MR. FORSYTH. 455 



from it, we had soundings of from 18 to 20 fathoms; 

 afterwards the depth was 30 and 40 ; whilst in the 

 fair way nine miles from the opposite entrance of the 

 Strait we had 3J. Mr. Forsyth, in the Vansittart, 

 had again preceded our arrival in the river Taraar 

 by a few days. His visit to the west coast had been 

 attended with considerable risk.* Still, with his 

 usual zeal, he had not lost sight of the important 

 branch of the service in which he was employed, 

 and had made a survey of Port Davy and the coast 

 to the South-west Cape, which completed our chart 

 of the south-western shores of Tasmania. 



The coast on either side of the Tamar still re- 

 mained to be surveyed, and accordingly I undertook 

 the examination of that to the eastward, whilst Mr. 

 Fitzmaurice, although even now scarcely conva- 

 lescent, proceeded to the westward. 



Without entering into details, I may briefly say, 



* Mr. Forsyth entered and examined Macquarie Harbour in 

 his boat, and found on an island, in the head of it, two men in a 

 state of starvation. These he took with him and returned to 

 the mouth of the harbour ; but a gale of wind having set in in 

 the meantime, the Vansittart had sought shelter in Port Davy, 

 lying ninety miles to the southward. Day after day passed 

 away without any sign of the cutter. The increase of two, re- 

 quiring much more than could be afforded, to their small party, 

 soon consumed their stock of provisions, sparingly dealt out ; 

 so that, to preserve the lives of his party, Mr. Forsyth was 

 obliged to risk a boat-passage, in the depth of winter, and along 

 a storm-beaten coast, to Poi-t Davy, which he most providentially 

 reached in safety ; though, at one time, in spite of the precaution 

 taken to raise the gunwale by strips of blanket, the sea was so 

 great that they expected each moment would be their last. 



