It is a part of the mainland, forming the south entrance of Bribie's Passage. This point of land would answer for a commercial town. The passage forms a good harbour, well sheltered from all winds. A direct line

of road could be formed from it to the country to the westward. There is plenty of fresh water close to the harbour. In the immediate neighbourhood the ground is not good. A few miles off there is a considerable quantity of rich land; also the ground around the Glasshouse Mountains is very fertile, the soil consisting of decomposed lava. The country adjacent is well adapted for grazing and agricultural farming. As to the whole country bounded by the Bay, from the South passage to the North, running a distance of about fifty miles, a considerable portion of this country is well adapted for an agricultural population. What the district stands most in need of is roads and bridges." "Toorbal Point," observes David Archer, Esq., an intelligent Squatter on the Upper Brisbane, in a letter addressed to myself, of date, Upper Brisbane, 17th May, 1846, "is the projecting angle of a ridge about two hundred yards wide, and thirty to fifty feet above the level of the sea, running parallel to the beach. This ridge runs about two miles N.E. along Bribie's Passage. Its range to the south, along the bay, I do not know. It is backed landward by an extensive swamp, which, according to the statement of the black who accompanied me, contains abundance of fresh water. The soil of this ridge is very light, but contains a sufficiency of vegetable mould, to make good garden soil. A low ridge of the same quality connects the above with the range of the Glasshouses, about ten miles south of the principal Glasshouse, Birwal, and would make an excellent line of communication with the interior. The only water I saw near the point, was a small water-hole and one or two wells scooped out by the blacks, in hollows near the swamp. There is plenty of fresh water in small holes a few miles inland. Bribie's Passage appeared to me to be about a mile wide. A short distance from the entrance at Toorbal, it be

comes completely land-locked. I had not any means of ascertaining whether there is sufficient depth of water in Bribie's Passage, to admit ships of large burden. From the appearance of the water, I apprehend there are many shallows."

On the whole, Toorbal Point appears to me to be, beyond all comparison, the fittest point for the future commercial capital and seat of Government for the Territory of Cooksland. In regard to the depth of water in the "completely land-locked" harbour, formed by Bribie's Island Passage, the soundings given by Captain Flinders indicate a sufficient depth for vessels of any burden. It is true that, as also indicated by that able navigator, and confirmed by the subsequent observations of Mr. Oxley, there is only a depth of two fathoms at the very entrance of the passage; but as a gradual deposit of sand and mud has evidently been forming over the whole expanse of Moreton Bay for many ages past, it is evident that the greater accumulation of this matter that has taken place, at the particular spot where Toorbal Point projects considerably from the mainland towards Bribie's Island, has arisen, in consequence of that obstruction, from southerly winds in the bay, and could in all likelihood be easily removed, and the channel kept open for the largest vessels, at a trifling expense.

CHAPTER II.

THE THREE SOUTHERN RIVERS-THE CLARENCE, THE RICHMOND, AND THE TWEED.

Know ye the land of the cedar and vine,

Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine;
Where the light wings of zephyr, oppress'd with perfume,
Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gul in her bloom;
Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit,
And the voice of the nightingale never is mute;

Where the tints of the earth, and the hues of the sky,
In colour though varied, in beauty may vie,
And the purple of ocean is deepest in dye ?

BYRON.

I HAVE already stated, that in the year 1799, Lieutenant Flinders was despatched from Sydney, in a small Colonial vessel, by Governor Hunter, to examine two inlets to the northward, indicated by Captain Cook, but not explored. The following is an account of that part of his voyage, which records his discovery and partial examination of Shoal Bay, already referred to, extracted from Captain Collins' Account of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island, Vol. II. p. 230:

"At half-past three," (August 11th, 1799,) "a peaked hill, standing four or five miles inland, and more conspicuous than usual, bore true west. Before five, the vessel stood in for what appeared to be an opening, and about dusk was in the entrance to a wide Shoal Bay; soon after which, she anchored in two and a-half fathoms on a hard sandy bottom.

"The objects in view, that induced Mr. Flinders to