CAPTAIN TUCKEY’S NARRATIVE. 85 
will be evident that the calculated volume of water carried 
to the sea has been greatly exaggerated. 
The peninsula of Cape Padron and Shark Point, which 
forms the south side of the estuary, has been evidently 
formed by the combined depositions of the sea and river, 
the external or sea shore being composed of quartzy sand, 
forming a steep beach ; the internal or river side, a deposit 
of mud overgrown with the mangrove ; and both sides of 
the river towards its mouth is of similar formation, inter- 
sected by numerous creeks, (apparently forming islands) 
in which the water is perfectly torpid. ‘This mangrove or 
alluvial tract appears to extend on both shores about 
seven or eight miles inland, where the elevated and _ pri- 
mitive soil then occurs, and the outline of which is frequently 
caught from the river, through vistas formed by setting fire 
to the mangrove, or over the creeks. ‘This mangrove tract 
is entirely impenetrable, the trees growing in the water, 
with the exception of a few spots of sandy beach. Small 
islands have in many places been formed by the current, 
and doubtless in the rainy season, when the stream is at its 
maximum, these islands may be entirely separated from 
the banks, and the entwined roots keeping the trees toge- 
ther, they will float down the river, and merit the name 
of floating islands. At this season however, they are 
