376 PROCEED TO PORT ESSINGTON. 



from which we have wandered at some considerable 

 length. 



As the duration of our cruise on the north-west 

 and most interesting portions of the coast, depended 

 in a great measure on the supply of provisions to be 

 obtained at Port Essington, we were naturally 

 anxious to satisfy ourselves upon the point, and 

 accordingly spent but a few hours at Booby Island, 

 taking our departure at 8, p. m, on the day of our 

 arrival. 



Proceeding towards Port Essington, we expe- 

 rienced a constant current setting between N. W. 

 and West, from half to three quarters of a knot an 

 hour, except when crossing the mouth of the Gulf 

 of Carpentaria, when from the indraught its direc- 

 tion was changed to W. S. W. The winds were as 

 Captain King has described them, veering from 

 S. S. E. in the morning, to East in the evening, and 

 blowing fresh towards the middle of the dav. 



Beyond this nothing occurred worthy of remark, 

 until the morning of the 17th, when soon after 

 daylight we found ourselves steering rather within 

 a large patch of discoloured water, extending off Cape 

 (..roker, the N. E. extreme of the Coburg Peninsula, 

 a low point with a slight hummock on it ; on the 

 north side of this peninsula is situated Port Essing- 

 ton, thirty miles to the westward of the Cape. 



The light-coloured water off the latter, we knew 

 indicated the reef discovered by the brig Tigris, be- 

 longing to the Indian navy, which in company with 



