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St. Aignan, which is five miles long, and only a few hundred 

 paces wide. It is low and sandy, and separates Isthmus 

 Bay on the west from Adventure Bay on the east. The 

 northern mountain-tract is about 12 miles long, and so 

 much indented on the western shore that its average width 

 does not exceed three miles, though in some places it is 

 five miles across. The mountains of this island do not 

 appear to exceed 1200 feet in elevation : they are covered 

 with wood, and supply numerous streams. Along the 

 western side of the island are five harbours, which, from 

 south to north, are called Great Cove or Taylor's Bay, 

 Little Cove, Isthmus Bay, Great Bay, and Burnes Bay. 

 Thev all have excellent anchorage and shelter, except 

 Taylor's Bay, which is rather too large, and exposed to the 

 gusts of wind which come down from the mountains on 

 the mainland. On the eastern side of Bruni Island are 

 three bays, Bad Bay, Adventure Bay, and Trumpeter Bay. 

 Bad Bay is useless, being open to the southern winds, and 

 subject to a very heavy swell, which causes such a tre- 

 mendous surf at the foot of the rocks which surround the 

 basin, that landing is almost impossible. Adventure Bay 

 is open to the east, but is so far protected by Tasman's 

 Peninsula, that the inconveniences of this harbour during 

 easterly winds are reduced to a difficult landing. Before 

 the foundation of the colony it was frequently visited by 

 whalers. Trumpeter Bay is of moderate extent. 



The strait which divides Bruni Island from the mainland 

 of Tasmania is called D'Entrecasteaux Channel, or Storm 

 Bay Passage, and extends 45 miles in a straight line from 

 Whale Head to Pilot Strait, or the narrow arm that divides 

 the northern extremity of Bruni Island from Tasmania. Its 

 southern entrance between Whale Head and Bnmi Head is 

 wide and open to the south and west ; but on the western 

 shores there are two excell :nt harbours, Recherche Bay 

 and Mussel Bay. North of Mussel Bay the channel begins, 

 which is 30 miles long, and varies in width from one to 

 eight miles. In all its extent it has excellent anchorage 

 and sufficient depth ; even opposite Isthmus Bay, where it 

 is shallowest, it is 40 feet deep. Being mostly surrounded 

 by hills, which shelter it on all sides, it is, properly 

 speaking, an immense harbour, the only inconveniences of 

 which are that it is subject to gusts of wind, and that the 

 bottom consists of an earth somewhat too tenacious. On the 

 in shores of the channel, besides several smaller har- 

 bours or coves, there are three, or rather four, large and ex- 

 cellent ports : Esperance Bay or Adamson's Harbour ; Huon 

 Bay, or the extcn-ui' n-,Uiary of the river of that name, 

 which extends nearly 20 miles inland, and has sufficient depth 

 of water for larne vessels ; Port Cygnet, or Swan Port, 

 situated near the mouth of the Huon aestuary ; and North- 

 West liay, which constitutes the most northern extremity 

 of D'Bntrecuteaiix Channel, and resembles the harbour 

 of Portsmouth. North-West Bay is two miles wide at its 

 entrance, and extends nearly six miles inland. The low 

 and level country surrounding this excellent basin is the 

 imt southern district of Tasmania in which cultivation 

 has made any progress. The strait leading from it to 

 the wide ;ch!~i::iry of the river Derwent is only one mile 

 and is called Pilot Strait. 



' of Bnini Island, and between it and Tasman's 

 Peninsula is Storm Bay, extending about fifteen miles 

 from south to north, and as much from west to east. 

 Though it has good anchorage-ground, and is almost en- 

 tirely free from danger, it cannot be considered as a har- 

 bour, being open towards the south, though protected on 

 the three other sides by high hills. Storm Bay however 

 leads to two extensive arms of the sea. which open to the 

 north of it, and are respectively called the rcstuary of the 

 Derwent and Frederick Henry Bay. These two arms of the 

 sea are separated by Ralph's Peninsula, which extends 

 about 20 miles from north to south ; and this distance may 

 msidcred as the length of the two arms of the sea, the 

 sestuary of the Derwent advancing a few miles farther in- 

 land. At the entrance of the aestuary is a small rocky 

 island, Ironpot, on which a lighthouse hag been erected. 

 Within the aestuary is Ralph's Bay, on the east. This bay 

 is formed by a low sandy spit of land which projects from 

 the west side of Ralph's Peninsula, and surrounds the bay 

 on the south and west ; and by another spit of land which 

 project* to the south. The entrance of Ralph's Bay is a 

 short channel, nearly two miles wide, which leads to a 

 "itrht. miles long and three wide, with excellent an- 

 chorage, and sheltered on all sides. Ralph's Peninsula 



consists of two mountainous tracts united by a low isthmus. 

