BUSH FIRE. 61 



on fire by some of our people^ and continued burn- 

 in o- for se\eral days, until nenrly the whole island 

 had been passed over ; the long- dry g-rass and dead 

 trees blazing* very fiercely under the influence of a 

 high wind. At nig'ht the sig'ht of the burning- scrub 

 was very fine when viewed from a distance^ but I 

 did not forg-et that I had one day been much closer 

 to it than was pleasant— in fact^ it was only by first 

 soaking- my clothes in a pool among* the rocks^ 

 emptA'ing- the contents of my powder flask to pre- 

 vent the risk of being- blown up^ and then making- a 

 desperate rush throug-h a belt of burning- scrub^ that 

 I succeeded in reaching- a place of safety. 



Sing-ularly enoug-h^ the Asp's ding-ey was picked 

 up uninjured on one of the sandy beaches of this 

 island^ and on December 7th we left the anchorag-e 

 with a strono- south-easterly wind, and anchored for 

 the nig-ht under one of Sir James Smith's g-roup. 

 On the following- day we ran throug-h part of 

 Whitsunday Passag-e^ so named by Cook^ and 

 anchored in Port MoUe^ in seven and a half fathoms^ 

 a quarter of a mile off* shore. The best anchorage 

 here appears to be in the second bay as you round the 

 end of the island^ forming- theS.E. side of the harbour; 

 it may be known by a sandy beach at the head. 



During our stay of two days^ search was made 

 for water in every likely spot, but none could be 

 found. In the dried up beds of three shallow 

 lao'oons (one of which I had seen half filled four 

 years before)^ we found native wells^ one dug to the 



