74 SWAN ISLAND. 



The party in charg*e of the lig-hthouse have 

 numbers of g-oats^ pig"S; and sheep_, and also raise a 

 few potatoes and other vegetables 3 still their life is 

 a hard one — more so comparatively^ than that of 

 the keepers of the Eddy stone or Bell Rock lig^hts 

 at home^ as they communicate with Van Diemen's 

 Land only twice a year^ and are often in want of 

 fuel; which they have to send for to a neig'hbouring* 

 island. 



Ifarch 4tth. — Aided by the remains of a strong- 

 westerly wind; with which we at one time log'g'ed 

 ten and a half knots— a great feat for the old 

 Rattlesnake^ jury-rig-g-ed as she was for ^^ surveying- 

 service/' we passed through part of Banks' Strait^ 

 and anchored off Swan Island at 9 A.M. The 

 rock is a fine grained basalt^ exposed only on the 

 shorC; the remainder of the island being a series of 

 sand-hills covered with low shrubs and luxuriant 

 grass growing in tufts. Having left Captain 

 Stanley's party on their way to the lighthouse^ I 

 found on the western side of the island a lono- 

 sandy beach strewed with marine rejectamenta^ 

 among which were many new species of zoophytes ; 

 the number and variety of sponges was very great; 

 but nearly all had suffered so much from exposure 

 to the sun and weather^ as to be useless as speci- 

 mens. Returning to the ship before noon^ we 

 immediately got under weigh for Sydney. 



March Qth, — Yesterday morning we picked up a 

 strong S.S.E. wind, which brought us off Botany 



