ation with the first. The
western side of Paterson Bay is formed by very low land off which many
patches of dry rocks were seen to extend; beyond this the coast appeared
to be low and sandy.

August 29.

Light and adverse winds and calms, with a constant easterly current,
detained us in the vicinity of Paterson Bay until the following sunset;
when, in order to preserve the little progress made, we anchored near the
reefs on the western side of the bay. During the preceding day, sixteen
or twenty natives were noticed upon the sandy beach that fronts the red
cliffs on the eastern side of the bay, engaged in fishing, or perhaps in
watching our movements; and this evening the smokes of their fires were
observed among the trees near the same spot.

August 30.

The next day we made but little progress along the coast to the
south-west which is so low as not to be visible from the cutter's deck,
at a greater distance than six miles; this rendered the examination of it
very inconvenient and even dangerous, as the rocks and reefs which lined
the coast extended in some parts beyond that distance.

The land appeared to be barren and arid, and were it not for a few bushes
or mangrove trees, scattered about the beach, it might be called a
complete desert.

1819. September 1.

Westerly winds and calms continued without intermission until the 1st of
September; during which the thermometer ranged between 79 and 93 degrees.
On this day a breeze from the North-East enabled us to make progress to
the southward; and after examining an indenture of the coast we anchored
at night off a point of land, which, from the circumstance of a very
large fire burning upon it, was called Point Blaze. The land still
continued low; but more wooded and less sandy than that we had seen
within the last two days.

September 2.

The next morning we resumed our course along the coast. To the south-west
a sandy hillock was observed, which proved to be on Captain Baudin's
Peron Island. This was the first opportunity that had occurred by which I
could compare my longitude with that of Captain Baudin; and as the Peak
of Peron Island is one of his fixed points, and is placed by him in 127
degrees 34 minutes 36 seconds, I find that my chart is in this part 6
minutes 24 seconds to the eastward.

In order to set at rest the question of the insularity of this land we
passed within it, but not without difficulty, from the numerous shoals
that are scattered