nd upon our return sounded the depth of water upon the bar
and in the channel, the particulars of which are detailed upon the plan
of the harbour.

May 11.

The next morning the two vessels were warped into the port; and by eleven
o'clock were anchored within a few yards of the south shore, and secured
to trees near the beach, close to a fresh-water stream which ran into the
sea.

May 12.

The following day we pulled three or four miles up the river; on the way
up two natives were seen in a canoe but on our approach they landed to
avoid us and quickly disappeared. The boat was kept in mid-stream and we
passed by without taking any notice of them. Half a mile further on we
put ashore on the south bank and took bearings to fix the position of our
station and the direction of the next reach upwards, which appeared to be
about three miles long and half a mile broad. We then returned to the
cutter.

May 14.

And on the 14th Lieutenant Oxley and Mr. Roe accompanied me in one of our
boats upon the examination of the river.

After reaching our former station on the south bank we proceeded up the
long reach towards Black-man Point, on which a tribe of natives were
collected: the river is here divided into two streams; we followed that
which trended to the westward as it appeared to be the most considerable.
At the end of the next reach the river is again divided into two
branches, and as the southernmost was found upon trial to be the
shoalest, the other was followed. On our left was a small contracted arm,
which probably communicates with the lagoon on Rawdon Island; here we
landed to examine the trees which so thickly and beautifully cover both
banks: several sorts of large growth were noticed, among which was a tree
of the trichillieae, natural order Jussieu (Trichillia glandulosa), which
the colonists have flattered with the name of rosewood, and a ficus of
gigantic growth, both of which are very abundant. We landed at Point
Elizabeth and walked a mile back through a fine open country, well
timbered and richly clothed with luxuriant grass and apparently much
frequented by kangaroos.

From the edge of the bank Mount Cairncross, a remarkable round-topped
hill which is conspicuously seen from the coast over the entrance of the
port,* appeared over the next reach, and formed a rich picturesque
back-ground for the view.

(*Footnote. See Illustration: View of the Entrance of Port Macquarie.)

After refreshing ourselv