404 SAIL FROM SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 



bitants : at one time the thermometer at the public 

 offices was 158°. 



We sailed from South Australia on February 7 th, 

 but it was not until the forenoon of the 9th that we 

 cleared Backstairs Passage, passing half a mile from 

 the reef fronting the east end of Kangaroo Island, 

 in 16 fathoms ; the north-eastern part of this 

 island is a steep rocky shore, with few sinuosities. 

 Southerly winds brought us in sight of the land at 

 daylight on the 11th. The most remarkable 

 features were Mounts Gambler and Schanck ; 

 the summit of the latter, the least conspicuous, is 

 flat, with a hollow in the centre. According to my 

 observations, it in long. 10° 29' W. of Sydney. 

 The ship's position, just before dark, was ten miles 

 N. 65° W. from Cape Bridge water, which is a hum- 

 mocky cliffy-faced point of land, separated from the 

 main by a low neck. 



February 12. — Finding ourselves still off this 

 part of the coast, which was laid down three miles 

 too much to the northward, I resolved, for the better 

 means of determining this fact by observations on 

 shore, to go to the nearest anchorage, Portland Bay, 

 where we arrived in the evening. I had another 

 object in visiting this place, namely, that of helping 

 to determine the 14Lst meridian, which had been 

 fixed on as the western boundary of the colony 

 of New South Wales. 



The approach to this anchorage is remarkable, 

 and cannot escape the memory of any one who has 



