dually declining to
that point, which I doubted not terminated in Cape Jervis. The natives
kept aloof during the night, nor did the dogs by a single growl
intimate that any had ventured to approach us. The sound of the surf
came gratefully to our ears, for it told us we were near the goal for
which we had so anxiously pushed, and we all of us promised ourselves a
view of the boundless ocean on the morrow.

CHANNEL TO THE SEA--ITS SHALLOWNESS.

As the morning dawned, we saw that the natives had thrown an out-post
of sixteen men across the channel, who were watching our motions; but
none showed themselves on the hills behind us, or on any part of the
south shore. We embarked as soon as we had breakfasted, A fresh breeze
was blowing from the N.E. which took us rapidly down the channel, and
our prospects appeared to be as cheering as the day, for just as we
were about to push from the shore, a seal rose close to the boat, which
we all regarded as a favourable omen. We were, however, shortly stopped
by shoals; it was in vain that we beat across the channel from one side
to the other; it was a continued shoal, and the deepest water appeared
to be under the left bank. The tide, however, had fallen, and exposed
broad flats, over which it was hopeless, under existing circumstances,
to haul the boat. We again landed on the south side of the channel,
patiently to await the high water.

M'Leay, myself, and Fraser, ascended the hills, and went to the
opposite side to ascertain the course of the channel, for immediately
above us it turned south round the hills. We there found that we were
on a narrow tongue of land. The channel was immediately below us, and
continued to the E.S.E. as far as we could trace it. The hills we were
upon, were the sandy hills that always bound a coast that is low, and
were covered with banksias, casuarina and the grass-tree.

To the south of the channel there was a flat, backed by a range of
sand-hummocks, that were covered with low shrubs; and beyond them the
sea was distinctly visible. We could not have been more than two and a
half miles from the beach where we stood.

Notwithstanding the sandy nature of the soil, the fossil formation
again showed itself, not only on these hills, but also on the rocks
that were in the channel.

A little before high water we again embarked. A seal had been observed
playing about, and we augured well from such an omen. The blacks had
been watching us from the oppos