civilization, but they would remain, as many of them now are, actually incapable of communicating with many inhabitants of their own districts. For it must be borne in mind, that very frequently, a tribe inhabiting one valley is ignorant of the language spoken in the next. So that to instruct them only in their own forms of speech, is not only difficult, since, on the death of each master someone else has to learn the grammar and vocabulary to supply his place, but absolutely tends to perpetuate the isolation in which the natives now live; and which is the main cause of the little development of their minds, and the inferior position they occupy in the scale of civilization. LEAVE HOLDFAST ROAD. We sailed from Holdfast Road, on December 7th, but in consequence of light winds, with occasional very heavy squalls, it was not until the afternoon of the 10th, that we got out to sea by Backstairs Passage, between Cape Jervis and Kangaroo Island. On the morning of the 8th, we were obliged to shorten all sail to a very heavy squall from West-South-West, which announced its appearance by a distant roaring, some time before it was seen on the water. These squalls generally succeed the hot winds that prevail at this season in South Australia, coming from the interior.* (*Footnote. During the hot winds we observed the thermometer, in the direct rays of the sun, to be 135 degrees.) ARRIVE AT SYDNEY. Easterly winds prevented us from entering Bass Strait until the 16th. In reaching in towards the coast, seven or eight miles west of Cape Otway, we found that it projected three or four miles too much on the charts. Bass Strait appeared under a different aspect from what it had been accustomed to wear; light winds, by no means in keeping with our impatience, detaining us till the 21st, when we got a kick out of the eastern entrance from a strong south-wester, and afterwards had a good run up to Sydney, where we arrived on the 23rd. CHAPTER 2.7. Land Sales. Unsettled boundaries. New Zealand. Hunter River. Midnight alarm. Ludicrous scene. Changes in Officers of ship. Leave Sydney. Port Stephens. Corrobory. Gale at Cape Upstart. Magnetical Island. Halifax Bay. Astonish a Native. Description of country. Correct chart. Restoration Island. Picturesque arrival. Interview with the Natives from Torres Strait. Their weapons. Shoal near Endeavour River. Discover good passage through Endeavour Strait. Booby Island. New birds. The Painted Quail. LAND SALES.