Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/221

( 196 ) is varied by hills and vallies, the soil of the former being a stiff clay, with very lofty gum-trees; and of the latter, a rich black mould several feet deep, except in a few spots where a black peaty earth was found. The grass in these vallies is extremely luxuriant; some of them are over-grown with under-wood, while others possess scarce a single shrub. In this track are several small runs of water, emptying themselves into the sea by deep ravines.

Our examination of Western Port was unavoidably confined to the space of a few miles on the western shore; this was principally owing to the man who carried the whole of our bread, having absconded soon after quitting the camp, and to our being deceived in the