THE GEOGRAPHE SHOALS.

The only outlying dangers on this extent of coast were the Geographe Shoals, two rocky patches some distance from each other.  The outer one was thirteen miles from the main, and bore North 22 degrees East twenty-three miles from Depuch Island.

TURTLE ISLANDS.

The shore fronting the north Turtle Island projects, leaving a space of only ten miles between, of which, on account of the shoals, only a small portion lying near the island is navigable.  Nearly opposite the latter is another opening, of some extent at high-water; but from the impediments that offered to our examining it, we named it Breaker Inlet.  During spring tides it must carry a large body of water over the very low land it intersects.

The South Turtle Isle is a mere bank of sand and white coral; the northern is about half a mile across, of the same formation precisely as the low isles of Forestier Group.  It is fronted on all sides with a coral reef extending off from a mile to a mile and a half, which dries at low-water, leaving an abrupt wall of from two to three feet at the outer edge, with pools between it and the island, in which several luckless turtles, who had deferred leaving until too late, were found.  Though we only took what was required for our own consumption, the number that could have been here obtained was enormous.

In the course of four hours thirty green turtles were brought on board, one of which, and not the largest, weighed 385 pounds.  A small hawk’s bill, the first and only one seen, was also taken.  On this part of the coast grows a peculiar small kind of weed, on which they feed; it was first seen near Depuch Island.  I have been informed that the turtles at Ascension Island, when fresh caught, have a large ball of a curious kind of weed in their stomach, and that as soon as it is consumed, they become watery and lose their flavour.  Though many diligent inquiries have been made after this weed, it appears to be still unknown.

A sandhill on the south-east end of the North Isle our observations placed in latitude 19 degrees 53 minutes 48 seconds South, and longitude 3 degrees 09 minutes 10 seconds East of Swan River; variation 1 degree 0 minutes westerly.  The tide ran between the island and the shore nearly two knots an hour; the flood stream came from the north-west; and the rise at springs was 18 feet, the time of high-water being 11 o’clock.

SEARCH FOR WATER.

A fruitless attempt was made to procure water on this island, by digging; and as we were now reduced to a supply for only ten days, it became necessary that we should immediately proceed to Timor in search of some.  This was much to be regretted at the present moment, as the coast to the east had never been seen, and therefore possessed the charm of being a new part of the continent.  We consoled ourselves for not being able to visit it by the reflection that it would hold out some inducement for us to return to this land of sterility.