greatest. The three islands which form these passages, are Mono or Apes island, Huevo, and Chaca-chacare. The first is about 1 mile square. It has two lofty hills, from whence the land on the south shore shelves down to the sea, in ridges singularly sharp, sinking into deep valleys on either side, the faces of which are mostly cultivated, although some of them are so steep that their inclination above the horizon cannot be less than 50°. Seven families, (of which only one is English) cultivate cotton here; and one of them, M. Dehort, raises a little sugar. Neither this nor any of the other islands of the Bocas have any water, the inhabitants either procure it from Chaguaramus, or save the rain in cisterns.

Huevo, (Egg Island,) is small and belongs to a Frenchman. About a fourth of it is in cultivation.

Chaca-chacare was granted about ten years past by governor Don Chacone, to the present proprietor, Mr. Carey, who cleared and cultivated it with cotton. Here is a pond of mineral salt like those at St. Kitts, Anguila, &c., but no use is yet made of this. When we were among these islands we scarcely had any rain, whilst we saw deluges pouring down about Port Spain, and although Trinidad has experienced a very long wet season, yet Chaca-chacare has been in want of sufficient rain to bring forward the crop of cotton, most of which is ruined. This usual dryness and the continued draught of wind occasioned by the Bocas, render these little islands remarkably healthy. We had indeed the misfortune to lose Lieut. Gosling, Dr. Wallace, our surgeon, and a seaman, during the few days we lay at Chaca-chacare, but they all died from causes not local. At Chaca-chacare we caught a green turtle, which being made into soup, was more than our ship's company could eat in one day, and once we found entangled in our turtle net an immense flat-fish—a kind of ray, which most of our people ate with great relish. It measured fourteen feet from fin to fin, and ten feet in length, without including its tail, which was long and small. Whilst we were among the Bocas, we never saw less than three whales each day, on the most moderate average.* *

Having passed the islands of the Bocas, the northern mountainous ridge presents itself shelving down in many places close to the sea, and as the heavy appearance of an endless forest is hereabouts more broken by cultivation than elsewhere, the forms of the hills very beautiful, and much varied by vallies intersecting them in opposite directions, and the shore filled with every change of rocks, sandy bays, and overhanging trees, it would be difficult to find any sea-coast, or even shore

One morning being in my boat sounding, I saw a thresher beating a whale, which seemed so exhausted as to be incapable of much resistance. The thresher seemed to be tired also. He lay quiet about ten minutes; and then recommenced his attack on the whale, who now lay defenceless on the surface of the water. Nothing was seen of the thresher but the enormous fins, (apparently ten or twelve feet long,) with which he beat his antagonist, rearing them right up and poising them in the air a few moments, as if to take a good aim for his furious blow. After persecuting the whale for some time longer, he left him. I saw also two more battles between these monsters of the deep within the space of ten days; but in these the blows from the threshers were not so frequent, the whales being in full vigour, leaping totally out of the water, and apparently endeavouring to strike their enemy with their tails as they fell.

of a lake, more interesting. This scenery continues about eight miles; where it is totally changed by a low swampy shore, abruptly turning to the south. In this most ill-chosen corner stands the town of Port Spain, and from hence nothing is to be seen to the south but an immense apparent flat, bounded as far the eye can reach by disgusting mangroves. Some solitary hills rise out of the plain, but do not adorn it. The foot of the mountains is here some distance from the sea, leaving a large well-cultivated plain, at the south-east part of which the town stands. It is large, regularly built, chiefly of wood, and is rapidly increasing. The roads near it are extremely good, well laid out, and bounded by hedges of lime bushes, in some parts interspersed with rows of orange trees. Immediately to windward of it is a vast swamp of some miles extent, chiefly overgrown with mangrove trees. The air which is blown from it to Port Spain is extremely injurions; but cutting down and clearing it, unless by very small pieces annually, would be a dangerous experiment, as nothing proves more fatal in the West Indies than the effluvia of the putrifying vegetable matter on newly cleared land.

The water in the road of Port Spain is very shallow, a mile and a half off there are only three fathoms, and it is extremely foul and muddy; nearer the shore it is proportionally more filthy. In addition to this evil, ships at this anchorage lay exposed to the bad air from the same great swamp, which is so fatal to Port Spain in the rainy season. There can be no wonder at the mortality which prevails among the crews of the merchant ships, which are obliged to lay here any considerable time. The course of the tides, both ebb and flood, being each checked by an opposing shore in this corner where the town stands, they naturally must deposit there much of the mud, which they carry along with them. The consequence is, that in process of time, Port Spain will be an inland town; this operation of nature is going on fast, but the evil seems to be without remedy. Even the Caroni, (near the town,) though it pours out a furious stream in the rainy season, is not able to wash away the muddy flat which is constantly increasing across its mouth. It has been proposed to cut a new channel for this river nearer to the town, in hopes that its stream would prevent more mud from collecting in this bight, but as it evidently wants force to clear its own mouth, little can be expected from such an undertaking. From Port Spain the mangroves bounding the great swamp extend seven miles, and have so encroached upon the sea that not a foot of ground or even mud is to be seen as you row along the edge of them. At this distance cultivation begins again, in a small degree, and as nearly all the land along the sea shore from hence to Point Icaque is the property of individuals, the margin of the coast is everywhere spotted with houses, and cane patches, but which bear a very small proportion to the quantity of uncleared woods which divide them.

