Wilson's promontory. 257 



stay, which prepared us with greater cheerfulness to 

 encounter the difficulties w^e might expect to meet 

 with in the boisterous waters that rolled between 

 the then imperfectly known shores, and islands of 

 Bass Strait. It was not until the 11th of 

 November that we bade adieu to our friends, and 

 sailed to commence our contemplated operations. 

 On the 14th we passed the rocky islands (Kent's 

 Group) at the eastern entrance of the Strait, their 

 barren and bleak appearance bespoke the constant 

 gales that swept over them, checking every tendency 

 to vegetation. As we approached them the sound- 

 ings decreased to 28 fathoms, the observation of 

 which fact apprises vessels coming from the eastward 

 in thick weather, of their proximity. After leaving 

 these islands we progressed but slowly, and the 

 passage through the Strait promised to be tedious : 

 yet, as the wind was fair and the weather fine, we 

 had no reason to complain, considering moreover 

 the remarkably mild reception we met with in the 

 Funnel, the name commonly and most appropriately 

 given by the colonists to Bass Strait, from the con- 

 stant strong winds that sweep through it. On the 

 17th we passed Wilson's Promontory, the southern 

 extremity of Australia, connected with the main 

 by a low sandy isthmus, only left dry it is probable 

 of late years. It is a very mountainous tract, 

 rearing its many peaks in solemn grandeur 

 from the waves and burying their summits* 



* Nearly 3000 feet high. 

 VOL. I. S 



