P.M., the course is North by West 22 miles across a
splendid sheet of water, of which the depth is 11 and 13 fathoms.

William Town, the seaport town of Australia Felix, named after his
Majesty King William IV., stands on a very low piece of land forming the
southern shore of Hobson's Bay, called Point Gellibrand, after a
gentleman from Hobart, one of the first who brought stock to Port
Phillip. He was lost in the bush in a very mysterious manner in 1834. No
trace of him or his horse was found till 1842, when some of the natives
showed where his mouldering bones lay. The point that bears his name
scarcely projects sufficiently to afford large ships shelter from south
winds in Hobson's Bay. In the North-West corner of the latter is the
mouth of the Yarra-yarra river; but although only one mile and a half
from the general anchorage, it is very difficult to be made out. The
following anecdote will illustrate the difficulty of detecting the mouths
of rivers in Australia. Soon after we anchored in Hobson's Bay, a small
schooner passed, going to Melbourne. Several of the officers were at the
time standing on the poop, and each selected a spot at which the schooner
was to enter the river; and although, as I have before stated, we were
only one mile and a half from it, none of us was right. A single tall
bushy-topped tree, about a mile inland, rose over the schooner as she
left the waters of Hobson's Bay.

William Town consisted, at that time, of only a few houses. One
disadvantage under which this place labours is badness of water, while
the country around it is a dead level, with clumps of very open woodland.
The formation is whinstone, but the soil's fertile quality shows an
absence of sandstone.

RIVER YARRA-YARRA.

Proceeding up the Yarra-yarra, we found that about two miles from the
mouth, the river divides, one branch continuing in a northerly direction,
and the other, a narrow sluggish stream, turning suddenly off to the
eastward. The banks are so densely wooded, that it is seldom if ever that
its surface is ruffled by a breeze.

MELBOURNE.

The township of Melbourne on its north bank, five miles from the river's
mouth, we found a very bustling place. Nearly two thousand persons had
already congregated there, and more were arriving every day, so that
great speculation was going on in land. We were delighted with the
park-like appearance of the country, and the rich quality of the soil.
This was the most fertile d