(**Footnote. The Pelorus was dug out of the mud, and once more got afloat towards the middle of February following. This immense undertaking was accomplished by the indefatigable exertion and mechanical skill of her commander, Captain Kuper, C.B., assisted by Captain Stanley. J.L.S.))
COURSE OF THE STORM.
The bad weather in the Victoria then would appear to have been caused by the proximity of the southern edge of this storm as it passed to the westward. The fact of the time when the weather was the worst, having been the same at Port Essington, and in the Victoria; and of the French discovery ships meeting it in Torres Strait first, shows the westerly course of the storm. Its northern edge did not reach Coepang, but a strong gale from the south-west on the 26th showed that it was passing. Most probably it took a more southerly course before reaching Timor.*
(*Footnote. We were informed at Timor that hurricanes were never felt there, but occur once in four or five years to the southward of it. It may be added that a vessel lost her top-masts in the Port Essington hurricane, near Sandalwood Island, and that to the southward of Java hurricanes occur frequently.)
I passed the night on shore, making observations for latitude, and in the hope also of being able to obtain another specimen of the new small kangaroo, that being the time when it is generally to be found on the move. But I did not succeed in this object; and failed also in my expectation of knocking over one of a large kind seen in the interior. I left the observation spot for this purpose with the first grey of the morn, taking an East-North-East direction for about four miles.
DREARY COUNTRY.
The country was most dreary; vast ranges strewn over with huge blocks of sandstone, rose in desolate grandeur around; chasms, ravines, and thirsty stony valleys yawned on every side; all was broken, rugged, and arid, as if the curse of sterility had fallen on the land; in short, the contrast was complete between this desert place and the country we had so lately traversed up the river. I was able, accordingly, to procure nothing in the shape of a fresh meal, save a few black cockatoos and some of the pigeons of a dark brown colour, with a white patch on the extremity of the wing, which I have alluded to in the earlier part of the work relating to King's Sound, as always inhabiting rocky districts and making a whirring sound, like a partridge, on the wing.
LOSE TWO ANCHORS.
November 29.
This afternoon and the whole of the next day, when the tide suited, we were endeavouring to weigh the ship's anchors; but they were together with the cables so imbedded in the bottom, which must have been a quicksand, that this proved impossible. Had the ship been fitted with Captain Charles Phillips', R.N., capstan, there would have been a better chance of succeeding. As it was, after heaving down the ship nineteen inches by the head, and splitting the hawse pipes, we were ultimately obliged to leave both behind, and thirty fathoms of cable with one and fifteen with the other. This circumstance suggested the appropriate name of Holdfast Reach for this locality; and perhaps in some future generations, when this part of the world has undergone the changes that seems destined for it, the archaeologist of Victoria River may in vain puzzle his wits with speculations concerning the Beagle's anchors.