the whaling establishment was broken up and the islands were totally deserted.

The Auckland group consist of two large and several smaller islands—Enderby, Rose, and Ocean Island—forming the north-western; and Green Island, the south-eastern entrance to Rendezvous Harbor, situated at the extreme northern part of the island, in lat. 50° 32', and long. 166° 13'.

This harbor is of considerable size, and would afford shelter and secure anchorage to vessels of the largest description. It is nine miles in length from the entrance between Enderby and Green Islands, to the head of Laurie Cove, which is only separated from the West Coast by a short valley ending in a saddle of considerable height. The site of the old settlement is situated on a low peninsula, at the entrance to Laurie Cove. It is the most level spot in the whole island, and even this can hardly be called level, as it consists of irregular mounds of peat, from which the dense scrub with which it was originally covered, has been cleared away. The last vestiges of the old settlement have nearly disappeared, and in a few years it will be difficult for a stranger to find the site of Port Ross. Shoe Island is a remarkable feature in this port, as it lies in the centre of the harbor, half-way between the heads and Laurie Cove, and it is formed of basaltic rock, which takes the form of a shoe. It rises perpendicularly out of the water, which is of a considerable depth all round it.

Basaltic Hump, which I see is called “Dens Head” by Sir James Ross, in the Antarctic Expedition, is another curious feature in this harbor. It is formed of a large mass of basaltic rock in perfect columns, which rise to the height of 100 feet. I should like to have explored it, but our stay in that part of the harbor was very limited. There is a narrow passage with from five to 12 fathoms of water between the eastern head of the harbor, and Green Island, through which the “Southland” passed on her way down the east coast. A sunken reef runs off this head in an easterly direction for some miles; but there is a passage for small vessels between the reef and the eastern shore of the main island. It is dangerous, except in very calm weather, as a mile from the land the sea breaks with considerable violence over the reef.

The main island is nearly 25 miles in length, and the whole group from Enderby Island to South Cape on Adams’ Island, in latitude 50° 56' and longitude 166° 7', is about 32 miles. The main island is extremely narrow at the Northern end, and gradually increases in width towards the south end, where it is 15 miles across. Adams’ Island is at the south end of the main island. It forms the south side of the entrance to Carnley’s Harbor and its western arm.

The east coast of the main island greatly resembles the West Coast of Otago, on a miniature scale; being a succession of rocky headlands, which form the entrance to the remarkably inlets, which penetrate in most cases to within a few miles of the West Coast of the island. The character and description of these inlets so much resemble each other, that it is impossible to give a detailed account of them; from the eastward, they, so to much sameness in their appearance, that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other, some of them having more the appearance of ravines between the mountains than the entrances to harbors. Between Rendezvous and Carnley’s Harbor there are six large bays, some of them being nearly landlocked, and five sounds or inlets. Most of these have two arms which are rarely more than half-a-mile in width and often not so much; in some of them we had only just room to swing the steamer. A small river, or rather a mountain torrent, runs into the sea at the head of each of them, but so steep and precipitous are the mountains, that some of these form waterfalls and cascades half-a-mile from the sea. One of these sounds I named Cascade Inlet, and I have seldom seen a more grand or magnificent sight than we saw here. One of the largest mountains on the island forms a semi-circular cone round the head of the Inlet, and down the side of this mountain fell innumerable waterfalls and cascades of all shapes and sizes and of considerable volume. All of them apparently spring out of the ground, and the white spray rising in clouds, when it reaches the rocks below, glistens in the sun, and gives them at a distance the appearance of masses of pure white marble. There had been a heavy fall of snow the night before, and at this time of the year it melts very quickly, which would account for the large amount of water that was pouring down when we were there.

Basin Bay was another striking and interesting feature on the east coast. So evenly do the mountains rise up all round it, that one might almost fancy it had been scooped out of a tremendous hill, and that the Bay was a little water at the bottom. Here, as at Cascade Inlet, the drainage of the hills falls in numerous little waterfalls which have not as yet, as far as we could see, made any impression on the side of the hill which might be called a water-course or gully.

The entrance to Carnley Harbor in lat. 50° 50' is extremely narrow, being little more than a mile in width, the cliffs on each side being nearly perpendicular. The harbor is divided into three main arms—the northern, middle, and western. The northern arm is most exposed. It is here the “Grafton” was wrecked.