ber of dogs loose, the original inhabitants
were soon destroyed, and the newcomers afterwards devoured each other, so
that when I saw them, but a small remnant remained. The dogs on Sea
Elephant Rock, which were left by sealers, had grown so wild that they
would not allow us to approach them. I saw here some small penguins, a
bird we rarely met with in the Strait.

This part of King Island is clothed with thick scrubs, among which we saw
numerous tracks of kangaroos, a certain sign that it is not much
frequented by civilized or uncivilized man. Leaving this anchorage we
examined the eastern shore of the island which we found, as I have before
described, to be low and sandy. Passing along two miles from it, we had a
depth of from 8 to 12 and 15 fathoms. As we approached the northern end,
the character of the coast changed, it being formed by rocky points with
small sand bays intervening. The reef laid down by the French, two miles
from the North-East extremity of the island, we found to be only half a
mile South-South-West from it, one of the many errors we discovered in
the French chart of the strait. It is a small ugly ledge quite beneath
the water, and from the absence of rocky points on the low sandy shore it
fronts, is quite unlooked for.

NAVARIN AND HARBINGER ROCKS.

The next day, February 13th, we examined the dangers fronting the north
side of the island, consisting of Navarin and Harbinger Rocks, neither of
which we found so formidable or so far from the shore as had been
reported. The former lies only a mile and a half off the north end, and
although we did not pass between it and the shore, there is little doubt
that a passage exists. We passed between the Harbinger rocks in 27
fathoms; this great depth in their immediate vicinity, gives no warning
of their proximity in the night or during thick weather.

COMPLETE THE SURVEY OF PORT PHILLIP.

As it was now necessary for us to think of preparing for our return to
the North coast, the proper season for passing through Torres Strait also
approaching, and the increasing importance of Port Phillip, rendering it
desirable to complete our survey of its entrance before our departure; we
consequently proceeded thither. We found even soundings of 53 fathoms
extend twenty miles North by East from Harbinger Reef, but from thence
northwards, the depths gradually decreased. Calms and light winds
rendered the passage across very tedious. We spent one night at anchor in