THROUGH WHICH THE ROUTE LAY. 99 



Salvator alone could have done justice to the 



scene. 



As we proceeded, the view was obstructed 

 in part by two conical hills, apparently uncon- 

 nected with the shore on either side, and ex- 

 ceedingly picturesque in their outline. They 

 were not far from a point of the eastern main ; 

 whence, taking a long sweep to the right, 

 and then stretching south and west in a broad 

 belt of fifteen or twenty miles, it ultimately joins 

 Rocky Point, at a distance of about fifty miles, 

 measured in a direct line. To the whole of the 

 islands included in this range I gave the name 

 of Simpson's Group, in token of my esteem 

 for the Governor. The channel between the 

 western islands and the main is, in some parts, 

 not more than a quarter of a mile broad ; and 

 this contraction is rendered the more apparent by 

 the ripple of a rather strong southerly current, 

 not observable elsewhere. It is favourable for 

 fish, and subsequently a station was formed 

 here. On opening round the northern end of 

 the channel, a magnificent expanse of water was 

 seen east and west, with clear horizons, dotted 

 however with three islands, from the light mural 

 cliffs of which the rays of the setting sun were 

 softly reflected. The peninsula, dividing the 

 waters of the south and north side of the east- 

 ern main, has been called Point Keith, in com- 



h 2 



