In sailing along this part of the coast we found several inaccuracies in Captain King’s chart, doubtless owing to the distant view with which he was compelled to content himself, and to the unfavourable state of the weather against which he had to contend.  I was on deck nearly, indeed, the whole of the night, baffled by flying clouds in my attempts to fix our latitude by the stars:  at length, however, I succeeded in ascertaining it to be 17 degrees 40 minutes South.

January 23.

The morning was fine, but the wind we had experienced the preceding night caused a rather heavy swell, which rendered the attempt to enter this inlet an impracticable task; however, it was tried.  We found between the ship and the shore six, four, and two fathoms, but as the mouth of the inlet was filled with breakers, apparently on a bar extending out half a mile, I was fully convinced that further perseverance would only amount to waste of time and needless risk, and therefore, after taking a few angles to fix the position of the boat, we returned on board.  It appeared at low-water to be nearly dry, and then only amounted to a collection of mud and sandbanks.  The examination quite satisfied me that it partook of the same character as the one already spoken of as seen yesterday, and that they are alike useless.

We were soon underway, and standing towards, or rather along, the shore; and as the day advanced, the wind drew more to the westward, a common occurrence, enabling us to lay along the shore, North 1/2 East.  By four P.M., we were within two miles of it, in nine fathoms.

The coast here is fronted with a range of sandhills, some of which are topped with verdure:  several low black rocky points extend for some distance from the flat sandy beach into the sea.  I have no hesitation in saying, that this is a kind of black sandstone, often found at the bases of most cliffy points, and probably coloured by the chemical action of the saltwater.  The sandhills, which form the coastline, do not appear to extend more than a mile inland.  Beyond, the country appeared to subside into the same dull level which is the characteristic feature of what we have yet seen of this coast, thickly studded with timber of a much finer growth than the stunted productions of Roebuck Bay.  Behind the cliffy parts of the coast the land assumed a more fertile appearance; and this seemed an almost invariable law in the natural history of this new world.

PROGRESS TO THE NORTHWARD.

Five miles to the northward of Point Coulomb, we passed a reef, lying a mile from the shore, with seven fathoms one mile seaward of it.  The land now trended to the eastward, and formed a large bay, the south point of which we rounded at half past four P.M.  The mangroves grew right down to the water’s edge, and the spring tides appear to inundate the country to a very considerable extent, the land here being lower than any we had yet seen.  We anchored, at half past eight, in six and a half fathoms, and I ran below to find how our wounded messmate had borne the day.