RETURN OF THE BOATS. 17^ 



continued our return to Port Usborne, by a channel 

 leading from the bottom of (Cascade Bay into the 

 large sheet of water first seen from Compass Hill ; 

 our progress was arrested at its inner entrance by 

 the violence with which the tide rushed through, and 

 we were therefore obliged to pass another night in 

 the boats. 



March 29. — We reached the ship this morning, 

 entering Port Usborne by a narrow rocky channel, 

 on its N.W. shore ; on the precipitous sides in this 

 passage we noticed several of the Rock Kangaroo. 



We found that Mr. Usborne had returned three 

 days before us : from his account of the islands he 

 had visited, they appear to have the same sterile 

 character as most of those we had seen ; in other 

 respects, his trip was void of interest, beyond that 

 of surveying. During the absence of the boats, 

 tidal and magnetic observations had been made, 

 some specimens in natural history had been collected, 

 and all that could in any way add to the interest of 

 the expedition, had been as well attended to as the 

 means placed at our disposal would allow. 



We closed at Port Usborne our explorations in 

 Kino's Sound, the result of which enabled us to fill 

 up the gap long existing in the charts of the North- 

 west coast of Australia, and which had for years 

 been the theme of much ingenious geographical 

 speculation. The result of our labours, if it had 

 been less brilliant than eager anticipation at the 

 onset led us to hope for, had nevertheless been on 



N 2 



