in which vessels can anchor safely; and in one small bay off a stream, named in the chart Murray River, we saw two large vessels lying in shelter. I remained two days in Port William, sounding, dredging, examining its shores, and getting the data for a more detailed plan of it than is given in the Admiralty chart.
As we gradually lost sight of Stewart's Island, in departing on our course to the west coast, it became wreathed in dark tempestuous clouds; while before us, over the valley of the Waiau River, the twilight was clear but lurid. Partly sailing and partly towing we passed the white cliffs of Chalky Island, which remind one of the Isle of Wight; and rounding the Garden Islands at 11 a.m., soon after anchored in the capacious and landlocked harbour of Southport.
The south end of the port is named Lee Bay, the shore being exposed to the north-west gales. The beach there is shingly, and rises 50 feet to a level and finely timbered flat, on walking across which for a distance of 1½ mile I came out on the shore of Preservation Inlet. The extent of this level neck of land between the two inlets does not exceed 1000 or 1200 acres in extent. The flats are covered with a fair growth of timber, comprising red, black, and a few white pines, totara, mapau, iron-wood, carmachia, birch, and many other trees of the southern parts of the province. Excepting the supplejacks in a few places, the forest is quite open, and much more easily traversed than I expected. It is the shrub-growth around the shores which is so remarkable for its beauty and diversity. No artificial arrangement could effect the rich and graceful variety of some of the natural groups of shrubs that clothe the little headlands and rocky islands. It is probable that the Garden Islands were so named from their excelling in this respect.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 22nd of July, we were oflp the south entrance to Dusky Bay. It was quite dark when we passed Breaksea Sound, the night being mild and fine, with a light southerly breeze. The sea was brilliantly illuminated with large fiery masses, which proved to be compound polyps forming tubular masses sometimes 12 inches in length and 2 in diameter.
The breeze continued favourable until daybreak, when it became calm, the air being deliciously fresh and mild. When off Nancy Sound, at a distance of 7 miles from the shore, we had a panoramic view embracing the whole coast from Milford Sound to Dusky Bay. Its aspect is gloomy and forbidding in the extreme. The black mountains rise abruptly from the water's edge, with a slope rarely less than 25°, and often 50° to 60°, but not forming sheer precipices. The walls of the Sounds are equally abrupt, and it is obvious at the first glance that they cannot have originated as arms of the sea, or be due in any degree to its erosive action;
