THE SANDHILL.
Strong south and south-east winds, which reduced the temperature, on one occasion, to 56 degrees about 4 A.M., generally prevailed, excepting for a few hours in the afternoon; quite reminding us of the winds we experienced at Depuch Island on the North-west coast, and preventing us from reaching our destination till the morning of the 24th, when we anchored two miles and a quarter from a particularly bare sand hillock, bearing South 53 degrees West. This was named The Sandhill, par excellence; there being no other on the shore of the Gulf. To the eastward there appeared an opening with a remarkable quoin-shaped clump of tall mangroves at the entrance. It being neap tide, we were enabled to take the ship thus close to the shore, and as it was the nearest approach we could make to the head of the Gulf, another boat expedition was set on foot to explore it, consisting of the yawl and gig, in which Lieutenant Gore and myself left the ship the same afternoon. The first spot visited was The Sandhill, which we found to be forty feet high, in latitude 17 degrees 38 minutes 20 seconds South, longitude 7 degrees 48 minutes 00 seconds East of Port Essington. From its summit we immediately perceived that our conjecture was right respecting the opening close to the eastward. The shore was sandy to the westward, a remarkable circumstance, considering that nearly everywhere else all was mangrove. Whatever we saw of the interior, appeared to be low patches of bare mud, which bespoke frequent inundations. We could also trace a low mangrove shore forming the head of the Gulf, without any appearance of a large opening, which was a bitter disappointment; in some measure, however, compensated by the fact that it was all new, Flinders having expressed himself doubtful how far back the shore lay.
DISASTER INLET.
The point on which The Sandhill is situated I called after Lieutenant Gore, and the inlet, which we entered just before dark, Disaster Inlet, from a circumstance of what may be called a tragical nature which happened in it. Like all the other inlets, as we afterwards found, it had a bar scarcely passable at low-water for boats; but within there was a depth of two and three fathoms. It appears that the streams passing out of these openings groove out a channel in the great flat fronting the shores for from one to three miles; but as the distance from their mouths increased, the velocity and consequent strength of the stream diminished in proportion, and, as we afterwards found, at this season was never strong enough to force a channel the entire way through the flat or bank at the entrance, which was thrown out in consequence further from the shore. The projection thus formed in the great flat indicated the importance of the inlet.
We passed the night a mile within the mouth of Disaster Inlet, and next morning, which was cool and bracing enough for a latitude twenty degrees further south, we followed its upward course, which was more westerly than suited our impatience to proceed direct into the interior. Four miles and a half from the entrance, in a straight line, though ten by the distance the boats had gone, we came on a reach trending south. This improvement in the course was equally felt by all, as was shown by the bending of the oars to the eager desire of the crew to push on; but scarcely had the boats glided midway through the hitherto untraversed piece of water, when the tragical event occurred, which the name of the inlet serves to recall, although it is too deeply engraven on the memories of both actors and spectators ever to be forgotten.
COCKATOOS.
The mangroves that in patches fringed the banks, whilst all besides was one flat grassy plain, were literally whitened with flocks of noisy cockatoos, giving the trees an appearance as if they were absolutely laden with huge flakes of snow--a somewhat remarkable aspect for a scene in such a clime to wear. It seemed as if the rigid hand of winter had for once been permitted to visit with its icy touch this tropical land; but the verdure of all around, the serenity of the heavens, warm with the fervid beams of the sun that gilded the rippling waters of the reach, dispelled the illusion. And soon the huge masses of white plumage began to float from tree to tree across the reach, whilst their screams as they flew by seemed a fair challenge to the sportsman. Mr. Gore accordingly resolved to secure a few of them for dinner, and put out his gun for the purpose.
NARROW ESCAPE.
The sudden arrest of the birds' flight--the flash of the gun--the volume of smoke--caught the eye as it closed at the explosion; with some of us it might have been for ever! Twas the affair of but a second. Death came to our sides, as it were, and departed ere the report of the gun had ceased to roll over the waters of the reach. Something whizzed past my ear, deafening and stupefying me for a moment--the next I saw my much-valued friend Gore stretched at his length in the bottom of the boat, and I perceived at a glance the danger we had incurred and providentially escaped.
ACCIDENT TO LIEUTENANT GORE.