As the good Peron does not mention discovering that his pockets had been picked after his interview with this choice and humorous rogue, it will be agreed that he escaped from the interview with singular good fortune. The naturalist presented a lively picture of the port of Sydney, which even in those very early days was becoming a place of consequence. There were ships from the Thames and the Shannon, brought out to engage in whaling, which was an important industry then and for many years after; ships from China; ships laden with coal bound for India and the Cape; ships engaged in the Bass Strait sealing trade; ships which pursued a profitable but risky business in contraband with the Spanish South American colonies; ships fitting out for the North American fur trade; ships destined for enterprises among the South Sea Islands; and, lastly, there was the ship of "the intrepid M. Flinders" getting ready to continue the navigations of that explorer in northern and north-western Australia. "All this ensemble of great operations, all these movements of vessels, give to these shores a character of importance and activity that we did not expect to meet with in regions so little known in Europe, and our interest redoubled with our admiration." Above all, one is glad to notice, Peron was interested in the boat in which George Bass had accomplished that "audacieuse navigation," the discovery of Bass Strait, in 1797 and 1798. It was, at the date of this visit to Sydney, preserved in the port with a sort of "religious respect," and small souvenirs made out of a portion of its keel were regarded as precious relics by those who possessed them. Governor King believed that he could not make a more honourable present to Baudin than a piece of the wood of the boat enclosed in a silver frame, upon which he had had engraved a short statement of the facts of Bass's remarkable exploit.