Hence the coast trends to the North-West by North towards a patch of bare sand, which is remarkable because the coast is not so sandy as it is more to the south.  At ten o’clock a very thick haze spread over the land and so enveloped it that nothing could be distinguished.  At noon, the brig being in 28 degrees 25 minutes 42 seconds South, and 114 degrees 7 minutes 0 seconds East, the haze partially cleared away and showed that the coast had changed its character, being now steep, and in some parts cliffy, but still occasionally studded with spots of bare sand.  In the interior a rocky, flat-topped hill was seen; it is probably the Mount Naturaliste of the French.  The coast trends here in a North by West direction.

The passage or channel between the Abrolhos Bank and the coast has been distinguished by the name of Vlaming’s ship, The Geelvink, since she was the first vessel that passed them (Anno 1697).  Captain Hamelin in the Naturaliste also passed within them, imagining that he perceived them to the eastward, but what he saw must have been the summit of Moresby’s Flat-topped Range.*

(Footnote.  So M. De Freycinet also thinks, for he says:  “quelques personnes n’osent assurer que nous ayons vu les Abrolhos; d’autres, et je suis de ce nombre, peusent que ce que nous avons pris pour ce groupe d’iles est une portion du Continent.”  Freycinet page 180.)

The soundings of the coast upon our track between Rottnest Island and the Abrolhos have been gradually of a gravelly nature, mixed sometimes with shelly sand, and were generally coarser as we approached the shore.  In some parts, particularly near Cape Naturaliste and Rottnest Island, the bottom appeared to be a bed of small water-worn quartzose pebbles not larger than a pin’s head.  Off Moresby’s Flat-topped Range the bottom is of a soft dark-gray-coloured sand of a very fine quality that would afford good anchorage was it not for the constant swell that pervades this stormy coast; the water was however much smoother than in other parts, which might have been occasioned either by the Abrolhos bank’s breaking the sea, or from the temporary cessation of the wind, for it was comparatively light to what it had been since our leaving Rottnest Island.

A large patch of bare sand terminates the sandy shores of this coast in latitude 27 degrees 55 minutes.  A steep cliff then commences and extends for eight miles to the Red Point of Vlaming; behind which is a bight, called by the French Gantheaume Bay; in the south part of which there appeared a small opening.  This bay did not seem to be so well calculated for taking shelter in from southerly gales, as Van Keulen’s chart indicates; since it is exposed to winds from South-West by South, from which quarter it must frequently blow.  The country appeared very rocky; the slight vegetation covering its surface gave it a greenish hue, but no trees were seen near the shore which is fronted by a sandy beach; the depth of the bight is