and the day far spent, I was afraid of being bewildered among the shoals in the night, especially as the weather was dark and rainy; and therefore I made the best of my way to the ship.  In this excursion I saw only two people, and they were at a distance; they followed the boat along the shore a good way, but the tide running strongly in my favour, I could not prudently wait for them:  I saw however several fires in one direction, and smoke in another, but they also were at a distance.  While I was tracing the inlet with Dr Solander, Mr Banks was endeavouring to penetrate into the country, where several of the people who had leave to go ashore were also rambling about.  Mr Banks and his party found their course obstructed by a swamp, covered with mangroves, which, however, they resolved to pass; the mud was almost knee deep, yet they resolutely went on, but before they got half way, they repented of their undertaking:  The bottom was covered with branches of trees interwoven with each other, sometimes they kept their footing upon them, sometimes their feet slipt through, and sometimes they were so entangled among them, that they were forced to free themselves by groping in the mud and slime with their hands.  In about an hour, however, they crossed it, and judged it might be about a quarter of a mile over.  After a short walk they came up to a place where there had been four small fires, and near them some shells and bones of fish, that had been roasted:  They found also heaps of grass laid together, where four or five people appeared to have slept.  The second lieutenant, Mr Gore, who was at another place, saw a little water lying in the bottom of a gully, and near it the track of a large animal:  Some bustards were also seen, but none shot, nor any other bird except a few of the beautiful loriquets which we had seen in Botany Bay.  Mr Gore, and one of the midshipmen, who were in different places, said that they had heard the voices of Indians near them, but had seen none.  The country in general appeared sandy and barren, and being destitute of fresh water, it cannot be supposed to have any settled inhabitants.  The deep gullies, which were worn by torrents from the hills, prove that at certain seasons the rains here are very copious and heavy.

The inlet in which the ship lay I called Thirsty Sound, because it afforded us no fresh water.  It lies in latitude 22 deg. 10’ S. and longitude 210 deg. 18’ W. and may be known by a group of small islands lying under the shore, from two to five leagues distant, in the direction of N.W. and by another group of islands that lie right before it, between three and four leagues out at sea.  Over each of the points that form the entrance is a high round hill, which on the N.W. is a peninsula that at high water is surrounded by the sea; they are bold to both the shores, and the distance between them is about two miles.  In this inlet is good anchorage in seven, six, five, and four fathom; and places very convenient