296 CAPABILITIES OF PORT WESTERN. 



have exhibited, seized the reptile by the back of the 

 neck and killed it. We found that it had already 

 swallowed one of the young ones, which had so 

 extended the skin, and made so large a lump, that 

 we were quite puzzled to know how it could have 

 been got down. 



We were astonished to find the tide here nearly 

 an hour later than at Port Phillip, and higher by 

 six feet. The cause of this peculiarity is no doubt 

 to be attributed to the fact of the tides at Port 

 Western being influenced by the easterly flood- 

 stream. The bad weather we experienced during 

 our stay enabled us to judge of the capabilities of the 

 Port, which we were glad to find the finest we had 

 yet seen in Bass Srait, not so much, however, from 

 its size, for above Grant Island the extent of deep 

 water is limited, as from the great facility of access. 



On the 19th we left Port Western, passing out 

 by keeping an isolated piece of table land, called 

 Tortoise Head, on the S.E. extremity of French 

 Island, open of the N.E. point of Grant Island. 

 The only danger is a sandbank, lying in the centre 

 of the channel, four miles within the entrance. It 

 may always be avoided by keeping a cable's length 

 from the eastern shore. 



The western half of the south side of Grant 

 Island, is a line of cliffs, from one to three hundred 

 feet in height. A remarkable pyramidal rock 

 marks the point where this terminates, after which 

 a long range of low hills, covered with scrub, 

 stretches to Cape Wollami, the helmet-shaped head- 