From this and the preceding remarks some idea may be formed of the quantity of land cultivated on the west side. In the interior a slip of land is planted all the way from Port Spain to St. Joseph, and thence, with some interruptions, to Arima. There are also some estates extending a few miles inland, at the back of Naparima. It would be easy, from the documents in the Surveyor-General's office, to ascertain

the quantity of land which is already private property; but it would be very difficult to determine how much of that is cleared and cultivated. Probably there may be about fifty square miles in cultivation on the west side, and interior, and eight or ten on the east, but this is a mere rude guess.

(To be continued.)

AUSTRALIAN NAVIGATION.-Directions for the coast about Rottenest

Island.

The following, which has been transmitted to Her Majesty's Government, we lose no time in publishing for the benefit of navigation.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Perth,
Oct. 15th, 1840.

His Excellency the Governor, in directing the publication of a communication which has been received from the Honourable the Surveyor-general, relative to the establishment of two beacons as guides to vessels approaching Gages Roads through the southern passage, near Rottenest, together with the necessary sailing instructions for vessels approaching this island, avails himself of the opportunity thus afforded him of expressing his high sense of the important and valuable services rendered on this occasion by Capt. Wickham, aided by the zealous co-operation of Lieut. Stokes, and the officers and crew of H.M.S. Beagle, whereby a lasting benefit has been conferred, not only on the inhabitants of Western Australia, but to all persons in any way connected with commerce and navigation in these seas.

By His Excellency's command,

PETER BROWN.

Survey Office, Perth, Oct. 15th, 1840. SIR.I have the honour to report, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, my return, yesterday evening, in H.M.S. Beagle, from Rottenest Island, where, by the kindness of Capt. Wickham, and the zealous co-operation of Lieut. Stokes, and the officers and crew of that ship, two very serviceable beacons have been erected upon Duck Rock and Fishermans Rock, for pointing out the best navigation into Gages Roads, through the southern passage, near Rottenest. These sea marks, and the admirable chart of the island and passage, constructed by the indefatigable perseverance of Lieut. Stokes and his assistants, have enabled me to forward to His Excellency the enclosed sailing directions for the vicinity of Rottenest, which I beg leave to recommend should be made public as early as possible, -no minute chart or instructions for that navigation, having hitherto been published for the guidance of mariners. J. S. ROE, Surveyor-General.

To the Hon. the Colonial Serretary.

SAILING DIRECTIONS FOR THE NAVIGATION ABOUT ROTTENEST ISLAND. ROTTENEST ISLAND, six miles in length, E.b.N. and W.b.S., with an extreme breadth of two miles and a half, has an irregular hummocky surface, not much wooded, and may now be distinguished from Garden Island, and the contiguous main land by a white obelisk, fifteen feet in height, with a pole in the middle, of the same length, which has recently been erected on its highest part near the centre of the island. This sea-mark being elevated about 157 feet above the level of the sea, may be seen from a ship's deck in clear weather, at the distance

of seven or eight leagues, and will shortly give place to a lighthouse of greater elevation. Its position, according to observations in H.M.S. Beagle, is latitude 32° 0' 14" south, longitude 115° 29' 6" east from Greenwich.

To round the island on its north side, a ship should not approach nearer than one mile in order to avoid the Horseshoe Rock, which lies threequarters of a mile off shore, at the distance of two miles north 39° east from the island's west extremity, and Roes Reef, situate three quarters of a mile north 16° west from a small rock with a cask beacon upon it, about half a cable's length from the island's north-east point. The beacon is upon Duck Rock, and the projection near it is Bathurst Point. A ship will be clear to the northward of Horseshoe Rock while Duck Rock beacon is kept open of the north point of Rottenest; and Roes Reef may be cleared on the north by keeping the west end of Rottenest, (Cape Vlaming,) open of the north point, until Duck Rock bears south; a course may then be shaped about E.b.S., for a remarkable white sand patch on the main, which will be distinctly visible three miles and a half north from the entrance to Swan River; and when some rocky islets near the south-east side of Rottenest are seen to the S.S.W., opening round the east end of another small rock with a cask beacon upon it, one mile and a quarter S.E. E. from Duck Rock, a S.E.b.E. course will conduct into Gages Roads.

