8 ADMIRALTY INSTRUCTIONS. 



beneficial to the progress of the survey, and to the 

 support of your detached people. 



" Prince Regent River appears to have been fully 

 examined by Captain King up to its fresh water 

 rapids, but as the adjacent ridges of rocky land 

 which were seen on both sides of Collier Bay, were 

 only laid down from their distant appearance, it is 

 probable that they will resolve themselves into a col- 

 lection of islands in the rear of Dampier Land ; and 

 it is possible that they may form avenues to some 

 wide expanse of water, or to the mouth of some 

 large river, the discovery of which would be highly 

 interesting. 



" As this question, whether there are or are not 

 any rivers of magnitude on the western coast is one 

 of the principal objects of the expedition, you will 

 leave no likely opening unexplored, nor desist from 

 its examination till fully satisfied ; but as no estimate 

 can be formed of the time required for its solution, 

 so no period can be here assigned at which you 

 shall abandon it in order to obtain refreshments ; 

 when that necessity is felt, it must be left to your 

 own judgment, whether to have recourse to the town 

 Balli, in the strait of Alias, or to the Dutch settle- 

 ment of Coepang, or even to the Arrou Islands, 

 which have been described as places well adapted 

 for that purpose ; but on these points you will take 

 pains to acquire all the information which can be 

 obtained from the residents at Swan River. 



" Another circumstance which prevents any pre- 

 cise instructions being given to you on this head, 



