Further exertion on the part of the men being out of the question, I determined to remain no longer on the coast than to enable me to trace the channel to its actual junction with the sea, and to ascertain the features of the coast at that important point.  I was reluctant to exhaust the strength of the men in dragging the boat over the numberless flats that were before us, and made up my mind to walk along the shore until I should gain the outlet.  I at length arranged that M’Leay, I, and Fraser, should start on this excursion, at the earliest dawn, leaving Harris and Hopkinson in charge of the camp; for as we were to go towards the position of the natives, I thought it improbable they would attack the camp without my being instantly aware of it.

We had, as I have said, intended starting at the earliest dawn, but the night was so clear and refreshing, and the moon so bright that we determined to avail ourselves of both, and accordingly left the tents at 3 a.m.  I directed Harris to strike them at 8, and to have every thing in readiness for our departure at that hour.  We then commenced our excursion, and I led my companions rapidly along the shore of Encounter Bay, after crossing the sand-hills about a mile below the camp.  After a hasty and distressing walk of about seven miles, we found that the sand-hills terminated, and a low beach spread before us.  The day was just breaking, and at the distance of a mile from us we saw the sand-hill I have already had occasion to notice, and at about a quarter of a mile from its base, we were checked by the channel; which, as I rightly conjectured, being stopped in its easterly course by some rising ground, the tongue of land on which the blacks were posted, suddenly turns south, and, striking this sand-hill, immediately enters the sea; and we noticed, in the bight under the rising ground, that the natives had lit a chain of small fires.  This was, most probably, a detached party watching our movements, as they could, from where they were posted, see our camp.

At the time we arrived at the end of the channel, the tide had turned, and was again setting in.  The entrance appeared to me to be somewhat less than a quarter of a mile in breadth.  Under the sand-hill on the off side, the water is deep and the current strong.  No doubt, at high tide, a part of the low beach we had traversed is covered.  The mouth of the channel is defended by a double line of breakers, amidst which, it would be dangerous to venture, except in calm and summer weather; and the line of foam is unbroken from one end of Encounter Bay to the other.  Thus were our fears of the impracticability and inutility of the channel of communication between the lake and the ocean confirmed.

Difficulties and dangers of the return.