Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/319

Rh This blending of the practical with the boastful and poetical did not fail to amuse the listeners. It was overheard by a Melbourne man, who remarked that it was no more than you could expect of those fellows in Sydney, who were always on the lookout for something to bolster up the decaying village they lived in.

Frank and Fred agreed that the Sydney advocate, whatever might be his practical view of the anchorage of the navies of the world, was justified in his praise of the beauty of Port Jackson, while his claims as to its harbor facilities were not overdrawn. Certainly if there is any harbor in the world where the navies of the world might anchor, it is the one at Sydney; the entrance between the Heads is a mile wide, and vessels drawing twenty-seven feet of water can come in at any time. The bay extends inland about twenty miles, and is completely landlocked; there is deep water in most parts of it, and in many places ships can lie quite close to the shore. The shores are generally bold and rocky, and some of the cliffs rise to a height of two hundred feet and more. The borders of the bay consist of a great many promontories jutting into it, and the spaces between these promontories form little bays or harbors by themselves. Islands in the bay add to its beauty, and it is no wonder that Frank and Fred were more than ordinarily enthusiastic over the harbor of Sydney.