Immediately to the south of the southern mouth of this river commences a line of shoals which at low-water are nearly dry, extending to a distance of from two to four miles from the coast and running with scarcely any intermission round the bay:  except at high-water it is therefore impossible to approach the greater part of the coast, even in the smallest boat, unless by tracking it over those flats, which proceeding is not unattended with danger, for, if it comes on to blow at all hard, owing to the shoalness of the water, the whole of them becomes a mass of broken billows.  I feel convinced it was owing to this circumstance that the navigators who had previously visited this bay left so large a portion of its coast unexplored.

The shoals in the vicinity of the mouth of this river, as well as those in the river itself, have many snags upon them; and on the coast of Bernier Island, opposite to the main, we found the remains of large trees which had been washed down the river and had then been drifted across the bay.  It was that circumstance which first convinced me that a large river existed hereabouts, and induced me so minutely to examine the coast.

This occurrence of driftwood in the neighbourhood of large rivers is a circumstance unknown upon the south-western shores of this continent.  I however observed it in Prince Regent’s River and other rivers to the north, as well as in the Arrowsmith.  This latter however is the most southern river in which I have remarked it, and it certainly is an evidence of the existence of timber of a much lighter description than has hitherto been known in this part of the continent.

Mouths of the Gascoyne.

The southern mouth of the Gascoyne is however completely free from shoals, and has seven feet water on the bar at low tide.  There is also a channel in it which has never less than this depth of water for about four miles from its mouth, after which it is only navigable for small boats in the dry season, and that merely for a short distance.

The greatest difficulty which presents itself in entering the southern mouth arises from what in America are termed snags, that is, large trees, the roots of which are firmly planted in the bed of the river, whilst the branches project up the stream, and are likely to pierce any boat in its passage down.  These snags are however more to be feared at the time of high-water than at any other period, for they have generally become fixed upon shoals as they originally descended the river, and at low water can easily be seen.

The northern mouth of the Gascoyne is more difficult of entrance than its southern one, being narrower and more shoal.  I still however think that at high water it could be entered by small craft; but as my examination of it was hurried and imperfect from our being pressed for provisions at the time I was there, the opinion I have given above must be received with caution.