Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/229

Gulph of Carpentaria.]

daylight in the morning of Feb. 10, we sailed down Caledon Bay, and steered eastward along the south side of the islands lying in the entrance. In passing the outer island I landed with the botanical gentlemen, and took bearings from a small elevation on its north-east end, which materially assisted in fixing the positions of the northern islets, and extending the survey onward along the coast.

This outer island is nearly a mile long, E. by N. and W. by S., and mostly destitute of wood; but one valley was thickly covered, and so interlaced with vines as to be impenetrable. The latitude observed to the north and south, at the sandy west point, was 12° 52′ 59″ south.

We re-joined the ship at one o'clock, and steered northward, without side of the islets and rocks which lie scattered, along the shore as far as Mount Alexander. Amongst these are three near to each other, with hummocks upon them, which, as in many points of view they seem to make but one island, may probably have been meant by the northernmost of the three isles in the Dutch chart.