Kingston Spit, in front of Thompsons Bay, extends two miles east from Duck Rock, and a long mile N.E.b.E. from the beacon last mentioned, which has recently been placed upon Fishermans Rock, a small mass of white rocks about two cables length north-east from the sandy east point of Rottenest Island, distinguished by the name of Point Philip. To clear Kingston Spit on the north, keep Duck Rock a little shut into the south of a bare pointed hill near the northern shore of Rottenest; or should the bare hill not be distinguished, keep the north extreme of Rottenest to the southward of W. S.; and to clear Kingston Spit on the south, keep the south extreme of Rottenest (Point Parker) open of the next projection to the north-east of it (S.W.b.W.) Thompson's Bay is a fit resort for boats only, being full of shoal rocky patches and sand banks, to the distance of a mile from the shore,-the remainder of Kingston Spit being occupied by foul uneven ground, with depths varying between five and two fathoms; near its north and east edges are seven fathoms, deepening to nine and ten in half a mile. Between Point Philip and the next projection, a long half mile to the S.S.W. (Bickley Point) there is good shelter in Beagle's Anchorage from all the usual north-west and south-west gales of winter, the best berth being in four fathoms water, sandy ground, nearly half a mile south from Fisherman's Rock, and a quarter of a mile north-east from two small rocks called the Twins,-the south point of Rottenest being also in a line with Bickley Point. In this situation a vessel should moor, on account of the limited space.

On the south-east side of Rottenest there is a good channel, two miles and a half wide, called the Southern Passage into Gage's Road,-the only obstruction in it being a patch of three fathoms, sand and weeds, called Middle Bank, in a line between Point Philip and the Champion Rock, at one mile and threequarters from the former, and one mile and a quarter from the latter. After a gale, the north-west swell round the east end of Rottenest, crossing the oceanroll from the south-west, breaks heavily at this spot, and indicates its position; it may, however, be avoided by borrowing towards the rocky islets near Rottennest, which have no dangers fronting them beyond a cable's length; and the bank is cleared to the eastward when the beacon on Duck Rock opens round to the north-eastward of that on Fisherman's Rock. These two beacons in a line lead also about a cable's length to the north-east of the Champion Rock, which has only nine feet water upon it, with four and five fathoms all around. This danger, which lies on the south-east side of the southern passage, is at the north-west extremity of a collection of rocks and foul ground that extend two miles and a half Ñ.N.W. § W. from the Stragglers toward the east end of ENLARGED SERIES.-NO. 6.-VOL. FOR 1841. 3 F

Rottenest, without any channel amongst them, which can yet be pronounced safe. In working up for the southern passage with a northerly wind, the Champion Rock and dangers in its vicinity may be avoided by keeping the high lump of rock, called the Mewstone, open to the south-west of the largest and highest of the Stragglers, until the south-west end of Rottenest shuts in round its south point, bearing about W. N. This last mark will carry a ship clear between Champion Rock and Middle Bank; but should the Mewstone and Stragglers not be satisfactorily distinguished, the beacon on Fisherman's Rock should not be brought to bear more to the westward than north 30° west by compass, until the south-west point is shut in by the south point of Rottenest, as before shewn.

Approaching Rottenest and Southern Passage.-In steering for Rottenest Island and the southern passage from the westward, the shore should not be approached nearer than half a mile, and the bays on each side of the south point are foul and rocky. Porpoise Bay, on its north-east side, is also fronted by a low rocky mass, called Direction Islet, which lies one mile and a quarter east 23° north from the south point, and has deep water to within a cable's length of its south-east side. The summit of Direction Islet in a line with a hill with some trees on its summit (Tree Hill), about half a mile to the north of the south point, leads directly over Middle Bank; therefore Tree Hill a little open to the north of Direction Islet leads clear to the north of Middle Bank,and the same hill on with south point of Direction Islet leads clear on its south side. The next grey rock (Wallace Islet), half a mile to the N.N.E., is very rugged, and lies close in to Bickley Point,-it has two and a half fathoms, rocky ground, nearly a quarter of a mile south-east of it, which may be avoided in hauling up for Beagles Anchorage by keeping the south point on with the southern extreme of Direction Islet until Fishermans Rock bears north. The Twin Rocks lie near each other, a quarter of a mile north-east from Wallace Islet, and are bold and steep. Round their north-east side is Beagle's Anchorage, which is a secure retreat in winter.

Currents. In beating up to Rottenest against a strong northerly or southerly breeze, much ground will be gained by working in the stream of the island, in order to avoid the strength of a lee current, which is found on such occasions to run at the rate of one to one and a half miles an hour. The Beagle found it high water at full and change in 'Thompson's Bay at 7h.50m. P.M.,-tide ebbing ten hours, and flowing fourteen hours, with a rise not exceeding thirty-two inches.

Winds.-Sea and land breezes prevail in summer. From March to October, north-west gales may be expected, rising from the northward, preceded by a fall in the barometer,-blowing longest at north-west,-strongest between W.N.W. and west,—and moderating after a hard squall from the south-west. J. S. ROE, Surveyor-General.

Western Australia, Oct. 11th, 1840.

THE APPROACHES TO AUCKLAND.

WHILE we are on the subject of Australian Navigation, we may also introduce here the following extract from the shipping news of a late number of the Times Journal relating to an adjacent part of the world, namely the north-east part of New Zealand. We copy it as it stands in that journal and have added various necessary corrections to make it intelligible to seamen, which perhaps the writer originally intended, but his meaning appears to have been so much departed from, that in its present condition it is next to useless.