294 PORT WESTERN. 



on them by those who reside on the islands in Bass 

 Strait, and of whom I have before spoken as 

 sealers: — they take them in large numbers and 

 place them in confinement, without any thing to 

 eat, in fact almost starve them to death, in order 

 that the down may not be injured by the fat which 

 generally covers their bodies. 



Scarcely any traces are now to be found of the 

 old settlement on a cliffy point of the eastern shore 

 of the harbour. The rapid growth of indigenous 

 vegetation has completely concealed all signs of 

 human industry, and the few settlers in the neigh- 

 bourhood have helped themselves to the bricks to 

 build their own homes. 



We noticed, however, one or two remaining in- 

 dications of the fact that a settlement had formerly 

 existed on that spot, among others an old flag-staff 

 still erect, on a bluff near the N.E. end of Grant 

 Island. A very large domestic cat, also, was seen 

 on the S. E. point, doubtless another relic of the 

 first settlers. 



The rocks chiefly to be met with at Port Western 

 are analogous to those of the Carboniferous series. 

 Over its eastern shore rises a range of woody hills to 

 the height of between five and seven hundred feet, 

 stretching away in a N.E. direction. This harbour 

 presents one very curious feature, namely, a sort of 

 canal or gut in the mud flats that front the eastern 

 side of Grant Island. Its depth varies from six to 

 seven fathoms, whilst the w-idth is half-a-mile. 



