lad to find they were only two detached rocks
lying three miles and a half from the shore, instead of, as reported, one
continued reef lying six or seven miles from the land. They bore north
six miles from our position.

CAPTAIN SMITH.

The sealers informed us that a house which we descried in the bay, was
occupied by a gentleman who had met with a reverse of fortune. We
accordingly paid him a visit next morning, and found that he was a
Captain Smith with whom the world had gone wrong, and who had accordingly
fled as far as possible from the society of civilised man and taken up
his residence on the shores of King Island with his family. He had given
the name of Port Franklin to the bay, which we changed to Franklin Road,
from its not being worthy of the title of a Port. He was led to choose
his position from its being in the neighbourhood of the only secure
anchorage from all winds, and near the best soil he had found after
traversing the whole of the island. According to his account it was
totally unfit for rearing sheep on a large scale; the bushes and grass
being so full of burrs that the wool was completely spoiled. The soil was
everywhere very inferior, and a few patches only of clean land was to be
found, the principal part being overrun with dense scrub and impervious
thickets. There were few elevations on the island, and those not of any
great magnitude, the loftiest point being scarcely seven hundred feet.
The formation of the neighbourhood of Captain Smith's house was granite:
water abounds.

WEST SIDE OF KING ISLAND.

The house in which this modern Robinson Crusoe dwelt was what is called a
Slab Hut, formed of rough boards and thatched with grass. He had a garden
in which grew some cabbages and a few other vegetables; but he complained
sorely of blight from the west winds. There are three varieties of
kangaroos on the island, and plenty of wildfowl on some of the lagoons;
so that supplies are abundant: but the few sheep he possessed were
rendered of little value from the burrs I have before mentioned. I could
not help pitying the condition of this gentleman and his interesting
family--a wife and daughter and three or four fine boys. They had
retained a few of the tastes and habits of civilized life, and I observed
a good library with a flute and music in the Slab Hut. It was with great
pleasure that I afterwards learned that Captain Smith's prospects had
brightened. He is now, I believe, a comfortable se