limited the capabilities of
the bay as a harbour.

We now proceeded to explore the north-eastern and largest opening,
distant six miles from our station. A large islet and a reef left the
entrance only a mile wide. Expanding again, it formed two arms, one
running south, the other East-South-East, between small groups of
singular isolated haycock-shaped hills, about 250 feet high. Following
the latter, being the largest, we found that it soon curved round, taking
a southerly direction. A bank free from mangroves occurring in this bend,
we availed ourselves of it, as the day was closing in, to secure some
early stars for latitude and longitude. The intense pleasure afforded by
traversing water that had never before been divided by any keel, in some
measure compensated us for the annoyance from the mosquitoes and
sandflies, that took the opportunity of assailing us while in the
defenceless state of quiet necessary in making observations. Pushing out
into the middle of the stream, and each wielding a beater, our tiny
enemies were soon shaken off, and borne back to the shore by a refreshing
North-West breeze.

We found it necessary to keep a sharp lookout here for the alligators, as
they swarmed in dangerous numbers.

The scarcity of fish, and the shallowness of the water did not hold out
much hope that the arm we were tracing would prove of great extent; still
many speculations were hazarded on the termination of it. The temperature
in the night was down to 78 degrees, and the dew sufficiently heavy to
wet the boat's awning through.

CONTINUE EXPLORATION.

Anxious to know how far this piece of water was to carry us into the
untrodden wilds of Australia, we moved off with the first streak of dawn.
Ten miles in a South by East direction brought us to where the width and
depth was not sufficient to induce us to proceed further. Besides, as we
were then only fifteen miles from a bend of the upper part of the
Adelaide, which must receive the drainage of all that part of the
country, it seemed improbable that any other large river existed in the
neighbourhood. Six miles from our furthest, which was about thirty miles
from the entrance, we passed a small island. The banks on either side of
the inlet were, as usual, a thick grove of mangroves, except in one spot,
a mile lower down, where we landed on our return for observations. This
we found to be a low cliffy projection of slate formation, whilst
scattered over the face of