water; but, after a run of about twenty minutes, were again checked by sand banks.  My endeavours to push beyond a certain point were unsuccessful, and I was at length under the necessity of landing upon the south shore for the night.  Some small hummocks were behind us, on the other side of which I had seen the ocean from our morning’s position; and whilst the men were pitching the tents, walked over them in company with Mr. M’Leay to the sea shore, having struck the coast at Encounter Bay, Cape Jervis, bearing by compass S. 81 degrees W. distant between three and four leagues, and Kangaroo Island S.E. extremity S. 60 degrees W. distant from nine to ten.

Thirty-two days had elapsed since we had left the depot, and I regretted in this stage of our journey, that I could not with prudence remain an hour longer on the coast than was necessary for me to determine the exit of the lake.  From the angle of the channel on which we were, a bright sand-hill was visible at about nine miles distance to the E.S.E.; which, it struck me, was the eastern side of the passage communicating with the ocean.  Having failed in our attempts to proceed further in the boat, and the appearance of the shoals at low water having convinced me of the impracticability of it, I determined on an excursion along the sea-shore to the southward and eastward, in anxious hopes that it would be a short one; for as we had had a series of winds from the S.W. which had now changed to the opposite quarter, I feared we should have to pull across the lake in our way homewards.  I left the camp therefore at an early hour, in company with Mr. M’Leay and Fraser, and at day-break arrived opposite to the sand-bank I have mentioned.  Between us and it the entrance into the back water ran.  The passage is at all periods of the tide rather more than a quarter of a mile in width, and is of sufficient depth for a boat to enter, especially on the off side; but a line of dangerous breakers in the bay will always prevent an approach to it from the sea, except in the calmest weather, whilst the bay itself will always be a hazardous place for any vessels to enter under any circumstances.

Having, however, satisfactorily concluded our pursuit, we retraced our steps to the camp, and again took the following bearings as we left the beach, the strand trending E.S.E. 1/2 E.:—­

Kangaroo Island, S.E. angle        S.  60 degrees W.. 
Low rocky point of Cape Jervis     S.  81 degrees W.
Round Hill in centre of Range      S. 164 degrees W.
Camp, distant one mile             S. 171 degrees W.
Mount Lofty, distant forty miles   N.   9 degrees E.

Before setting sail, a bottle was deposited between four and five feet deep in a mound of soft earth and shells, close to the spot on which the tent had stood, which contained a paper of the names of the party, together with a simple detail of our arrival and departure.

It appeared that the good fortune, which had hitherto attended us was still to continue, for the wind which had been contrary, chopped round to the S.W., and ere sunset we were again in the mouth of the river, having run from fifty to sixty miles under as much canvass as the boat would bear, and with a heavy swell during the greater part of the day.