July 31.

The next day, whilst busily employed at the tent in calculating some lunar distances, we were suddenly alarmed by the rapid approach of the flames; but having previously taken the precaution of burning the grass off round the tent, their advance was received with unconcern:  the rapidity and fierceness however with which they approached made me fear that the sparks might set fire to the tent, upon which the instruments were moved to the water’s edge and the tent pulled down; but, had not the grass been previously cleared away, we could not have saved any article, from the rapidity with which the flames spread through that which had been left standing and which was not more than ten yards from the tent.

1820.  August 2.

Three days after the visit from the natives, Mr. Bedwell and Mr. Hunter proceeded to examine among the mangroves at the back of the harbour for a communication with some fresh water ponds which we had discovered the day before; but they returned in the afternoon without success.  They had penetrated up two or three openings in the mangroves; in one of which was found a canoe, similar to that described by Woodcut 3:  it was hollowed out of the trunk of the erythrina and was furnished with an outrigger.  A turtle-peg was found in it, which Mr. Hunter brought away; it measured seventeen inches in length and was in other respects similar to that used by the natives of Rockingham Bay. (See Woodcut 4.) On the mud and close to the canoe the gentlemen noticed the impression of a human foot, that must have been made since the previous high tide.  They also saw an alligator but it was not more than eight feet in length.

Mr. Cunningham returned in the evening from a walk to the summit of Mount Cook, much fatigued from the difficulty he experienced in the ascent:  he brought with him however a collection of specimens and seeds, which fully repaid him for the toil of his excursion.  He also rendered his expedition useful to me by taking the bearings of some reefs in the offing and by furnishing a sketch of the bay on the south side of the mountain, and of the rivulet which falls into it.  This did not appear to him to be deep enough for a vessel larger than a boat.  It was this bay that Captain Cook first examined for a place to repair his ship after his escape from the reef; but he found it much too inconvenient and exposed for his purpose; and it was after this that Endeavour River was discovered.

On one of Mr. Cunningham’s explorations he found several cabbage palms (Seaforthia elegans, Brown); but they were too distant from the tents to induce me to send for any for the ship’s company.  Besides this he also found a species of yam (Caladium macrorhizum, Cunn. manuscripts) the roots of which would have furnished an excellent substitute for vegetables for us, had the plants been found in abundance and convenient for gathering.