atives had been seen on both those
islands; and this gave a hope that water might still be found to complete
the holds previously to encountering the bad weather of the north-west
monsoon, which I had been expecting to set in every day.

SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER 1802

At daylight next morning the anchor was weighed; and having to work
against foul winds, the breadth of the ship passage between Bentinck's
Island and the southern main, was ascertained and sounded; and at dusk in
the evening we anchored half a mile from the west sandy point of Sweers'
Island, in 5 fathoms, small stones and shells. This anchorage between the
two islands, though it may not be called a port, is yet almost equally
well sheltered, and I named it _Investigator's Road_; it has the
appearance of being exposed between N. N. W. and N. E. 1/2 N.; but the
rocks from each shore occupy nearly one half of the space, and the water
is too shallow in the remaining part to admit any surge to endanger a
ship.

MONDAY 22 NOVEMBER 1802

Next day, a boat was sent to fish with the seine upon Sweers' Island, and
an officer went to the opposite shore to dig for water; the botanists
divided themselves into two parties, to visit both islands, and the
carpenters began caulking the starbord side of the ship. I repeated the
observations under Inspection Hill, for the rates of the time keepers;
and being informed on my return, that the midshipman of the seining boat
had discovered a small hole containing a little muddy water, with a shell
lying near it, I had the place dug out, through the sand and a stratum of
whitish clay, to the depth of ten or eleven feet. Under the clay we found
a bottom of stone and gravel, and the water then flowed in clear, and
tolerably fast. This was a great acquisition; more especially as the
spring was not far from the beach at the west point of Sweers' Island,
where the casks could be conveniently landed, and where we had had great
success in fishing.

The gentlemen who visited Bentinck's Island, found a small lake of fresh
water at no great distance from the sea side; and it appeared that the
interior part of Sweers' Island, towards the northern end, was occupied
by swamps. This comparative abundance of water upon such low islands, and
at the end of the dry season, seemed very remarkable; it may perhaps be
attributed to the clayey consistence of the stratum immediately under the
sand, and to the gravelly rock upon which that stratum rests; t