peak are the
principal features that catch the eye of the stranger. The latter, called
Youang by the natives, is one of a small group of lofty peaks rising
abruptly out of a low plain on the western shore of the bay; whilst
Arthur's Seat towers over the eastern shore, and forms the northern
extremity of a range subsiding gradually to the coast at Cape Shanck.

Anchoring close to the southern shore, about three miles within the
entrance, we set to work in good earnest with our surveying
operations--in the first place selecting a conspicuous spot for
observation, from which all the meridians of our work in the western part
of the Strait were to be measured. For the sake of my nautical readers I
may mention that the western extreme of the cliffy patches on the south
shore of the bay, marks the place chosen. The nature of our employment
confining us to the neighbourhood of the entrance, we had no opportunity
of visiting the town of Melbourne, situated near the northern side of the
bay. This capital of Australia Felix had for a long time been known