September 22.

The wind and tide were unfavourable the next day for quitting our anchorage until the afternoon:  in the morning Mr. Roe sounded and examined the south arm; and as he found the passage to be quite clear we weighed at slack water with the intention of proceeding through it and anchoring in the basin; but the strength of the wind obliged us to anchor under View Hill and detained us the whole of the following day which was unsuccessfully spent in examining the gullies in search of fresh water:  a hole was dug in one of the most favourable spots we could find; and at the depth of three or four feet the earth gradually became so moist as to flatter us with the hope that our labours would be rewarded by success:  at three feet deeper water began to ooze through; but, upon tasting it, it turned out to be quite salt.  Another place higher up was tried with the same result upon which further search was abandoned as useless.

In the evening we ascended a hill near the anchorage; whence a favourable view was obtained for the construction of my chart.  The space behind the beach to the foot of the hill is occupied by a level plain that has evidently been formed by the deposition of alluvial soil; over which, in many places, the last night’s high tide had passed; but those parts which it had not reached were covered with a thin layer of salt which at a distance exactly resembled hoar-frost.  Upon it was observed the track of a dog that had evidently been running towards the saltwater pits to quench its thirst; and this, I fear, is only a proof of the total absence of fresh water, which, indeed, the desolate and burnt up appearance of everything around was sufficient of itself to bespeak.  The country at the bottom of the gulf appeared to be of a rugged and mountainous character:  the hills were observed in detached ranges to rise abruptly from a low level plain extending to the shore, the edge of which was lined as far as we could see by a belt of mangrove bushes.  These plains were covered with salt incrustations over which were scattered the stems and branches of trees that had evidently been washed down from the hills and deposited there by inundations to which this country appears to be frequently subject.  The trees appeared to be of so much larger size than any we have seen growing near the coast that we reasonably concluded the interior to be of a much more productive character than the country in the vicinity of the sea.  Our means were however too confined to satisfy ourselves of this interesting fact.

September 23.

The following morning, the weather being more favourable, we left the bay and, with the remainder of the flood tide, beat through the narrows; in which, at one cast, we had no bottom at forty-five fathoms.  As soon as we passed this strait we entered the basin and a little before high water anchored in eight fathoms on its west side, where at noon, by a meridional observation to the south, the latitude was found to be 15 degrees 21 minutes 53 seconds South.  After this we landed in the vicinity of our station; but, finding the country as barren and dreary as before, the evening was spent in sounding between the cutter and the western shore.