August 2.

With daybreak the breeze freshened; and at noon we were near the small easternmost islet of the group.  The afternoon was passed in steering round the northern side of the island; but before sunset we had to alter the course twice for shoal water, being at one time within half a mile of a reef that was nearly dry.

During this night the cutter was kept under weigh.

August 3.

And at daylight was considerably to the westward of our reckoning from the effect of a current.  The land to the westward of the Crocodile Islands trends deeply in, forming a bay in which two low wooded islands were noticed.  As we steered into it the water shoaled; and as there was nothing to induce our persevering we steered round the next point of land, and anchored at sunset to leeward of a shoal projecting in a North-West direction from the point.  The coast falls back round this point and forms an unsheltered bay seven or eight miles deep.

August 4.

The following morning our course was held parallel with the shores of the bay towards a point of land which afterwards proved to be the eastern head of a deep opening.

To the northward of this point was an island and farther on to seaward a dry sandbank.  As we approached the point we were obliged to haul off for there was evidently a shoal communication between it and the island, and every appearance of its being connected with the sandbank in the offing.  The dark colour of the water on the other side of this line of communication induced me to stand round the sandbank; when, as was expected, we entered a deep channel leading towards the most distant parts of the bight, which afterwards turned out to be the mouth of a river.  The sandbank was called Haul-round Islet and the island Entrance Island.  In passing between the latter and a reef on the western side of the channel, about half or three-quarters of a mile from the shore, we had fourteen fathoms mud; after which it gradually decreased in depth; having reached the mouth of the river we anchored in three fathoms about four miles within Entrance Island.  The remainder of the day, which was far advanced, was spent in making preparations for our examination of the river; at low water the tide had fallen ten feet and the cutter took the ground; but as it was on soft mud it was of little consequence.

August 5.

The following morning as soon as the ebb tide ceased I left the cutter in a boat, accompanied by Messrs. Bedwell and Cunningham, and proceeded up the river.  The banks on either side were, for ten or twelve miles, so thickly and impenetrably lined with very large mangroves as to defy all attempts of landing; above this these trees were less abundant and the banks were occasionally clear from fifty to two hundred yards in extent; however the view thus obtained did not impress us with any flattering idea of the country at the back.  On passing the second open bank we observed a canoe hauled up on the shore, and at a little distance farther we saw another; these were the first indications we had observed of the presence of natives, excepting the large fires that were burning a little way in from the banks.