on foreign ground, but amongst a free people, who appreciate
freedom and its votaries, I could not refrain from giving it the name of
Mount Kosciusko.")

The great height of this range, and the extreme abruptness of its eastern
face, where no waters are thrown off, renders it more than probable that
on the western side there is land of great fertility. Whatever waters
originate on its summit and slopes, must flow towards the interior, and
there give rise to rivers emptying themselves into the Gulf of
Carpentaria, or by first forming lagoons, feed streams of some magnitude
even, during their overflow.

HALIFAX BAY.

It is the general opinion of every voyager who has sailed along the coast
of Halifax Bay, that it is the most interesting portion of the north-east
side of the continent; as, combining the several facts which we have
above given, we have every reason to believe that the discovery of
fertile and therefore valuable land, will one day reward the labours of
the explorer.

Nothing was seen by us of the San Antonio reef, laid down in the charts
as fronting the Palm Isles; but this was subsequently accounted for by
Captain Stanley, who found that it was sixteen miles north of its
supposed position, being in latitude 18 degrees 17 minutes South, and
twenty-four miles distant from the nearest land, Hillock Point.

This fact is the more satisfactory and important that, from its present
position, as laid down in the chart, being supposed to be near the Palm
Islands, it was apt to create an unpleasant state of anxiety in the mind
of those navigating these waters during thick weather or at night.

From noon we steered North-North-West, and at 6 P.M. Dunk Island bore
South-West eight miles distant; our soundings varying, during that
period, from thirteen to fifteen fathoms. During the day we had several
opportunities of satisfactorily testing the accuracy of Captain King's
chart. While passing Barnard's Group, soon after dark, we found a current
setting West-North-West nearly a mile an hour, a rate at which it kept
during the whole night, but in a North-North-West direction. During the
day we had a light breeze from South-South-East, which shifted to
West-South-West during the night. Numerous native fires were observed
burning on the shore during the first watch, at the foot of the Bellenden
Ker hills, remarkable mountains of considerable altitude.

FITZROY ISLAND.

July 2.

Soon after midnight we were abreast o