Page 131 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

CHAPTER II. THE SOLITARY

OF ‘HELL’S GATES”.

Hell’s Gates,’ formed by a rocky point, which runs abruptly
‘northward, almost touches, on its eastern side, a project-
ing arm of land which guards the entrance to King’s River.
In the middle of the gates is a natural bolt—that is to say, an
island-which, lying on a sandy bar in the very jaws of the
current, creates a double whirlpool, impossible to pass in
the smoothest weather. Once through the gates, the con-
vict, chained on the deck of the inward-bound vessel, sees
in front of him the bald cone of the Frenchman’s Cap, pierc-
ing the moist air at a height of five thousand feet; while,
gloomed by overhanging rocks, and shadowed by gigantic
forests, the black sides of the basin narrow to the mouth of
the Gordon. The turbulent stream is the colour of indigo,
and, being fed by numerous rivulets, which ooze through
masses of decaying vegetable matter, is of so poisonous a
nature that it is not only undrinkable, but absolutely kills
the fish, which in stormy weather are driven in from the sea.
As may be imagined, the furious tempests which beat upon
this exposed coast create a strong surf-line. After a few days
of north-west wind the waters of the Gordon will be found
salt for twelve miles up from the bar. The head-quarters of
the settlement were placed on an island not far from the

1 0 For the Term of His Natural Life