Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/313

 that the rock islets, round which we passed last ste. ewnln, were those off Captain Flinders's Point. joly s Dale. There was, however, an error of. ten miles, in the latitude, which was so unusual an occur-' fence in the charts of that navigator, that for some tlm. I doubted the justice of my suspicions; but, on .referring to the account of his voyage, it ap- peared .that no meridional observation was ob- tained by him for the latitude near this channel; and also that the weather, when he passed through was thick and cloudy. This error, therefore, when he was unassisted by an observation for his latitude, in a place where the tide sets at the rate of three or four knots, did not appear at all improbable; and as my conjectures, by com- paring.our respective p]ans, were soon afterwards confirmed, we hauled in for .the extremity of the land in sight. The Strait to the eastward of Point Dale, I have named after my friend, Robert Brown, Esq., the profound botanist of that voyage. In the evening we anchored about three miles from a. low rocky island; beyond which is an opening like a rivulet, but .it was so inconsider- able in appearance, that I was not induced to examine it farther. � The next evening we anchored at the bottom so.

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