Wellington Range.

In the evening I went to Bottle Rock, but found our bottle had been
removed; the rocks were covered with the eggs of terns, of which the
boat's crew collected eight dozen. On our return to the cutter a turtle
was noticed swimming towards the sandy beach at the north end of the bay,
which induced me to send a boat's crew on shore to watch its landing, but
in this they were unsuccessful. At their return at night they reported
having seen the recent marks of natives and of a dog on the beach.

August 9.

The following morning Mr. Bedwell went with a watering party to the
shore; the tide had however reached the hole, and spoilt what had been
collected during the night: after cleaning the hole again he visited our
last year's wooding-place where he found some remains of our cuttings;
but the greater part had been burnt. On his return to the watering-place
the well was full, and the party commenced their occupation: they had
however scarcely been twenty minutes employed before a shower of large
stones was thrown down upon them by a party of natives who suddenly
appeared on the verge of the cliff; but as suddenly retreated upon a
volley of muskets being fired over their heads from our boat, which we
had previously taken the precaution of mooring off the shore as we had
done last year. After this our people continued their work without being
further molested although many other attacks were premeditated by the
natives during the day, they having once or twice approached near the
verge of the cliffs; but their courage forsook them before they were
sufficiently near to throw either spears or stones with effect. A flag
was always hoisted on board whenever they were observed advancing, which
prepared our people on the beach to give them a reception. This signal
was certainly noticed by the natives, for they always stopped short the
moment it was displayed.

The run of water was so trifling that we could not procure more than from
sixty to one hundred gallons per day, for while the high tides lasted the
well in the morning was always found full of salt water. This
inconvenience did not occur last year because it was not found necessary
to dig a hole, the stream being of itself sufficiently abundant for our
purpose.

August 10 to 16.

The delay however was not lost, inasmuch as it gave an opportunity of
finding new rates for the watches, as well as of obtaining a set of lunar
observations for the longitude.