During our short stay at the Post Office, I learned from Mr. Inglis and his brother-in-law, Mr. Fiskin, that the soil in the surrounding valley and on the sides of the hills is of the most exuberant fertility. Wheat, on Mr. Inglis' station, had actually attained the astonishing height of seven feet, and the produce in grain is equally extraordinary. Mr. Fiskin had not actually measured the quantity, but, being experienced in such matters, he had calculated that it must have been not less than sixty-five bushels an acre. There has apparently been much volcanic action at some time or other in this region, and the soil in these spots of surpassing fertility consists in all likelihood of decomposed lava. It is the existence of such a soil, and the experience they have had for ages of its extraordinary productiveness, that makes the poor Italian cling to his Mount Vesuvius, at the risk of being overwhelmed, like the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, by one of its awful eruptions. And why should soil of equal powers of production continue to lie waste and unoccupied in one of the most easily accessible of the provinces of the British Empire, in which, moreover, there are no such eruptions to be feared; especially when millions of our population are on the very brink of starvation for want of the smallest portion of land to raise bread for their families?

The next stage, from Bacchus' Marsh to Keillor, was twenty-five miles. It consisted of a series of very steep ascents from the Marsh, and then grassy plains of the second class, destitute of timber, on which a flock of sheep was occasionally scen browsing in the distance, under the charge of a solitary shepherd and his dogs.

Keillor is a very singular locality. It consists of a circular plain, of about half a mile in diameter, surrounded by a regular terrace, presenting a remarkably uniform face all round to the plain, except at one point where a creek-the Saltwater River-which has broken into the plain and flowed along it for a little way under the terrace, breaks out again and continues its course to

Hobson's Bay. The Keillor Inn is built on the circular plain, near a pool of water; and as the landlorda Scotch Highlander, of the name of M'Kecheran-had just taken a crop of wheat off the plain, which left its surface of a brownish hue, the whole remarkable enclosure, when viewed from above, had exactly the appearance of a bowl or round basin about two-thirds filled with raw sugar. It is unquestionably the crater of an extinct volcano; and it appears to me to be equally evident, from the manner in which it has been filled up to its present level the whole way across, that this filling up must have taken place when the whole country in that neighbourhood was many a fathom deep under the waves of the sea. If the volcano was originally formed on land, the land must have been subsequently submerged, and afterwards raised again above the level of the ocean--which would account for the phenomenon noticed by Sir Thomas Mitchell, that of the Glenelg River having cut its way through the long line of limestone cliffs that now form its banks— for the present level of the land may be somewhat lower than it was when the volcano originally burst forth and the Glenelg River forced its way to the sea. But if, on the contrary, the volcano was of submarine origin, its vast caldron must have ceased to boil, with the liquid fire that originally filled it, for ages before it became dry land, to admit of that caldron being filled up to its present level by the gradual spreading out of the matter washed into it by the sea along its unequal bottom. At all events, the crater at Keillor must unquestionably be classified with the Lake Murdiwarry, and the numerous circular lakes of the western plains. How extremely interesting, therefore, will it not be to the scientific world to have as minute an examination -whenever such an examination may be made-of the various phenomena of this great theatre of volcanic action as that which has been so ably instituted into those of the mountains of Auvergne in France? I question whether there is any part of Europe in which the traces of such action are clearly discernible over so

extensive a tract of country as that of the extinct volcanoes of Phillipsland.

The mail usually stops for the night at Keillor, and the kindness of Mr. Inglis and his friends had not enabled us to reach that station at an earlier hour than usual. But the postman-who had driven us all the way from the Fiery Creek, and who wished also to show his zeal for "Separation"-observing that the accommodation at Keillor was not particularly good, offered to drive us at once into town, an offer which fellow-travellers and myself were all very glad to accept. The last pair of fresh horses were accordingly attached to our vehicle, and by dint of excellent driving across the treeless plains, we reached Melbourne in about an hour from Keillor, on Thursday evening at nine o'clock. Our third day's journey was ninety-five miles the distance from Keillor to Melbourne being ten miles, and the whole distance from Portland two hundred and fifty-three.

my

CHAPTER VII.

WESTERN PORT AND GIPPSLAND.

WESTERN PORT is a noble inlet, situated to the eastward of Port Phillip, in latitude 38° 15′ S., and in longitude 145° 30′ E. It was discovered from the eastward, in the year 1798, by Mr. Bass, surgeon of H. M. S. Reliance; who, after spending 13 days in it and surveying it minutely, gave it the name which it now bears, from the circumstance of its having been the utmost limits of the discoveries of that intrepid explorer to the westward.

Western Port consists of a large circular basin, of about eighteen miles across, with an island, called Frenchman's Island, of about twelve miles in length and six in breadth, in its centre, which thus divides it into an eastern and western arm. There is another island, however, called Phillip Island, of about fifteen miles long, stretching across the mouth of the Port, a few miles to seaward from Frenchman's Island, which effectually shelters the entrance of the harbour, and renders it easily accessible for sailing vessels in any wind.

In the year 1827, a Penal Settlement was formed at Western Port, as a dependency of New South Wales, and the office of Commandant was given to Captain Hovell, the companion and fellow-traveller of Mr. Hamilton Hume in their famous journey overland from Sydney to Port Phillip in the year 1825, in the course of which these gentlemen discovered the Hume, the Ovens, and the Goulburn Rivers; but, for some reason which, I recollect perfectly, was not particularly obvi

ous to the colonial public at the time, the settlement was soon abandoned-like fifty other Government abortions of a similar kind on the coast of Australia, projected in ignorance and folly, and managed by incapacity.

"Western Port," according to Mr. Hovell, "affords safe anchorage for vessels of any draught of water." The Government Settlement was situated on the east side of the bay, and the country from this spot to Bass' River, which enters the Port from the northward, "consists principally," Mr. Hovell informs us, "of a rich alluvial soil, interspersed here and there with patches of heath."

The district of Western Port undoubtedly presents superior capabilities. It contains an abundance of land of the first quality for cultivation; although, in general, the arable land in the immediate vicinity of the port is covered with timber. The extent of excellent grazing land in the district is much greater; although, from the general moistness of the soil and climate, it is better adapted for cattle than for sheep. The bay abounds with fish of the finest description; and fuller's earth, and various other mineral products, are found in the vicinity. But the circumstance that will unquestionably render this district of the first importance in Phillipsland, is the inexhaustible supply of coal which it contains. In a comparatively thinly wooded country, like a large portion of the best part of the territory of Phillipsland, especially in a climate considerably colder than that of New South Wales, this valuable mineral will necessarily be in great request, and the coal trade will consequently be of the utmost importance to the future inhabitants of this district.

"From Wilson's Promontory to Western Port," observes Mr. Cunningham, during whose residence int New South Wales this district attracted more attention than it has done till very recently, from the circumstance of the abortive attempt to form a Settlement in Western Port having taken place about that period,