marines and seven privates, with forty seamen and boys.

(*Footnote. This officer I afterwards appointed to the assistant surveyorship (vacated upon my succeeding Captain Wickham) on account of the active part he had taken in the surveying duties: an appointment most handsomely confirmed by Captain Beaufort.)

(**Footnote. Mr. Keys was always a volunteer for boat work, and is entitled to honourable mention as being, even where all were zealous, of great value upon more than one occasion.)

During our six years' voyage the following changes occurred:

Mr. Usborne invalided, in consequence of his wound, in May 1839; Mr. Birch exchanged, in August 1839, with Mr. Pasco, into the Britomart; Mr. Freeze exchanged, in September 1839, with Mr. Forsyth,* into the Pelorus; in February 1840, Mr. Helpman joined the colonial service in Western Australia; Mr. C.J. Parker was appointed, in December 1840, to Mr. Usborne's vacancy, superseding Mr. Tarrant, who had been doing Master's duty since Mr. Usborne left; Lieutenants Emery and Eden returned to England in March 1841. Late in the same month Commander Wickham invalided, when the writer of this narrative was appointed to the vacant command, by Commander Owen Stanley, H.M.S. Britomart, senior officer present, an appointment subsequently confirmed by the Lords of the Admiralty. In April 1841, Lieutenant Graham Gore succeeded Lieutenant Emery.** Commander Wickham, myself, Mr. Bynoe, the Boatswain, and two marines, had served in both the previous voyages of the Beagle.

(*Footnote. From this officer's previous knowledge of the duties of surveying, having sailed in the Beagle on her former voyage, he proved a very valuable addition to our party.)

(**Footnote. Lieutenant Gore had been appointed to H.M.S. Herald and came down from India, expecting to join her at Sydney: on his arrival, he found she had left the station; and though he might have spent some months among his friends there, he in the most spirited manner, at once volunteered to join the Beagle, and proved himself throughout the remainder of the voyage of the greatest value, both to the service, and the friend who here seeks to do justice to his worth. This deserving officer would seem to have an hereditary taste for the duties of a voyage of surveying and discovery, his grandfather having accompanied the renowned circumnavigator, Cook, and his father, the unfortunate Bligh. Besides Lieutenant Gore's valuable services in H.M.S. Beagle, he was 1st Lieutenant of H.M.S. Volage, during the early part of the Chinese war, and present at the capture of Aden: he served under Captain Sir George Back in the Polar expedition, and on board H.M.S. Albion at the battle of Navarin.)

DEPARTURE FROM WOOLWICH.

On the 9th of June we left Woolwich, in tow of H.M. Steamer Boxer, furnished with every comfort and necessary (by the Lords of the Admiralty) which our own experience, or the kind interest of Captain Beaufort could suggest. It had been determined by the Government--the plan having been suggested by Lieutenant Grey to Lord Glenelg, then Secretary of State for the Colonies--that, simultaneously with the survey of the seaboard of the great continent of Australia, under Captain Wickham, a party should be employed in inland researches, in order more particularly to solve the problem of the existence of a great river, or water inlet, supposed, upon the authority of Captains King and Dampier, to open out at some point on its western or north-western side, then but partially and imperfectly surveyed.

LIEUTENANTS GREY AND LUSHINGTON'S PARTY.

This expedition was now entrusted to the command of Lieutenant Grey--since Governor of South Australia--who was accompanied by Lieutenant, now Captain Lushington; Mr. Walker, Surgeon, and Corporals Coles and Auger, of the Royal Sappers and Miners, who had volunteered their services: they were to take passage in the Beagle, and to proceed either to the Cape of Good Hope or Swan River, as Lieutenant Grey might ultimately determine. It was arranged that they should join us at Plymouth, and on our arrival there on the 20th of June--having called at Portsmouth on our way--we found them anxiously expecting us.

Here we were busily occupied for some days in rating the chronometers, and testing the various magnetic instruments: we also during this time swung the ship to try the local attraction, which neither here, nor in any subsequent experiments, exceeded one degree. As the ship lay in the Sound our observations were made on a stone in the breakwater marked 230/1, from whence we took our chronometric departure; it is about one-third of the length from the east end, and had been used for similar purposes by Captains King and Fitzroy. We considered it to be west of Greenwich, 0 hours 16 minutes 33 seconds 4t.

FAREWELL GLANCE AT PLYMOUTH.

Hardly anyone can visit Plymouth Sound without being at once struck with the singular beauty of the surrounding scenery; nor shall I easily forget the mingled feelings of admiration and regret with which my eye dwelt upon the quiet spot the evening before bidding it a long, long farewell. The sea had sunk to sleep, and not a single breath disturbed its glassy surface: the silent waters--and yet how eloquently that silence spoke to the heart--glided swiftly past; into the still air rose the unbroken column of the thin and distant smoke; through long vistas of far-off trees, which art and nature had combined to group, the magnificent building at Mount Edgcumbe, but veiled, to increase its beauty: scenery varying from the soft luxury of the park, to the rude freedom of the wild mountain's side, by turns solicited the eye; and as I leant against a shattered rock, filled with all those nameless feelings which such an hour was so well fitted to call forth, I felt notwithstanding all the temptations of promised adventure, the full bitterness of the price we pay for its excitements!

DEATH OF WILLIAM THE FOURTH.

On the evening of the 21st of June, we received the melancholy intelligence of the death of our late most gracious Sovereign, King William the Fourth. To all classes of his subjects his mild and paternal government has endeared his memory; and none however they may differ with him, or with each other, upon that great political revolution which will render the name and reign of the Fourth William, no less remarkable than that of the Third, will refuse the tribute of their sincerest respect for qualities that adorned the sovereign while they exalted the man. By the naval service, in which he had spent the early part of his life, his name will long be remembered with affection; he never lost sight of its interests; and warmly supported its several institutions and charities, long after he had been called by Providence to the Throne of his Fathers. We bore the first intelligence of his fate, and the account of the accession of our present most gracious Queen, to every port at which we touched up to the period of our reaching Swan River.