260 CHIMMO ON THE [Jan. 12, 1857. 



of the next follower of his footsteps, Captain Stokes, r.n., to which 

 was added, as a matter of course, " three cheers." 



On our return to "the well, we picked up a piece of a lower-deck 

 mess-plate (china), and also a metal tray or inkstand, of European 

 manufacture, the lid of which was gone. It is about 9 inches long, 

 by 5 wide and 3 deep, figured on the outside with leaves of a tree 

 that would puzzle a botanist. Such a thing could scarcely have 

 been left there by the ' Beagle ;' and if in the hands of the natives 

 for fifty-four years would have been destroyed if left there by 

 the * Investigator,' The well, for which we are indebted to the 

 * Beagle's ' visit fifteen years since, we found to be 25 feet deep, 

 the water dripping into it through a rock of concreted lime, sand, 

 shells, and pebbles. Sweers Island is low, thickly wooded with 

 gums, acacias, and a straggling pandanus, and dense grass ; the soil 

 is capable of producing Indian corn, yams, cotton, &c. This, with 

 Bountiful Island, would make good headquarters for an exploring 

 party, and I hope Gregory will find it out. 



I again passed out of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the greatest depth 

 of which is 46 fathoms, with a soft, adhesive mud, gradually 

 decreasing its depth from the centre to the low, muddy mangiove 

 shores which border the east and south of the Gulf. The only 

 phenomenon worthy of remark was the difference of the density of 

 the sea- water at the depth of the Gnlf and at its entrance in lat. 13o, 

 amounting to 7° 1'. 



On the 26th of August, we entered the Victoria River, after care- 

 fully and anxiously, but unsuccessfully, searching the north coast 

 between the Gulfs, more particularly Treachery Bay, where the 

 expedition first landed, and where Captain Stokes was speared and 

 so nearly lost his life. On my first anchoring in the river, I 

 observed a mark erected on Entrance Island, and near it a bottle 

 containing a notice that the portion of the expedition in charge of 

 Mr. Gregory had left for the Albert Eiver on the 21st of June, and 

 that the schooner * Tom Tough ' had gone to Coepang, in Timor, for 

 repairs. 



It was now very evident that my detention for two months at 

 Sydney, might be seriously felt by the expedition. Had I set out 

 on my first anival, I should have been in sufiicient time not only 

 to supply the party with provisions, stores, and despatches, but also 

 to have discharged the schooner and have acted in concert with 

 Gregory, in a steamer, until the completion of his mission. 



I proceeded 60 miles up the river in the ' Torch,' and then 40 

 miles farther in the boats, to Gregory's abandoned camp, where I 

 found another notice of his movements. 



