RETURN OF THE BOATS. 41.') 



ludicrous figure necessarily cut by our ship-mates, 

 when to amuse the natives, they figured on the light 

 fantastic toe ; and the readers, who look at the plate 

 in the frontispiece representing this really serious 

 affair,* will behold two men literally dancincr for 

 their lives. 



August 2. — This morning the boats returned; 

 they had gone up the Adelaide in a general southerly 

 direction, nearly 80 miles : the windings of the 

 river, which were very great in some places, forming 

 the shape of the letter S. It became at this dis- 

 tance very narrow, and was divided into two 

 branches, one taking a southerly direction, the 

 other an easterly ; the latter was too narrow for the 

 boat's oars, while the former was blocked up by 

 fallen trees lying across it. As in addition to the 

 diflSculties just mentioned, only one day's provision 

 remained in the boats, the further exploration of the 

 Adelaide was necessarily, though reluctantly, aban- 

 doned. 



For thirty miles of the upper part of the river 

 the water was fresh ; while the banks, except- 

 ing near the point of separation, were low, being 

 not more than five feet above the present level of 

 the river, a circumstance very favourable for irri- 

 gation, and the cultivation of rice. Fifteen miles 

 from the mouth they were fringed by the growth 

 of mangroves ; and higher up many of the points 

 were thickly wooded, while on either side stretched 



* See frontispiece. 



