1917-] Dirk Hartog Island and Peron Peninsula. 567 



digging ill the white sand-drifts along that coast, where 

 excellent water is obtainable in many places at a depth of 

 from one to ten feet. He also missed the mouth of the 

 great Gascoyne River, which he must have passed. 



The next mention of Shark Bay is when three French 

 vessels commanded by Comniodore Bandin explored part of 

 it about 1802. 



In 1818 a minute geographical survey of Shark Bay was 

 made for the first time by M. Duperrey, who accompanied 

 Captain Louis de Freycinet in the ship ' Uranie.'' Quoy 

 and Gaimard were the naturalists attached to the expedition 

 and probably made good collections, but these were lost by 

 shipwreck and little was pul)lislied of their results. They 

 note, however, that many strange birds were met with, 

 especially indicating two of three species. Two were figured 

 and described, and these were the original incitement of 

 the expedition last year, as the birds had never been met 

 with since, and recently doubt had been cast upon their 

 existence.* 



Shark, or Shark's Bay, as it is usually called, is situated 

 between the meridians 113°-115° E, and the parallels of 

 2-iF-27° S. It is 150 miles in length from north to south, and 

 70 miles in width, measuring from Dirk Hartog Island across 

 to the mainland. The southern part of the Bay is divided 

 by the Peron peninsula into two long reaches — Freycinet 

 Estuary and Hamelin Pool. The Peron is 50 mdes in length, 

 north of the narrow neck, as shown on the map accompany- 

 ing this paper (Plate IX.), and a great part of it is ten to 

 twelve miles in width. The neck of land, mentioned above, 



* In the ' Scottish Geographical Magazine,' vol. xxxiii. (March 1917) 

 there appeared an article (pp. 120-121), "Is Dirk Hartog's Voyage 

 to West Australia Historical or Mythical ? " by J. Bryant. There it is 

 stated that, owing to the tercentenary of Dirk Hartog's discovery, 

 attempts had been made to trace the history of the voyage, with the 

 quite unexpected result that no confirmation, but rather the opposite, had 

 been achieved. At present further investigation is necessary, but there 

 are certainly grave defects in the story of Dirk Hartog's discovery, and it 

 seems probable that it will later be discarded. [G. M. M.J 



