Page:Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia.djvu/69

 and blew fresh the sand S.W. Beyond the beach, mounds, barren of trees, but covered with verdure, concealed the plain behind them, and it was only through breaks that we could occasionally see the trees inland. The meridian altitudes gave the latitude of Cape Bouvard 32° 38' considerably to the south of what is laid down in the chart. The only marked distinction between the cape and the other parts of the coast, is its projecting the farthest into the sea, for the mounds which form it are not very perceptibly higher than on either side, nor does it form a pointed but rounded headland. At 3, p.m. the boats making but little way against a heavy sea and strong breeze, we ran them through the surf on the beach, in doing which one of the grapnels that was let go to haul out by on launching parted, and could not be recovered on account of the violence of the surf. No fresh water was to be procured at a considerable depth in the valleys some way from the beach, but we soon discovered, from one of the highest sand mounds, an extensive lake about one mile and a half wide, lying parallel to the beach, and about a mile from it. These sand mounds rise very irregularly and abruptly, having considerable herbaceous verdure in their hollows, and being covered higher up with the usual shrubs. A small plain, bearing grass trees, eycalipti, and tea trees, intervenes between them and the lake, but it was in a great measure submerged.

November 21st.—The wind continuing to blow fresh along the shore from the south prevented our going to sea; we therefore sent a party to the lake to procure water, which, although we found it brackish, we were obliged to use; others went to bake cakes from the flour we had taken with us instead of bread, and some were still labouring