282 RIVER YARRA-YARRA. 



1842, when some of the natives showed where his 

 mouldering bones lay. The point that bears his 

 name scarcely projects sufficiently to afford large 

 ships shelter from south winds in Hobson's Bay. In 

 the N.W. corner of the latter is the mouth of the 

 Yarra-yarra river ; but although only one mile 

 and a half from the general anchorage, it is very 

 difficult to be made out. The following anecdote 

 will illustrate the difficulty of detecting the mouths 

 of rivers in Australia. Soon after we anchored in 

 Hobson's Bay, a small schooner passed, going to 

 Melbourne. Several of the officers were at the 

 time standing on the poop, and each selected a spot 

 at which the schooner was to enter the river ; and 

 although, as I have before stated, we were only one 

 mile and a half from it, none of us was right. 

 A single tall bushy topped tree, about a mile inland, 

 rose over the schooner as she left the waters of 

 Hobson's Bay. 



William Town consisted, at that time, of only a few 

 houses. One disadvantage under which this place 

 labours is badness of water, while the country 

 around it is a dead level, with clumps of very open 

 woodland. The formation is whinstone, but the 

 soil's fertile quality shows an absence of sandstone. 



Proceeding up the Yarra-yarra, we found that 

 about two miles from the mouth, the river divides, 

 one branch continuing in a northerly direction, 

 and the other, a narrow sluggish stream, turning 

 suddenly off to the eastward. The banks are so 



