ild were
observed watching our movements. Our course was held parallel with the
shore at about three miles distance. At sunset we tacked off for the
night; and the south extreme at dark bore South by West 1/2 West.

The sea hereabout abounds with fish of various sorts, upon which several
sharks were feeding most rapaciously. From midnight to daybreak the
weather was fine with scarcely a breath of wind; afterwards a light land
breeze set in; which at noon was succeeded by the usual sea breeze from
the west.

September 4.

At noon the next day our latitude was 13 degrees 33 minutes 41 seconds
South. At five o'clock we passed a point (Cape Dombey) off which there is
a reef of rocks of circular shape, and of small extent: to the southward
of it the coast forms a bay, lined with mangroves, in which there is a
small opening; but the breeze was then too fresh to allow of our
venturing into it to examine it more closely. At eight o'clock we
anchored off a projecting point which appeared to form the eastern head
of a deep opening: this projection, on account of a remarkable tree
standing above the bushes near to its extremity, was called Tree Point.

At this anchorage the tide rose eighteen feet and ran nearly at the rate
of two miles per hour.

September 5.

The next morning at daybreak, when the land became visible, Captain
Baudin's Cape Dombey was recognised, bearing South 83 degrees East.
Between Capes Ford and Dombey the coast is higher than usual and thickly
wooded to the verge of the cliffs, which preserve the same deep red
colour with those more to the northward; under them a sandy beach
uninterruptedly lines the coast. The bottom, at from three to five miles
distance, is rather irregular, and varies in its depth between seven and
a half and ten fathoms. An opening in the land is laid down near Cape
Dombey in the French charts, before which are placed the Barthelemy
Islands, which certainly do not exist, and it was not until after the
haze of the day cleared up that two detached quadrilateral shaped hills
were seen over the low land; and as these at a distance would assume
exactly the figure and appearance of islands they must have been the
cause of the mistake; I have therefore called them (by altering the
nomenclature as little as possible) the Barthelemy Hills.

At nine o'clock, having weighed at daylight, we reached within three
miles of Tree Point; when the ebb tide commenced and obliged our
anchoring to wa