During his excursion Mr. Fitzmaurice had killed one of the rare species of kangaroo, seen for the first time by us at King Sound, called Macropus unguifer; this was a somewhat important discovery, as it showed the extent to which the animal is diffused over the continent. I may here mention, that the night before we reached Van Diemen's Inlet a flight of rose-coloured cockatoos,* several of which were caught and kept alive for some time, alighted on the rigging.

(*Footnote. Cacatua eos.)

Thus terminated our exploration of the southern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, nearly two hundred miles of which had been minutely examined in the boats.* Twenty-six inlets had been discovered, of which two proved to be rivers, whilst three more were nearly as promising. That all the others may contain fresh water in the rainy season there is every reason for supposing, from the fact of deep channels being found in their banks; from what I have already observed regarding the water being less salt towards the heads at low tides; and from the report we afterwards heard at Port Essington that Malay proas occasionally visit the southern shores of the Gulf, and fill fresh water from alongside, some distance off the land. If we receive this statement as correct, we must suppose that at certain seasons the discharge from the various inlets and rivers we discovered is sufficiently powerful to force back the great body of seawater, as is the case at the embouchures of many large rivers.

(*Footnote. As the reader will perceive by a glance at the chart accompanying this work.)

The general appearance of the head of the Gulf is that of a low mangrove shore, between ten and thirty feet high, over which the interior is not visible from the offing.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLIMATE AND WINDS IN THE GULF.

During our visit to this part of the continent we found the climate well suited for Europeans; but what it might be in the middle of the north-west monsoon we had no opportunity of ascertaining. At its commencement in the month of November, Flinders found the thermometer to range on board between 81 and 90 degrees; but on shore, he says, that in the course of the day it might have been about seven degrees higher; the temperature, however, being alleviated by constant breezes either from sea or land, it was seldom oppressive. In July, as I have already stated, the thermometer, on one occasion, at 5 A.M., was down to 51 degrees; and on another, at noon, up to 87 degrees, being, in the first instance, six degrees lower than it was on board, and in the second, seven degrees higher, which gave an excess in the shore range of thirteen degrees. Generally on the land it was below 62 degrees before 7 A.M. and after 6 P.M. The range of the barometer in November was from 29.70 to 30.06; whilst with us, in July, its maximum height was 30.08, and minimum 30.02; the lowest being in both seasons with winds from the land, coinciding with what had been observed on other parts of the continent, that winds from the sea raise the mercury, and those from the land depress it.

The winds in July were fresh from South to South-East for about two days before and after the change in the moon. They began at midnight, increasing to almost a strong breeze between five and six in the morning, and dying away again towards noon, when a calm of five hours duration succeeded; at other times light land and seabreezes prevailed.

It will appear from this description of the winds in the Gulf of Carpentaria that they bear a great similarity to those experienced at the same season on the North-West coast, near Depuch Island; and the circumstance of the temperature being lowest when they were strongest from the land is also the same. This was there supposed to have been occasioned by the great radiation of heat from the land over which they blew; but as the country at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria is not of a cold clayey nature, the idea is naturally suggested that there must be a great extent of swampy ground in the interior, which strengthens the opinion I have before expressed.

SUPPOSED ISLANDS.