In the afternoon the wind favoured us by veering to south-by-west, and the passage between the projection of the hill and Isle Williams, (Atlas Plate XVII.  View 8.) seeming to be clear, we steered through it with good soundings, the least being 12 fathoms, upon rippling water.  Three miles further the main land formed a point, and took the uncommon direction of N. 15 deg.  W.; but to the eastward, there was a large piece of land, whether island or main we could not tell, and several small islands lay between.  The opening was four miles wide; and we steered into it, passing through ripplings of tide with irregular soundings.  No land could be seen to the north-east, but the night was coming on; and as the eastern land sheltered us from the present wind, we ran within half a mile of the shore and anchored in 31/2 fathoms.  The master was sent to sound about the ship; and finding we had not a sufficient depth for swinging toward the shore, the anchor was tripped and let go further out, in 7 fathoms, on a sandy bottom.  No part of the eastern land was visible beyond the bearing of N. 76 deg.  E., distant one mile and a half; and the furthest extreme of what we could be certain was main land bore N. 17 deg.  W.

A tide from the north-eastward, apparently the ebb, ran more than one mile an hour; which was the more remarkable from no set of tide, worthy to be noticed, having hitherto been observed upon this coast.  No land could be seen in the direction from whence it came; and these circumstances, with the trending of the coast to the north, did not fail to excite many conjectures.  Large rivers, deep inlets, inland seas, and passages into the Gulph of Carpentaria, were terms frequently used in our conversations of this evening; and the prospect of making an interesting discovery seemed to have infused new life and vigour into every man in the ship.

SUNDAY 21 FEBRUARY 1802

Early in the morning I went on shore to the eastern land, anxious to ascertain its connexion with or separation from the main.  There were seals upon the beach, and further on, numberless traces of the kangaroo.  Signs of extinguished fire existed everywhere; but they bespoke a conflagration of the woods, of remote date, rather than the habitual presence of men, and might have arisen from lightning, or from the friction of two trees in a strong wind.  Upon the whole I satisfied myself of the insularity of this land; and gave to it, shortly after, the name of THISTLE’S ISLAND, from the master who accompanied me.  In our way up the hills, to take a commanding station for the survey, a speckled, yellow snake lay asleep before us.  By pressing the butt-end of a musket upon his neck I kept him down whilst Mr. Thistle, with a sail needle and twine, sewed up his mouth; and he was taken on board alive for the naturalist to examine; but two others of the same species had already been killed, and one of them was seven feet nine inches