Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/185

( 160 ) On the eastern side of the port, twenty-eight miles from the entrance, a stream of fresh water empties itself into the port. This stream runs through an extensive swamp, and appears to be a branch from a large river, at the northern extremity of the port, which the shortness of time and badness of the weather prevented our examining. The bed of this stream is covered with foliaceous mica, which our people at first conceived to be gold dust, and thence expected they had discovered, an El dorado.

On the west side .of the port is an extensive lagoon, the water of which is too shoal to admit even small boats but at full tides; and in several places salt lagoons are found, generally closed by the