114 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 
launch to be got ready, to convey me across; never appre- 
hending, although many were the reports that had come to 
his knowledge, of the schemes which certain of the convicts 
had in contemplation to effect their escape from the settle- 
ment, and that my departure for Phillip Island was to be the 
signal by which the individuals of the party were to muster, 
to make the attempt, as it afterwards came out. 
* With provisions fora week, for myself and three ser- 
vants, and accompanied by Lieut. Borough, of the 39th, on 
duty at the settlement, I erossed the channel (estimated five 
miles broad), and safely landed on Phillip Island, at the usual 
rock, within a small bay, on its northern shore, and having 
pitched the tent at the back of its stony beach, prepared my- 
self for the day's excursion. This isolated spot is elevated 
and of broken surface; its ridges, which, for the most part, 
are perfectly bare of trees or herbage, rising on its south- 
eastern side, to a peak or cone, at least 1,200 feet above the 
level of the sea, immediately at its base. On all sides it ex- 
hibits a cliffy, precipitous character, so that landing can only 
be effected with safety at one or two points. Its geological 
structure is precisely the same as that of the larger island, 
the naked soil being a red clay, and the rock a trap, assuming 
a basaltic form on its southern side. 
“ Ascending by a steep acclivity, we gained the ridge im- 
mediately above the encampment, the bare sides of which, 
the rains had grooved into deep gutters, and in two hours 
we made the entire circumference of the island, notwith- 
standing the interruption we met with from ravines, which 
separating the several ridges that diverge from the peak, fall 
on the northern and western sides. The interior presents 
some deep hollows, in parts densely wooded with small trees; 
and an underwood, chiefly of the thorny Caper bush (Bus 
beckia nobilis), bearing fruit like a green lemon, and very 
difficult to travel through. As a resource, in the event of à 
failure of animal food at the settlement, a number of goats 
and pigs were formerly put on shore here, and allowed the 
entire range of the island; where, although they met with 
