angroves which skirt the shore, and walked a few
hundred yards round the point, to examine the course of the strait; but
the way was so rugged, and we had so little time to spare, that we soon
re-embarked and returned into Halfway Bay. The geological character of
the island is a red-coloured, coarse-granular, siliceous sandstone,
disposed in horizontal strata, and intersected by veins of crystallised
quartz. The surface is covered by a shallow, reddish-coloured soil,
producing a variety of shrubs and plants.

After this we crossed the river, and examined the two bays opposite to
Gap Island, but found them so shoal and overrun with mangroves that no
landing could be effected in any part. In both bays there is anchorage
between the heads; but all the inner part is very shoal, and perhaps at
low water there is not more than nine feet water within the heads. In the
mid-stream of the river the bottom is deep, and is formed entirely of
shells over which, on account of its being very narrow, the tide runs
with great strength; and from the irregularity of the bottom forms
numerous eddies and whirlpools, in which a boat is quite unmanageable.

During our absence, Mr. Bedwell examined our former watering-place, at
the back of St. Andrew's Island, and on his return landed upon the sandy
beach of a bay on the south-west side of the basin, but was unsuccessful
in his search for water at both places.

The sea breeze freshened towards sunset, and fanned up the fires that had
been burning for the last three days in several places upon the low land,
and on the sides of the hills to the westward of Mount Trafalgar; before
night they had all joined, and, spreading over the tops of the hills for
a space of three miles, produced a singularly grand and magnificent
effect.

1821. August 1.

At half past five o'clock the next morning we were under sail but, the
breeze being light, had only time to reach the anchorage under Greville
Island in Halfway Bay, before the tide turned against us. It was purposed
to remain only during the flood; but, on examination, the place was found
to be so well adapted for the purpose of procuring some lunar distances
with the sun, to correspond with those taken last year at Careening Bay,
that we determined upon seizing the opportunity; and as wood was abundant
on the island and growing close to the shores, a party was formed to
complete our holds with fuel, whilst Mr. Roe assisted me in taking
observations