April 1828. 



OAK HE AM OF THE WAGEll. 



165 



" As our present situation was completely exposed to westerly 

 winds, I went to examine a deep bight in the southern shore, 

 which proved to be a good harbour, perfectly sheltered from 

 all winds, with a depth of three and a half fathoms over a fine 

 sandy bottom. In the afternoon we weighed anchor and 

 warped into a berth in the inner harbour, where we moored in 

 three fathoms. I found lying, just above high-water mark, 

 half buried in sand, the beam of a large vessel^ We imme- 

 diately conjectured that it had formed part of the ill-fated 

 Wager, one of Lord Anson's squadron (of whose loss the tale 

 is so well told in the narratives of Byron and Bulkeley) : the 

 dimensions seemed to correspond with her size, and the con- 

 jecture was strengthened by the circumstance that one of 

 the knees that attached it to the ship's side had been cut, 

 which occurred in her case, when her decks were scuttled to get 

 at the provisions ; all the bolts were much corroded ; but the 

 wood, with the exception of the outside being worm-eaten, was 

 perfectly sound. Our carpenter pronounced it to be English 

 oak. 



" The land about this harbour is similar to that about Port 

 Henry. Its shores are rocky, with some patches of sandy 

 beach, but every where covered with trees, or an impervious 

 jungle, composed of dwarfish trees and shrubs. The land, in 

 most places, rises abruptly from the shore to mountains, some 

 of which attain an altitude of more than two thousand feet, and 

 are quite bare at their summits and on their sides, except in 

 sheltered ravines, where a thick growth of trees is found. These 

 mountains, or at least their bases, where we could break off* 

 specimens, were of basalt, with large masses of quartz imbedded 

 in it ; but on some parts of the shores the rocks were of very 

 coarse granite. 



"As in the vicinity of Port Henry, the thickness of the 

 jungle prevented our going far inland ; the greatest distance 

 was gained by Lieut. Skyring, who, with his wonted zeal to 

 prosecute the survey, ascended some of the mountains for the 



* Length twenty feet five inches and a half, sided twelve inches, and 

 moulded eight inches and a half. 



