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On getting under the lee of Stewart’s Island, the wind failed us, so that we crept along very slowly, and at last had to lower the boat and tow into Port William, where we anchored at 6 p.m., and long after dark. However, Henry—the Maori I had engaged at Riverton—took us in without difficulty.

From Saddle Point—which is a remarkable promontory forming the termination of a long spur leading from Mount Anglem, south-east to Port William—the coast of Stewart’s Island is bold but not precipitous, and thickly wooded to the water’s edge. There are several snug nooks 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. With daylight next morning, we found that there were five vessels in the harbor, wind-bound, three of them having been there for a long time. One schooner bound for Hobart Town, had left Riverton by the same tide that we entered that port with, and as yet had got no further on her voyage, as ever since the weather had been steadily from the westward.

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. During this time we had a violent storm from the W. and S.W. On the night of the 14th it blew such a gale that, although under the shelter of high land, we had to pay out 60 fathoms of chain in 5 fathoms of water, and lay down a second anchor; while the schooner which lay next to us dragged her anchor for nearly a quarter of a mile. The barometer fell steadily during the gale, but not lower than 29.70 inches. Towards its close it became bitterly cold, with showers of hail and sleet, so that we went on shore and lighted a large fire, as also did the crews of the other vessels. At midnight, on the 14th, the wind veered to the south, with a fall of snow, which ended the storm. Port William is a very favorite harbor for vessels waiting for easterly winds, and was at one time a whaling station of some importance. There are also the remains of a Native village, but the place is now quite deserted, and all the spots, which had been cleared in former days, densely overgrown with brushwood.

The entrance of the harbor, lying between the East and West Heads, is one mile and a-half wide: but within, it is divided into two capacious bays, separated by an obtuse promontory. It was in the north-west of these bays that we anchored, as there the best shelter is obtained, and in it a small vessel can get into a perfectly land-locked position. Round the shore the scrub is almost impenetrable, but the hill sides—which rise steeply—are clothed with a more open forest growth, consisting principally of remu or red pine, iron wood and carmalie. The scrub close to the water’s edge is principally of a remarkable shrub, which I have only previously seen on Howel’s Point, but is abundant on the West Coast, called by the Maoris ... Some of its leaves, which are bright polished green on the upper side, and covered with white down on the lower, have a tough leathery texture, measure 7 x 5½ inches.

At the northern extremity of the harbor (where the whaling station was situated), there is small extent of level land, and also by the old Maori village, on the western side of the Bay, there is a sandy beach and small boat harbor, with a few hundred acres of bush land in a narrow valley. A similar, though smaller, patch of land also occurs towards the south end of the harbor; but elsewhere the shores are rocky and precipitous.

The rock is a coarse grained red or grey granite, which being traversed by veins of granite of more recent date and a lighter color, and afterwards pierced and shattered by dykes and injected veins of hornblende trap or greenstone. Most interesting sections abound, clearly displaying the facility with which the trap rock has penetrated the granite in all directions, most probably however, only following and expanding previously existing lines of fissure.

No minerals of interest or value were observed, although several might reasonably be expected to occur in this formation under the above conditions.

On the beach of one small cove that is surrounded by lofty cliffs and situated in the north bay of the harbor, the sand is almost wholly of magnetic oxide of iron, in a very minute state of division, but neither gold nor tin was associated with it. The hollows between the ridges and bosses of granite are filled up with an unstratified deposit of stiff yellow clay, containing sub-angular boulders of large size.

The dredging was very unsuccessful, as the bottom of the harbor is everywhere sandy, or covered with sea-grass and kelp, so that the many casts which were made in from 4 to 14 fathoms soundings were only rewarded with a species of spider and hermit crabs, the latter inhabiting the white shells of small species of mollusk of the genus Triton.

There being nothing further to be seen at Port William, we sailed round on the the 15th to Paterson’s Inlet with a light N.W. breeze; feeling confident that this additional distance to the S.E., of 8 or 10 miles, would make very little difference in the time of our run to Preservation Inlet, if we only had a fine breeze from that quarter. Before reaching Paterson’s Inlet, we passed Horse Shoe and Half Moon Bays; both snug and beautiful spots. On the south side of the latter bay, close to Aker’s Point, there is a small group of houses, which is the fish-curing establishment of Mr. Hoslett, I am informed. To the seaward,