GIDLEY ISLAND, and two others to the eastward, extend in a north and south direction; they are high and rocky. The west shore of Gidley Island appeared to be fronted by a continuous reef, on which some patches of dry rocks were observed. Gidley Island is separated from Legendre Island by a very shoal and rocky strait, apparently impassable for anything larger than boats. It has several small sandy islets scattered about it, and at low water the greater part is dry. There is doubtless a deep passage through, but it must be intricate and dangerous, and only to be attempted in a case of the most pressing emergency. On the island to the southward, are two sandy bays. The land to the southward is doubtless a part of the main: and is, like the other islands, high and rocky. It forms the eastern shore of MERMAID's STRAIT, which is an excellent port, affording safe and secure anchorage at all seasons.
The islands on the western side of the strait, are LEWIS and MALUS. The north-east point of the latter island, COURTENAY HEAD, is, without doubt, Captain Dampier's Bluff Head. It is a very remarkable point; its summit is in 20 degrees 29 minutes 5 seconds South, and 116 degrees 36 minutes 35 seconds East. On its west side is a sandy bay with good anchorage in four and five fathoms. Malus Island is separated from Lewis Island by a strait a mile wide; it is probably deep.
The north-east point of LEWIS ISLAND is a narrow projecting tongue of land, terminating in a high rocky lump; and to the southward of it, are two high rocky islets of similar appearance. There is also another, but of smaller size, off the south-east point of Malus Island. In the centre of Lewis Island there is a valley, that stretches across to the opposite sides of the island, forming a bay on either side.
To the south of Lewis Island is a group of islands, which, from the circumstance of our communicating with the natives, was called INTERCOURSE ISLANDS. They are all small. The largest has a remarkable summit upon it, in latitude 20 degrees 37 minutes 50 seconds, and longitude 116 degrees 36 minutes 45 seconds: it is from this Island that the natives drove us, and would not allow us to land.* The channel between them and Lewis Island is more than a mile wide, and is seven and eight fathoms deep.
(*Footnote. Vide volume 1.)
ENDERBY ISLAND is separated from Lewis Island by a channel one mile and a half wide, apparently clear and free from danger. Its south-west point is ROCKY HEAD, the summit of which was found to be in latitude 20 degrees 35 minutes 25 seconds, and longitude 116 degrees 23 minutes 5 seconds. To the north is GOODWYN ISLAND; and further north, and West-North-West from Malus Island, from which it is separated by a strait two miles and a half wide, is ROSEMARY ISLAND, which, when viewed from the North-North-East or South-South-West, has three hummocks bearing from each other West by North and East by South. The centre hummock is in latitude 20 degrees 27 minutes 30 seconds, and longitude 116 degrees 31 minutes. In the vicinity of Rosemary and Goodwyn Islands are several small rocky islands, particularly on the north-east side of the former; and at the distance of three miles, to the north of the centre of Malus Island, is a patch of flat rocks, which are those seen and noticed by Dampier (Dampier volume 3 page 81 table 4 Number 10) but from his vague account, it is not at all certain what island he saw; and, was it not for the peculiarity and remarkable appearance of Courtenay Head, it might have been any of the others. There is good anchorage in all parts about the Archipelago, particularly within Lewis Island, where the Intercourse Islands will shelter a ship from whatever point the wind may blow.
There is no wood of any size to be procured among the islands, which is a great drawback upon its utility as a port. In the rainy season water is doubtless abundant, but must be soon evaporated. We saw no rivulet or any fresh water, excepting a few gallons that were protected from the heat of the sun by being under the shade of a fig, but from the number of natives seen by us, it is probable that there must be a large quantity not far off. The natives of this part use logs to convey them from and to the islands. A small sandy island, with a reef extending for two miles from its north-west end, and one mile and a half from its south-east end, lies off the south-west end of Enderby Island, and would serve as a good protection from the sea in a South-West wind, for the anchorage on the south side of Enderby Island.
The mainland is high and rocky behind the islands, but at the bottom of the bay again assumes a low character: more to the westward, a range of hills rises abruptly and advances for fourteen miles in a North-West direction from the interior, and reaches the shores of the bay, when it extends for eleven miles to the westward, and is then terminated by a valley, or an opening of one mile and a half wide, that separates it from the rocky hills of CAPE PRESTON. The cape juts out into the sea, and is connected by reefs to some low sandy islands to the North-East; it is in latitude 20 degrees 49 minutes 45 seconds, and longitude 116 degrees 5 minutes. In the centre of the bay, at eight miles North 64 degrees East from the extremity of the cape, is a low, sandy islet, of about one-third of a mile in diameter; and behind it, near the shores of the bay, there appeared to be other islands of the same size and character, the particular form and situation of which could not be distinguished.
There is a small rocky islet off Cape Preston, and some to the South-South-West, in which direction the shore trends in and forms a bay, the shores of which were not seen.
From Cape Preston the coast assumes a very different character from that to the eastward, being less sinuous, very low, and either fronted by mangroves, or by a range of sandhills, both of which conceal the interior. The coast, at from three to seven miles, is fronted by a range of low, sandy islets, from one quarter to two-thirds of a mile in diameter: there are, however, two or three near Cape Preston of larger size, particularly one bearing South 66 degrees West, fifteen miles from the extremity of the cape, of rocky character, but very level, and apparently sterile; it is nearly circular, and about two miles in diameter. It is visible for about five leagues.