The islet had been visited by Indians, and several trees upon it were notched, similar to what is done by the people of Port Jackson when they ascend in pursuit of opossums. Upon the main, to the west of the islet, where I walked a mile inland, fire Places and other signs of inhabitants were numerous, and still more so were those of the kangaroo; yet neither that animal nor an Indian was seen. Around the extinguished fires were scattered the bones of turtle, and the shells of crabs, periwinkles, and oysters of the small kind; and in the low grounds I observed many holes, made apparently by the natives in digging for fern roots. An iguana of between two and three feet long, which lay upon the branch of a high tree watching for its prey, was the sole animal killed; but the mud banks are frequented at low water by sea pies of both kinds, curlews, and small cranes.

The soil was stiff, shallow, and often stony; the vegetation consisted of two or three species of eucalyptus and the casuarina, not thickly set nor large--of several kinds of shrubs, amongst which a small grass-tree was abundant--and of grass, with which the rest of the soil was thinly overspread.

After making my observations, I rejoined the Lady Nelson two miles below the woody islet; but the wind blowing fresh up the bay, and the brig being leewardly, went on and with some difficulty landed on the west side, opposite to the entrance of the eastern arm. This part is stony; but equally low with the rest of the shores, and is probably an island at high water. A confined set of bearings was taken here; and the sun being then nearly down and the brig at anchor, I went on board for the night. Next afternoon [WEDNESDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 1802], when the ebb tide enabled the vessel to make progress against the strong north-west wind, we beat down in a channel of between one and two miles wide, with soundings from 2 to 8 fathoms; but they were not regular, for the depth was less in some parts of the middle than at the sides of the channel. The wind moderated in the evening; and being then within three miles of the ship, I quitted the brig, and got on board at sunset.

One object of my research in this expedition had been the lost cutter, and orders had been left with lieutenant Fowler to send again into Strong-tide Passage upon the same errand, but all was without success.

During my absence, the naturalist and other gentlemen had gone over in the launch to the west side of the bay, where they had an interview with sixteen natives; their appearance was described as being much inferior to the inhabitants of Keppel and Hervey's Bays, but they were peaceable, and seemed to be very hungry. They had bark canoes which, though not so well formed, were better secured at the ends than those of Port Jackson; and in them were spears neatly pointed with pieces of quartz, for striking turtle. The number of bones lying about their fire places bespoke turtle to be their principal food; and with the addition of shell fish, and perhaps fern roots, it is probably their sole support.

The same muddy flats which rendered landing so difficult in the upper parts of the bay, run off to some distance from the shore under Double Mount; and the land is low for two or three miles back. The hills then rise, ridge over ridge to a considerable elevation; and at the top are several hummocks, of which two, higher than the rest, obtained for this high land its present name. So far as the gentlemen were able to ascend, the hills were found to be tolerably well covered with pines and other trees; and the soil of the vallies was better than in those near Mount Westall on the opposite side of the bay.

THURSDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 1802

Early on the 2nd the brig rejoined; and the wind being at S. by E., we steered across towards Pine Mount, passing over the shoal in sixteen feet. In crossing the middle channel, our soundings increased to 9, and then diminished to less than 3 fathoms upon a second shoal, the width of the channel here being not quite three miles. On the west side of the second shoal is another channel, nearly as wide as the former; and the greatest depth in it, reduced to low water as usual, was 8 fathoms. The water shoaled again suddenly on approaching the west side of the bay, and obliged us to veer round off; we then steered to pass within Aken's Island, intending to anchor in the West Bight behind it; but the depth not being sufficient for the ship at low water, we came to in 4 fathoms, muddy bottom, one mile from the shore and two from Aken's Island, the east end of which bore N. 27° W.

Pine Mount is a single round hill with a high peaked top, standing about two miles inland from the West Bight; and to obtain a set of bearings from it which should cross those from Mount Westall, had induced me to anchor here; but finding my health too much impaired by fatigue to accomplish a laborious walk, I sent the launch next morning [FRIDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 1802] with the scientific gentlemen, and as an easier task, landed upon Aken's Island and took angles from the little eminence at its north-east end.

At every port or bay we entered, more especially after passing Cape Capricorn, my first object on landing was to examine the refuse thrown up by the sea. The French navigator, La Pérouse, whose unfortunate situation, if in existence, was always present to my mind, had been wrecked, as it was thought, somewhere in the neighbourhood of New Caledonia; and if so, the remnants of his ships were likely to be brought upon this coast by the trade winds, and might indicate the situation of the reef or island which had proved fatal to him. With such an indication, I was led to believe in the possibility of finding the place; and though the hope of restoring La Pérouse or any of his companions to their country and friends could not, after so many years, be rationally entertained, yet to gain some certain knowledge of their fate would do away the pain of suspense; and it might not be too late to retrieve some documents of their discoveries.