 This isthmus is only half a mile wide, and is the place' 

 where Ralph's Bay approaches nearest to Frederick Henry 

 Bay. This last-mentioned bay, which has also the name of 

 North Bay (Bai du Nord) is united to Storm Bay by a 

 channel situated between Ralph's Peninsula and Tasman's 

 Peninsula, which is five miles long and five miles wide. 

 The bay itself consists of three basins, North Bay, Pitt 

 Water, and Norfolk Bay. North Bay, which occupies the 

 centre, is a basin about eight miles long from south to north, 

 and six from west to east. It has good anchorage, with 

 sufficient depth of water, and is generally well sheltered. 

 Along its northern shores there is a low and sandy tongue 

 of land, with an opening at its eastern extremity, which 

 leads to Pitt Water, an arm of the sea extending from 

 east-south-east to west-north-west about eight miles, with 

 an average width of two miles, which branches out into 

 numerous small coves and inlets affording safe anchorage 

 for small vessels, but the entrance has only sufficient depth 

 for them. Norfolk Bay lies to the east of North Bay, with 

 which it is connected by a channel about three miles wide. 

 This bay is surrounded on three sides by Tasman's Penin- 

 sula, and constitutes one of the finest harbours on the 

 island : it has excellent anchorage, with a convenient 

 depth of water, and is sheltered by high hills. It is eight 

 miles long, and the width varies from three to five miles. 

 It is free from all danger, and branches out into numerous 

 coves. 



Tasman's Peninsula extends about 25 miles from south 

 to north : it consists of two larger peninsulas, of which the 

 southern is properly called Tasman's, and the northern 

 Forestier's Peninsula. Tasman's Peninsula surrounds Nor- 

 folk Bay on the south and west : it extends west and east 

 about 15 miles, with an average width of eight miles. The 

 surface of this tract is covered with mountains, which rise 

 with a steep ascent from the water's edge, and are mostly 

 composed of basalt columns, especially between Maingon 

 Bay and Fortesque Bay. On the west side of the penin- 

 sula, on the east shores of Storm Bay, is Wedge Bay, which 

 has tolerably good anchorage. Maingon Bay, on the south 

 coast of the peninsula, is quite open, but on the north it leads 

 into a safe harbour, Port Arthur, which runs more than six 

 miles inland, and is more than a mile wide. The high rocky 

 isthmus which divides its northern extremity from Norfolk 

 Bay is only three miles wide. On the eastern shores of 

 Tasman's Peninsula is Fortesque Bay, which is large, and 

 lias excellent anchorage, but it is open to the east. Pirates 

 Bay, farther north, is still more open : it is separated from 

 Norfolk Bay by an isthmus called Eagle Hawk Neck, 

 which is only GOO feet wide and 700 feet long, and which 

 connects Tasman's Peninsula with Forestier's Peninsula. 

 It is low and sandy. Forestier's Peninsula extends 10 

 miles from south to north, with an average width of 

 seven miles : it is a roundish mass of high rocky 

 mountains, scantily covered with low trees, and it 

 has a sterile soil. The high rocky masses along its 

 eastern shores run in a continuous line. On the 

 north side of the peninsula is Frederik Hendrik Har- 

 bour, in which Tasman anchored in 1642: it has good 

 depth, but is open, and along the southern side it is lined 

 with shoals and rocks. The isthmus which joins Forestier's 

 Peninsula to the mainland of Tasmania is called East Bay 

 Neck, and the northern portion of Norfolk Bay is also 

 known by the name of East Bay : it is about two miles long, 

 and half a mile wide in the narrowest part: it is low and 

 sandy. The bay which extends between this neck and the 

 most northern portion of Forestier's Peninsula, and is called 

 Blackman's Bay, is spacious and well sheltered, but beset 

 with shoals and rocks, especially along the southern shores 

 and its entrance, so as to admit only small vessels. 



The eastern coast of Tasmania extends from the northern 

 extremity of Forestier's Peninsula to Cape Portland on 

 Strait, more than 150 miles in a straight line. The 

 southern part, or that south of 42 S. lat, resembles in 

 some degree the south-eastern coast : it contains many 

 places of refuge for vessels, though in general they are 

 much less numerous than on the south-east coast, and not 

 quite so safe and commodious. The wide bay on the north 

 of Forestier's Peninsula, from which a channel leads to 

 Blackman's Bay, has a flat sandy shore, no which the sea 

 breaks with a heavy surf, so as to render it inaccessible, but 

 towards the north are several email coves for boats. Cape 

 Bernier is formed by a high conical hill : between it and 



