From Morning Inlet the coast was slightly waving and trended East 20 degrees North. At the end of twelve miles we found a little opening on the south-east side of a small point which concealed the boats from two natives, who were out on the mud flats, till we got close to them. They gazed for a moment at the strange apparition, and then made off as fast as the nature of the ground would admit; they were quite naked, and we were not a little amused to see them floundering through the soft mud. Close to the westward of this opening are two clumps of tall mangroves, the only remarkable objects on the shore of the Gulf from Disaster Inlet. There was another small inlet four miles further on; and what is remarkable for this neighbourhood, a sandy beach midway between them.
EXPLORE AN OPENING.
On the evening of the 28th we entered a large and promising opening,* distant twenty-one miles from Morning Inlet; its importance was made manifest by its forming a channel of two feet at low-water through the flat at the entrance, which it threw out considerably.
(*Footnote. The mouth is in latitude 17 degrees 36 minutes 40 seconds South, and longitude 8 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East of Port Essington.)
The boats proceeded up the opening at daylight on the 29th; our hopes were considerably raised by finding a depth of three and, in some places, five fathoms, and a width of about a hundred and twenty yards. The banks were, as usual, lined with mangroves; behind which, on the eastern side, retreated vast plains, with trees of some size scattered over them. They extend to the coast eastward of the entrance, which is sandy for some distance, with casuarinae, acacias, and small gums, which was not only a pleasing change from the monotonous mangrove shore, but had also its utility, serving to show the mouth of the opening from the offing.
We pursued a general South-South-East direction, though from the windings, and the tide being against us, our progress was slow; and at the end of eleven miles were obliged to wait its changing. Here we landed in the mouth of a small creek at the end of a clear bank on the eastern side; the opposite one also began to wear the same character, and our eyes therefore were permitted to wander over an immense extent of very level open grassy country, dotted with clumps of trees.
The tides changing only twice in twenty-four hours presented a great impediment to our exploration, and it was evening before we could again move onwards.
AUSTRALIAN CUCKOO.
Whilst waiting the tide, the note of a bird resembling the cuckoo broke the deep stillness that prevailed. It was evening; all around was calm: the wide extended plain dimly stretching away on every side, the waters as they imperceptibly swelled between the curving banks, the heavens in which the last rays of the sun still lingered, gilding the few clouds that hovered near the horizon. A pleasing sadness stole over the heart as these familiar sounds--the note of this Australian cuckoo, if I may venture to name a bird from its voice--floated through the tranquil air. Recollections of the domestic hearth, and the latticed window shaded with vines and honeysuckles, and the distant meadows, and glades, and woodlands, covered with the bursting buds of spring; and--pervading all and giving a charm to all--the monotonous but ever welcome and thrilling note of the cuckoo sounding afar off: recollections of all these things, I say, rushed o'er each fancy, and bore us for a moment back in imagination to our island home.
DISCOVERY OF FLINDERS RIVER.