Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/237

Gulph of Carpentaria.]

hair and clothes filled with them; and as their bite is very sharp, and their vengeance never satisfied, there was no other resource than stripping as expeditiously as possible.

The sun was at this time very near the zenith, which not only prevented the latitude from being observed in the artificial horizon, but rendered the observations from the sea horizon, to the north and south at the same noon, liable to inaccuracies; and in consequence, our positions in this neighbourhood may not be very correct. And except in the doubtful instance of the iron-stone shore on the south-east side of the bay, the bearings in other parts did not differ more than 20′ from it.

The greatest rise of tide here, according to the marks on shore, did not seem to have exceeded eight feet. High water took place nearly five hours before, and seven hours after the moon's passage over the meridian; which is nearly two hours and a half earlier than in Caledon Bay, as that is earlier than in Blue-mud Bay, further south in the gulph.

At two in the afternoon of the 16th, the wind being moderate at N.N.W., we worked out of Melville Bay; and anchored at dusk, five miles from the entrance in 13 fathoms, sand and mud. Next morning, in following the line of the western shore with a breeze off the land, we passed three rocks lying out from a point under Mount Bonner; and further on, six or seven miles short of Cape Wilberforce, there was a small shallow opening. From the north part of this cliffy cape, a chain of islands and rocks extends out three or four leagues to the E.N.E., which I call Bromby's Isles, after my worthy friend the Rev. John Bromby of Hull. One of these is cliffy,