over them in company
with Mr. M'Leay to the sea shore, having struck the coast at Encounter
Bay, Cape Jervis, bearing by compass S. 81 degrees W. distant between
three and four leagues, and Kangaroo Island S.E. extremity S. 60
degrees W. distant from nine to ten.

Thirty-two days had elapsed since we had left the depot, and I regretted
in this stage of our journey, that I could not with prudence remain an
hour longer on the coast than was necessary for me to determine the exit
of the lake. From the angle of the channel on which we were, a bright
sand-hill was visible at about nine miles distance to the E.S.E.; which,
it struck me, was the eastern side of the passage communicating with the
ocean. Having failed in our attempts to proceed further in the boat, and
the appearance of the shoals at low water having convinced me of the
impracticability of it, I determined on an excursion along the sea-shore
to the southward and eastward, in anxious hopes that it would be a short
one; for as we had had a series of winds from the S.W. which had now
changed to the opposite quarter, I feared we should have to pull across
the lake in our way homewards. I left the camp therefore at an early hour,
in company with Mr. M'Leay and Fraser, and at day-break arrived opposite
to the sand-bank I have mentioned. Between us and it the entrance into the
back water ran. The passage is at all periods of the tide rather more than
a quarter of a mile in width, and is of sufficient depth for a boat to
enter, especially on the off side; but a line of dangerous breakers in
the bay will always prevent an approach to it from the sea, except in the
calmest weather, whilst the bay itself will always be a hazardous place
for any vessels to enter under any circumstances.

Having, however, satisfactorily concluded our pursuit, we retraced our
steps to the camp, and again took the following bearings as we left the
beach, the strand trending E.S.E. 1/2 E.:--

Kangaroo Island, S.E. angle S. 60 degrees W..
Low rocky point of Cape Jervis S. 81 degrees W.
Round Hill in centre of Range S. 164 degrees W.
Camp, distant one mile S. 171 degrees W.
Mount Lofty, distant forty miles N. 9 degrees E.

Before setting sail, a bottle was deposited between four and five feet
deep in a mound of soft earth and shells, close to the spot on which the
tent had stood, which contained a paper of the names of the party,
together