"'The south and south-eastern extremes of Clack's Island presented a steep rocky bluff, thinly covered with small trees. I ascended the steep head, which rose to an elevation of a hundred and eighty feet above the sea.
"'The remarkable structure of the geological feature of this islet led me to examine the south-east part, which was the most exposed to the weather, and where the disposition of the strata was, of course, more plainly developed. The base is a coarse granular, silicious sandstone, in which large pebbles of quartz and jaspar are imbedded. This stratum continues for sixteen to twenty feet above the water; for the next ten feet there is a horizontal stratum of black schistose rock, which was of so soft a consistence, that the weather had excavated several tiers of galleries, upon the roof and sides of which some curious drawings were observed, which deserve to be particularly described. They were executed upon a ground of red ochre (rubbed on the black schistus), and were delineated by dots of white argillaceous earth, which had been worked up into a paste. They represented tolerable figures of sharks, porpoises, turtles, lizards (of which I saw several small ones among the rocks), trepang, star-fish, clubs, canoes, water-gourds, and some quadrupeds, which were probably intended to represent kangaroos and dogs. The figures, besides being outlined by the dots, were decorated all over with the same pigment in dotted transverse belts. Tracing a gallery round to windward, it brought me to a commodious cave, or recess, overhung by a portion of the schistous sufficiently large to shelter twenty natives, whose recent fire places appeared on the projecting area of the cave.
"'Many turtles' heads were placed on the shelfs or niches of the excavation, amply demonstrative of the luxurious and profuse mode of life these outcasts of society had, at a period rather recently, followed. The roof and sides of this snug retreat were also entirely covered with the uncouth figures I have already described.'
"As this is the first specimen of Australian taste in the fine arts that we have detected in these voyages, it became me to make a particular observation thereon. Captain Flinders had discovered figures on Chasm Island [Note, below] in the Gulf of Carpentaria, formed with a burnt stick, but this performance, exceeding a hundred and fifty figures, which must have occupied much time, appears at least to be one step nearer refinement than those simply executed with a piece of charred wood. Immediately above this schistose stratum is a superincumbent mass of sandstone, which appeared to form the upper stratum of the island."
[Note: "Chasm Island lies one mile and a half from a low point of GROOTE EYLANDT, where the shore trends southward and seemed to form a bay. In the deep sides of the chasms were deep holes or caverns, undermining the cliffs; upon the walls of which I found rude drawings made with charcoal and something like red paint upon the white ground of the rock. These drawings represented porpoises, turtle, kangaroos, and a human hand; and Mr. Westall, who went afterwards to see them, found the representation of a kangaroo, with a file of thirty-two persons following after it. The third person of the band was twice the height of the others, and held in his hand something resembling the 'whaddie' or wooden sword of the native chiefs of Port Jackson, and was probably intended to represent a chief. They could not, as with us, indicate superiority by clothing or ornament, since they wear none of any kind, and, therefore, with the addition of a weapon similar to the ancients, they seem to have made superiority of person the principal emblem of superior power, of which, indeed, power is usually a consequence of the very early stages of society.">[
From the wreck of the FREDERICK the crew had been busy during their stay here procuring all the spars and planks that would be of use to them, and on the 25th June the BATHURST got under weigh, and with her two companions resumed their course to the northward, following the same route as that traversed last year by the MERMAID—steering across the Gulf of Carpentaria to Cape Wessell, which they sighted on the 3rd June. Anchoring in South-West Bay, they landed at their former watering place on Goulburn Island, but found the stream had failed, and the parched appearance of the island showed that the season had been unusually dry. Leaving South-West Bay, they passed to the eastward of New Year's Island, and the following day sighted Cape Van Dieman. Here they parted company with their companions, the DICK and SAN ANTONIO, by an interchange of three cheers, the DICK having King's letters for conveyance to England. The course of the BATHURST was now south-west towards Cape Londonderry, sighting, during the next few days, Eclipse Hill, Sir Graham Moore's Islands, and Troughton Island. Light baffling winds detained them for two days in the vicinity of Cassini Island, and on the 23rd the BATHURST anchored about half a mile off the sandy beach of Careening Bay.
"As soon as the vessel was secured we visited the shore, and recognised the site of our last year's encampment, which had suffered no alteration except what had been occasioned by a rapid vegetation. A sterculia, the stem of which had served as one of the props of our mess tent, and to which we had nailed a sheet of copper, with an inscription, was considerably grown, and the gum had oozed out in such profusion where the nails had pierced the bark that it had forced one corner of the copper off. The large, gouty-stemmed tree on which the MERMAID'S name had been carved in deep indented characters remained without any alteration, and seemed likely to bear the marks of our visit longer than any other memento we had left. The sensations experienced at revisiting a place which had so seasonably afforded us a friendly shelter and such unlooked-for convenience for our purposes, can only be estimated by those who have experienced them; and it is only to strangers to such feelings that it will appear ridiculous to say that even the nail to which our thermometer had been suspended was the subject of pleasurable recognition.
"No water in the gully where last year it was running, and no sign that it had contained any for some time, yet from the luxuriant vegetation and verdant appearance of the grass, it was the more astonishing. After examining the bight to the eastward, where formerly there had been a considerable stream, all hope of success in finding water here was given up, and an anchorage made in St. George's Basin, finding an abundant supply at the cascade in Prince Regent's River.
"While the boat's crew rested and filled their baricas, I ascended the rocks over which the water was falling, and was surprised to find its height had been so underrated when we passed by it last year; it was then thought to be about forty feet, but I now found it could not be less than one hundred and fifty. The rock—a fine-grained, silicious sandstone—is disposed in horizontal strata, from six to twelve feet thick, each of which projects about three feet from that above it, and forms a continuity of steps to the summit, which we found some difficulty in climbing; but where the distance between the ledges was great, we assisted our ascent by tufts of grass firmly rooted in the luxurious moss that grew abundantly about the watercourses. On reaching the summit, I found that the fall was supplied from a stream winding through rugged chasms and thickly-matted clusters of plants and trees, among which the pandanus bore a conspicuous appearance, and gave a picturesque richness to the place. While admiring the wildness of the scene, Mr. Montgomery joined me; we did not, however, succeed in following the stream for more than a hundred yards, for at that distance its windings were so confused among rocks and spinifex that we could not trace its course. Large groves of pandanus and hibiscus, and a variety of other plants, were growing in great luxuriance upon the banks of the Prince Regent's River, but, unhappily, the sterile and rocky appearance of the country was some alloy to the satisfaction we felt at the first sight of the fresh water."
Water had been obtained sufficient to last until October. Preparations were then made to leave this anchorage, when they explored Half-way Bay, finding in it a strait that communicated with Munster Water, so insulating the land that forms the northwest shore of the Bay. This island was named Greville Island.