COMPASS HILL. 159 



I was, however, more fortunate at Sydney and 

 Swan River. 



We at length gained the top of Compass Hill, 

 which we found to he a slight mound on a platform 

 of coarse sandstone formation, with fragments of 

 quartz ; the sandstone was tinged with red, and 

 appeared to be crumbling away ; a straggling growth 

 of white eucalypti covered the crest of this height, 

 which rather spoilt the view we had promised our- 

 selves ; however, by climbing several of them, I 

 managed to see all round. 



West, six and a half miles, there was a snug cove 

 fronted by a small island, from whence the coast 

 appeared to take a more northerly direction. The 

 extremes of a large sheet of water bore N. by W. 

 and W. by N., which we afterwards found to be 

 connected with the above-mentioned cove. A suc- 

 cession of heights, similar to the one we were on, 

 bounded our view between N. and N.E. Twenty- 

 one miles, in a S. E. by E. direction, were some 

 detached, round hills, apparently the termination of 

 the high land on which we stood ; these appeared to 

 rise out of a plain of such an extent, in a S.E and 

 easterly direction, that I conceived it possible 

 it may have extended to the rear of Collier Bay, 

 which damped the interest we had previously looked 

 forward to, in the exploration of that part of the 

 coast, as it tended materially to weaken the proba- 

 bility of finding any large opening there. In crossing 

 one of the valleys in our descent to the boats, 



