The longitude of our situation according to the positions laid down in the Investigator, would be 136° 41' 10", and the time keeper now gave 136° 42' 12". It was principally for the sake of comparing the two longitudes, that I made the land near Cape Wilberforce.

[NORTH COAST. WESSEL'S ISLANDS.]

We steered northward for the two islets, and at noon, when the latitude from an observation to the south was 11° 43', but from bearings 11° 42', they were distant three quarters of a mile to the W. by S.; these islets had been set from the south-east head of Cotton's Island at N. 42° 35' to 45° 5' E., and that head was now seen bearing S. 45¼° W. At one o'clock the Wessel's Islands came in sight, and I hauled more up, wishing to ascertain their extent to the northward; but the wind being at E. N. E, we could not pass to windward before dark, and therefore steered for an opening between the two outer islands. There were strong ripplings and whirlpools of tide at the entrance of the opening, with very variable soundings between 5 and 16 fathoms; and finding we could not get through in time, the sun being then near the horizon, an anchor was dropped near a small beach on the north side, in 4 fathoms, out of the set of the tides.

SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER 1803

Next morning I landed on the northern island, to take bearings and search for water, and the boat's crew had axes to cut some fire wood. Four or five Indians made their appearance, but as we advanced they retired; and I therefore left them to themselves, having usually found that to bring on an interview with the Australians, it was best to seem careless about it. A Malay prow had been thrown on the beach, and whilst the boat's crew was busied in cutting up the wreck for fuel, the Indians approached gradually, and a friendly intercourse took place; but as no water could be found, and time was more precious than the company of these people, they were presented with our axes after the work was done, and we got under way soon after ten o'clock.

This island appears to be the outermost of the chain called Wessel's Islands, which extend thirteen leagues in a north-east direction from the main land near Point Dale. It seemed to be eight or nine miles in length, by about five in breadth; the southern part is sandy and sterile, but some trees are produced; and I saw kangaroos of a small kind, too lean to be worth the pursuit their shyness required. The natives are of the same colour and appearance as in other parts of Terra Australis, and go equally naked; their presence here showed the south end of the island to be not wholly destitute of fresh water; but in the limited search we had time to make, none could be found, though traces of torrents denoted the falling of heavy rains in some part of the year. The island to the south-west, which is of somewhat greater extent, though less in elevation, had much the same appearance.

A distance of two miles between the islands seems to present a fair opening; but there is a reef of low rocks on the west side, and the ripplings and whirlpools caused by the meeting of the tides take away the command of a vessel in light winds; so that, although I went through safely in the Cumberland, the passage can be recommended to a ship only in a case of necessity. The latitude of our anchorage under the northern island, from a supplement of the moon's meridian altitude, was 11° 24 2/3' south; and the longitude by time keeper, from altitudes of the star Altair, 136° 28½' east, but it is placed in 1' less, conformably to the positions fixed in the Investigator. A head land seen in latitude 11° 18', was probably the northern extremity of this island, and of the whole chain; at least nothing beyond it could be perceived.

[NORTH COAST. TOWARDS TIMOR.]

In steering out of the channel we were carried near the western rocks by the tide; but the water was deep, and a breeze soon took the schooner out of its influence. At noon our observed latitude was 11° 21', the northern island bore N. 67° to S. 48° E, and the furthest part of the southern land S. 5° W.; the wind was light at north-east, and until midnight we steered north-west to get off the coast; our course was then more westward towards Timor, where I proposed to stop for a supply of water and provisions. (Atlas, Plate I.)

NOVEMBER 1803