I knew, be attended with considerable risk in beating along that dangerous and stormy coast.  Mr. Cannan arrived at Streaky Bay on the 27th September, but was disappointed in finding Mr. Eyre, or a letter he had buried for him under Cape Bauer, he therefore proceeded to the examination of the coast, as I had instructed him to do; and the following extract from his report will not only enable the reader to judge how he performed that service, but will give him the best information as to the character of the several bays and inlets he examined.

“I send you a chart of Streaky, Smoky, and Denial Bays, by which you will be better able to judge of the capabilities of the harbours they contain, than by any description I can give.  I may mention however, that the entrance to Smoky Bay, between the shoals of St. Peter’s and Eyre’s Islands, is dangerous, for with any swell on the sea breaks right across.  In the inlet, on the west side of Denial Bay, there is a salt water creek with two fathoms of water; and adjoining some high sand-hills, among which we found fresh water by digging.  Our vessel being the first, I believe, that ever entered Smoky Bay, on finding an island at its southern end, I named it after that enterprising traveller Mr. Eyre.  I also found an island and reef not laid down by Flinders, to the southern of St. Francis Islands.  There is also an island 10 miles west of the rocky group of Whidbey’s Isles, and about 12 miles from Greenly’s Isles.  The captain of a French whaler also informed me, that a sunken rock lays 6 miles N.W., off Point Sir Isaac, on which the sea breaks in heavy weather.

“The desert country surrounding these bays has been sufficiently explored, and so correctly described by Mr. Eyre, as not to require to be mentioned.  The absence of any rise that can be called a hill, from Mount Greenly to Mount Barren, the eternal limestone cliffs, the scarcity of water and grass, surely prove this coast to be the most miserable in the world, whilst the harbours are as good as could be wished for, and it must be owing to the deficiency of charts, that whalers do not frequent these bays, for there are generally two or three French or American vessels in the neighbourhood during the season.  I found no bones or carcases of whales in Streaky, Denial, or Smoky Bays, but the shores of Fowler’s and Coffin’s Bays, I found strewed with their remains.  In the latter place, Captain Rossiter, of the Mississippi shewed me his chart, and told me there was no shelter for a vessel on this side of the Bight, except at Fowler’s Bay, and that was indifferent.  The great extent of smooth water at Denial and Streaky Bays, and a well of water on St. Peter’s, dug by a sealer who lived on it many months, afford more advantages for fishing, and more especially to a shore party, than are to be found any where else in the Province.

“From the general flatness of the country, it may be presumed that its character does not alter for a great distance inland.  I observed nothing in the formation of the island, differing from the mainland, and I may mention that the rocks of the isles of St. Francis presented the same appearance as the Murray Cliffs.”