ve them some more bread; and I felt that the knowledge that the
bread was in the boat was likely to be very much in our favour and to
contribute mainly to our safety. My fear was that they had sent for their
spears and wished to detain us till they came. However we arrived at the
beach where the boat was standing outside of the surf waiting for us.

RETURN TO THE VESSEL.

On our return to the ship I proposed that we should now touch at the more
northern river where we were deterred from landing by their first
appearance. We went therefore to the mouth of the river, which is
completely blocked up by sandhills, with two or three small gaps through
which water appeared to have made its way at some time; but the entire of
the bed of the river, which was only a few yards wide, was covered with
growing samphire. There were two or three small pools of very salt water
above this, but no fresh water visible. We took a hasty view from a high
sandhill. The interior, where we could see anything of it, looked grassy,
and there was some grass even on the sandhills near the beach; but our
view was very limited and hurried. We had no sooner returned to the boat
than we saw a party coming along the beach about a quarter of a mile
away, and another party on the top of the hill above, where we first saw
them and where we supposed their weapons to have been left. They shouted,
we went on board.

SAIL TO THE SOUTHWARD. PORT GREY.

Sunday morning.

Weighed anchor and stood to the south to examine a bay opposite the
southern part of Moresby's Flat-topped Range. This bay, which is not laid
down in the charts, was found to be an excellent anchorage, completely
sheltered from all southerly winds, which are the prevailing winds on
this coast at this time of the year, and also much protected by a reef
running north and south from the extreme point of the bay. This reef or
bank was found to have from three to five fathoms upon it, and within it
there was seven fathoms, even near to the shore, at the bottom of the
bay; and there is no appearance of any heavy sea or violent action of the
water on the beach at any time of the year.*

(*Footnote. The report of this bay by the Master of the Champion is as
follows: 26th January 1840. Anchored in a bay not laid down in the
charts, lying in latitude 28 degrees 50 minutes, the north land bearing
north-north-west, and the south point south-west. A reef breaks off the
point, the north part of which bore