In the afternoon we landed upon the small island in the bay, and found it to be separated from the mainland by a very shoal channel, through which our boat had some difficulty in passing; the island is small, and formed of loose fragments of granite, over which the decomposed vegetable matter had formed a soil, which, although shallow, was sufficient to nourish some luxuriant grass (panicum) and a robust species of eucalyptus:  among these large flights of cockatoos and parroquets were hovering, but they were very shy, and did not allow us to approach them:  a small dove, common to other parts of the coast, was killed.  A native was seen walking along a sandy beach behind the island, but proceeded without noticing our boat, which was at that time passing.

June 18.

The following day the weather was so clear that, in the early part of the morning, we distinctly saw the summit of the land at the back of Cape Tribulation, bearing North 43 degrees West (magnetic); it must have been fifty-five or sixty miles off; the fall of the land towards the extremity of the cape was also seen, bearing North 35 degrees 50 minutes West fifty-six miles.

In the afternoon I went on shore near the north extremity of the Cape, to procure some bearings; after which we strolled about, and found a temporary stream of water falling into the sea.  In walking past a grove of pandanus trees, which grew near the water, we disturbed a prodigious quantity of bronze-winged butterflies, reminding us, in point of number, of the Euploea hamata, at Cape Cleveland in 1819.  It proved to be a variety of the Urania orontes (Godart) of Amboyna and the other Indian Islands.  Mr. Cunningham took advantage of the Dick’s boat going to the bottom of the bay, to cut grass:  near their landing-place he found some natives’ huts; some of which were of more substantial construction than usual, and were thatched with palm leaves:  inside of one he found a fishing rod, and a line, five or six fathoms long, furnished with a hook made from a shell, like the hooks of the South Sea Islanders:  he also found a small basket, made from the leaf of a palm-tree, lying near the remains of their fireplaces, which were strewed with broken exuviae of their shell-fish repasts.

A canoe twelve feet long, similar to the one described at Blomfield’s Rivulet (volume 1) was also seen; and, like it, was not more than nine inches wide at the bilge.  A small kangaroo was seen by Mr. Cunningham feeding upon the grass, but fled the moment that it saw him approaching.

Nothing more was seen of the natives, nor were any heard, or suspected of being near us; had there been any number the party would have been placed in an awkward situation, for upon landing, they all incautiously, and very imprudently, separated, to amuse themselves as they were inclined, without regarding the situation of the boat, which was soon left dry by the ebbing tide; and it was eight o’clock at night before they succeeded in launching her.  Immediately after its return, for which we had been waiting four hours, we got underweigh, and were only just in time to save the breeze, which carried us out into the offing:  after a short calm, the wind gradually freshened from South-South-West, and we steered on under easy sail towards Cape Tribulation.