PORT PIIILLTP. 259 



posed to a strong wind, should raise a dangerous 

 sea. The force of it may be conjectured from a fact 

 of which I was myself witness. Standing on one 

 of the entrance points, 1 saw a schooner trying to 

 get in with all sails set before a fresh breeze, and 

 yet she was carried out by the current. Another 

 observation is also recorded for the oruidance of 

 the stranger passing into the port. When in the 

 middle of the entrance, a low clump of dark bushes 

 breaking the line of white sand beach beyond 

 Shortlands Bluff, was just seen clear of the latter. 



The first appearance of Port Phillip is very 

 striking, and the effect of the view is enhanced by 

 the contrast with the turbulent waves without and in 

 the entrance. As soon as these have been passed, a 

 broad expanse of placid water displays itself on every 

 side ; and one might almost fancy oneself in a small 

 sea. But the presence of a distant highland forming 

 a bluff in the N.E. soon dispels this idea. Besides 

 this bluff, (called by the natives Dandonong,) Ar- 

 thur's Seat, and Station Peak are the principal fea- 

 tures that catch the eye of the stranger. The latter, 

 called Youang by the natives, is one of a small group 

 of lofty peaks rising abruptly out of a low plain on 

 the western shore of the bay; whilst Arthur's Seat 

 towers over the eastern shore, and forms the 

 northern extremity of a range subsiding gradually 

 to the coast at Cape Shanck. 



Anchoring close to the southern shore, about 

 three miles within the entrance, we set to work in 



s2 



