0' from it.

The greatest rise of _tide_ here, according to the marks on shore, did
not seem to have exceeded eight feet. High water took place nearly five
hours before, and _seven hours after_ the moon's passage over the
meridian; which is nearly two hours and a half earlier than in Caledon
Bay, as that is earlier than in Blue-mud Bay, further south in the gulph.

[NORTH COAST. GULPH OF CARPENTARIA.]

WEDNESDAY 16 FEBRUARY 1803

At two in the afternoon of the 16th, the wind being moderate at N. N. W.,
we worked out of Melville Bay; and anchored at dusk, five miles from the
entrance in 13 fathoms, sand and mud. Next morning [THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY
1803], in following the line of the western shore with a breeze off the
land, we passed three rocks lying out from a point under Mount Bonner;
and further on, six or seven miles short of Cape Wilberforce, there was a
small shallow opening. From the north part of this cliffy cape, a chain
of islands and rocks extends out three or four leagues to the E. N. E.,
which I call _Bromby's Isles_, after my worthy friend the Rev. John
Bromby of Hull. One of these is cliffy, and two miles long; the rest are
smaller, and the whole seemed to be connected by rocks under water; but
between Cape Wilberforce and the nearest islet was a space three-quarters
of a mile wide, towards which we worked up against a fresh wind at W. N.
W. At noon, the two cliffy parts of the cape bore S. 1/4 E. and W. 1/4 N.,
from one to two miles; and the latter, which is the north extremity, was
ascertained to lie in 11 deg. 52' south, and 136 deg. 33' east.

At this time the weather became squally with much rain; but after
numberless tacks, made under double-reefed top sails and courses in the
narrow passage, with soundings from 10 to 18 fathoms, we cleared it at
two o'clock, and stretched southwestward as the main coast was found to
trend; and thus was the examination of the Gulph of Carpentaria finished,
after employing one hundred and five days in coasting along its shores
and exploring its bays and islands. The extent of the Gulph in longitude,
from Endeavour's Strait to Cape Wilberforce, is 51/2 deg. and in latitude 7 deg.;
and the circuit, excluding the numerous islands and the openings, is
little less than four hundred leagues. It will be remarked that the form
of it, given in the old charts, is not very erroneous, which proves it to
have been the result of a real examination; but as no particulars were
kn