The specific gravity of the water taken up proved to be 1.034, or .008 greater than the water of the Southern Indian Ocean, westward of the Island Amsterdam, although the temperature in which it was weighed was higher by 14 deg..  This circumstance, with the shallowness of the inlet and the land having been seen to close round so nearly, made me give up the intention of attempting to proceed any higher up, since no river of importance was to be expected.

Great flocks of sooty petrels were observed coming in from sea to the island, and at the first dawn next morning [SUNDAY 7 FEBRUARY 1802] a boat was sent to collect a quantity of them, and to kill seals; but the birds were already moving off, and no more than four seals, of the hair kind, were procured.  The botanists preferred going on shore to the more eastern land, which, though low, was much more extensive than the island nearer to the ship; and in fact it was not yet ascertained whether it were not a part of the main.  I went to the higher island with a theodolite to take bearings; and as the survey had shown that no dependence was to be placed in any observations taken on board the ship during the last five days, I took with me the necessary instruments for determining the latitude and longitude.

Granite was found to compose the rocks of the shore, and seemed to be the basis of the island; but it was covered with a crust of calcareous stone, in some places fifty feet thick.  The soil at the top was little better than sand, but was overspread with shrubs, mostly of one kind, a whitish velvety plant—­(artriplex reniformis of Brown),* nearly similar to what is called at Port Jackson, Botany Bay greens.  Amongst these the petrels had everywhere undermined; and from the excessive heat of the sun, the reflection from the sand, and frequently stepping up to the mid-leg in the burrows, my strength was scarcely equal to reaching the highest hill near the middle of the island.  I had no thermometer, but judged the temperature could scarcely be less than 120 deg.; and there was not a breath of air stirring.  My fatigue was, however, rewarded by an extensive set of bearings, and I overlooked the lower and larger island to the eastward, and saw the water behind it communicating with Smoky Bay.  That low land and the island upon which I stood, being the north-easternmost of this archipelago, must, I conceive, be the ISLES OF ST. PETER in Nuyts’ chart, notwithstanding their relatively small distance from those of St. Francis.  The bay to the northward, between these islands and the mainland, I named DENIAL BAY, as well in allusion to St. Peter as to the deceptive hope we had formed of penetrating by it some distance into the interior country.  The bearings most essential to the survey, taken from this station were these,