144 CHARLES HEDLEY. 
and blew most violently, so that we were soon reduced to close 
reefed topsails and trysails on the off shore tack. The storm 
ceased, however, soon after midnight. 
25th. S. Lat. 33° 50’. E. Lon. 151° 52’. Wind variable. Av. 4k. 
Sunday —To-day is Christmas, but we are disappointed in our 
hopes of eating our Christmas dinner ashore. The entrance of 
Port Jackson, with the lighthouse, was, however, visible in the 
afternoon, when it unfortunately fell calm, preventing us from 
reaching the port this day. 
26th. Atdaylight we commenced beating in to the mouth of 
the harbor, which we entered at eight o’clock, and at nine we 
anchored below Garden Island, and about 24 miles from the town 
of Sydney. The harbor is one of the most beautiful I have ever 
seen, the verdure descending to the water’s edge. It is so land- 
locked and its waters are so smooth, that it presents rather the 
appearance of a pond of fresh water than an inlet of the sea. It 
is a long, crooked bay, with a series of beautiful coves along each 
shore, and containing many small islands. The depth of the water 
is everywhere nearly the same (from 9 to 12 fms.) there being 
only one shoal in the harbor (the Sow and Pigs, near the entrance) 
so that for the purpose of commerce it is one of the finest in the 
world. In the afternoon I took a boat and examined the shores. 
They were composed of horizontal strata of a coarse but uniform 
sandstone, which was worn into the most singular shapes by the 
action of the water and tides, which rise and fall here from 6 to 
8 feet. The rocks of the first and second subregions (which only 
were uncovered this afternoon) were inhabited by several species 
of crabs of medium size, of the genera Grapsus. Cyclograpsus, 
Cancer, etc., and a great variety of littoral mollusks of the genera 
Trochus, Monodonta, Nerita, Purpura, Inttorina, Siphonaria and 
Patella, there being in all about eight species of these genera, all 
very common, and all of about equal size (the Littorina excepted), 
three-fourths of an inch indiameter. A small dark green Asterina 
was also very common; and a Nemertes and a few Amphipods 
(Anorchestes) were found. A little gregarious bivalve resembling 
