His Excellency, Sir John Franklin, requesting that I would send the Vansittart round to Macquarie Harbour, on the west coast, after a party of runaway convicts, we were for a time deprived of her services. As the rise of the tide in the Tamar was sufficient for laying the ship ashore, I took the opportunity of doing so on the west bank, just above Garden Island, to examine her bottom, and found it so defective that 130 sheets of copper were required to make good the damage; in some places the two-inch sheathing was completely destroyed. The original settlement, York Town, was at the head of a shoal bight just above us; I found it almost quite in ruins, though there were one or two of the original settlers there; the chief part of the inhabitants were a lawless set, who were said to live, chiefly, by plunder. LAUNCESTON. Whilst the ship underwent these repairs, the triangulation was extended to Launceston,* at the head of the Tamar, thirty miles from the sea. Large vessels are prevented from approaching close to the town by a bar. The greatest difficulty found in navigating the river is Whirlpool Reach; near the middle of this lies a rock, an attempt to remove which, by blasting, was made; the top was blown off, so that now vessels are liable to be carried upon it, whereas, before, when it broke the surface, such was not the case. (*Footnote. The latitude of the Port office I found to be 41 degrees 26 minutes 5 seconds South longitude 4 degrees 42 minutes 24 seconds West of Sydney. High water 3 hours 35 minutes; springs rise 12 feet. During the winter, after rains, the stream sets down for days together at the rate of from one to three knots.) The valley, through which the Tamar winds, is narrow, with sides generally steep and densely wooded; in some places, the reaches are wide, and the hills recede; on their lower slopes, near Launceston, are situated many pretty villas, peeping through garden shrubberies; whilst further down are the straggling habitations of the more recent settlers, surrounded by clear patches, with difficulty won from the forest by the axe and the firebrand. On the whole, therefore, it may be said that art and nature combine to render beautiful the scenery on the banks of this important stream.