SAIL FROM SWAN RIVER. J233 



the capacity of servants and appeared sliarp and in- 

 telligent lads. 



On the 20th of June we took leave of our friends 

 in Western Australia, proceeding out of Owen's 

 anchorage by a passage recommended by the Har- 

 bour-Master, in which we found half a fathom less 

 water than the one throuo-h which we entered. Dur- 



o 



ingour stay there, nothing could exceed the kindness 

 with which we were welcomed, and we experienced 

 that proverbial hospitality of colonists which in this 

 instance we shall ever remember with feelings of the 

 most sincere and heartfelt pleasure. 



It may appear out of place inserting it here but 

 on our first arrival at Swan River in November last, 

 we saw the Aurora Australis very bright. 



At midnight of the 23rd of June we passed Cape 

 Leu wen, the south-western extremity of the continent ; 

 named by the first discoverer in 1622, Landt van de 

 Leuwen or the land of Lions. The wind which had 

 increased since the morning to a fresh gale from the 

 northward, now suddenly veered round to the west- 

 ward, accompanied with rain and causing a high 

 cross sea. These sudden shifts of wind frequently 

 raise a very dangerous sea off^ Cape Leuwen.* This 

 made the third gale we had experienced since the 30th 

 of May, and is recorded here from its commencing 

 at N.E. instead of at north, the usual point at which 

 gales in these regions begin. During the stormy 

 weather which prevailed throughout the passage, we 



* III a gule off this Cape in 1836, H.M.S. Zebra was compelled 

 to throw her guns overboard. 



