i 4 6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



Diinbar, though commanded by an experienced officer familiar with the Port, crashed upon 

 the rocks, and went down with the loss of all hands but one, who was ultimately rescued. 



North of " The Gap " the cliff again rises, and then descends, trending at the same 

 time inland. Its extreme point is the Inner South Head, on which is the fixed red light 

 marking the entrance, and serving also as a warning against the short reef in which the 

 headland terminates. Even on a moonless night the grandeur of the entrance is visible. 

 The tall steep cliff of the North Head stands up sheer on the right, dark and sombre, 

 and straight in front is the bold outline of the Middle Head. But the breadth of the 

 entrance and the depth of the water permit the vessel to proceed with unchecked speed; 

 and, in fact, nothing so impresses the traveller arriving by night as the ease; and confi- 

 dence with which the largest vessel is taken in, so different from the cautious creeping 

 way in which harbours are frequently entered. 



Once inside the North Head the traveller will notice that there is a large opening 

 to the right. This is the entrance to North Harbour and Middle Harbour; but it 

 is not the route to the city. On the port bow is seen a light-ship, anchored there to 

 mark the only obstruction in the entrance a rocky patch known as the " Sow and 

 Pigs." Between these rocks and the nearest headland on either side lies the shoalest 

 part of the entrance, but having on it twenty feet of water at low-tide. To admit the 

 passage of the largest ships at all times a deep cut has been dredged in the eastern 

 channel, the course of which is indicated at night by lights along the shore, and in the 

 day-time by obelisks. Steering through this channel, and passing Shark Point and Shark 

 Island names only too suggestive of a clanger in which the Harbour abounds the 

 magnificent sweep of the shore-line of Rose Bay is seen on the left, and on the right 

 Bradley's Head projecting into the water like a huge and lofty mole. Here begins the 

 Inner Harbour, and heedless of the sleepers in the villas that crown the heights the 

 cautious commander wakes all the echoes by a blast of his fog-horn, for he is entering 

 now the region of careful navigation, and is under strict regulations to announce his 

 advance and check his speed ; for this Inner Harbour is alive and active by night as 

 well as by day with colliers, ferry-boats, coasters and fishing-craft. 



At this point the signs of a great city burst into view. All ahead is light and 

 life ; lights twinkling through the trees of the shore on either hand ; lights moving 

 rapidly over the surface of the water between all the dark points in front ; lights beyond 

 the red spark which caps the round tower of Fort Denison ; and lines of lights where 

 the streets of the city climb and extend along the ridges of the hills. The great ship 

 moves slowly past the round tower, for coming out of different bays ferry-boats, to and 

 from North Shore, are crossing and re-crossing, and approaching may be the last boat 

 to Manly, and the nightly coasting-steamers leaving for Newcastle or the Illawarra port^. 

 On the left lie the men-o'-war at anchor, and perhaps from some deck, where the spread of 

 bunting and the brilliant illuminations betoken festival, may come strains of music, while 

 swift launches are darting hither and thither, keeping up communication with the shore. 



Between Lavender Bay on the one side and Circular Quay on the other the lights 

 multiply and thicken white lights from overhanging windows, red lights and green from 

 piers and ships, reproducing themselves as luminous columns in the depths. If the 

 water be still they are so many lines of many-coloured flame, but the plash of an oar 



