BIRD ISLAND. 403 



ham Bay, choosing for the observation spot a small 

 bank of sand and dead coral lying in its centre, 

 and bearing E. J S. ^ of a mile from where we 

 anchored in nine fathoms. We named this Bird 

 Island, from finding it almost covered with terns 

 and gulls. The latitude of it according to our obser- 

 vations was 11" 15^' S. and longitude West of 

 Port Essington 22 J miles, being 4^ less than is 

 given in Captain King's chart, the N. W. extreme 

 of the Peninsula being there placed too far from 

 Port Essington, and the N. E. point. Cape Croker, 

 too near, it would appear that the discrepancy was 

 chiefly in the position of Port Essington, with 

 respect to the northern extremes of the Peninsula, 

 as Captain King and ourselves only now differ 

 two miles in the distance between Cape Croker and 

 Popham Bay, ours being the greater. The evening 

 was calm as usual, while midnight brought with it 

 a fresh S. E. wind. During the night the tempera- 

 ture w^as as low as '^S". 



July 25. — On leaving at daylight we crossed 

 over to examine the western shores of Dundas 

 Strait, formed by the eastern side of Melville 

 Island ; Captain King having passed it in the night. 

 As we stood close along it into the gulf, we found 

 the soundings very irregular. Six miles N. 40*^ E. 

 from Cape Keith, we passed over two patches of 

 only three or four fathoms ; these we could not see 

 from the general disturbed and discoloured state of 

 the water, it blowing fresh from S. E. We found 



2 D 2 



