CO,s,?PS OIP AUS*rB?IA. 151 the time of our return, it was arranged that the isis. Mermaid shoUld also convey him ]?9?k. Dee.--riM. We left Sydney Cove on the ?'?4th December, but did not clear the heads of the port until eight o'clock on the following morning, when we sailed with a fresh wind from the N.E. Red Point was passed soon after noon, at the back of which some of the lately settled farms in the "Five Island District" were plainly distin- guished. The hill? here recede from the coast, and form an amphitheatre of rich grazing land, on which is the Lake Alowrie and Tom Thumb's Lagoon of Captain Flinders. Off Red Point, so named by Captain Cook, (but which, by the natives, is called" are five small rocky islands. This group gives a name to the district, which has proved a valuable acquisition to the colony. About ten miles to the southward of Red Point the hills again approach the coast; which then becomes stee 1 ) and thickly wooded, until near to Shoal Haven; when they again fall back, and form another large tract of low country, which as yet is little known. On the 27th, after sunset, we passed Cape 27. Howe, and crossed the entrance of Bass' Strait, with a heavy gale from the S.W. At dny-light, on the 1st of January, Schouten
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