ne
than pass through the puddles of water in its way.**

(*Footnote. Flinders Terra Australis volume 2 page 26.)

(**Footnote. Hawkesworth volume 3 page 125.)

The egret that we had seen last voyage in the Alligator River was also
seen here; and white cockatoos were in large flights, but hawks were
unusually rare. The bird, called by the colonists at Port Jackson the
native companion (Ardea antigone, Linn.) was seen where the natives were.
As we returned several alligators swam past the boat; but they were
neither so large nor so numerous as those of the Alligator Rivers; the
largest not being more than twelve or thirteen feet long. Upon seeing
these monsters we congratulated ourselves on our escape, for had we known
of their existence in this river before we passed the night on its bank,
the danger of being surprised by the natives and the stings of the
mosquitoes would have dwindled into insignificance in comparison with the
presence of such voracious animals. On our return down the river a snake
was seen about five feet long, of a light red colour, but it escaped by
gliding into the long matted grass.

August 7.

On the 7th we left the river and proceeded to the westward; round Point
Hawkesbury the land falls back extending first in a south-west, and then
in a west-north-west direction, until it was lost to our view behind a
point, which we afterwards discovered to be the Point Braithwaite of our
last voyage, the land of which had the appearance of being an island.

The bay thus formed was called Junction Bay; it was not examined, but,
from the direction of its trend, did not appear likely to afford much
interest, and could lead to no opening of importance.

August 8.

At eight o'clock the next morning we were near Goulburn Island, steering
through Macquarie Strait; and at eleven o'clock we anchored in South-west
Bay, near our former watering-place.

As soon as the vessel was secured I went on shore to examine whether
water could be obtained. In this object we were successful; and a basin
was dug to receive the water that drained through the cliffs; but, from
the advanced state of the dry season, it did not flow in half the
quantity that it did last year. The vegetation appeared to have suffered
much from drought and the grass, which at our last visit was long and
luxuriant, was now either parched up by the sun or destroyed by the
natives' fires, which at this time were burning on the low land in front
of