428 EXAMINE MELVILLE ISLAND. 



chored two miles from the beach, and fifteen within 

 the west entrance of the strait. A quarter of a 

 mile off the sandy flat, extending some distance 

 from the shore, there was one fathom of water, 

 being a very gradual decrease from six where the 

 ship lay. 



The necessary angles and bearings for the survey, 

 were taken from the top of some cliffs sixty feet 

 high, composed of a red sand and ironstone, and a 

 white kind of marie or pipe clay. The shore 

 trended nearly S. W. and N. E. Six miles in the 

 former direction is an inlet which Mr. Fitzmaurice 

 has visited from the Vernon Isles, and another much 

 smaller, about a third of the intervening distance 

 from where we stood. The high land which was 

 almost level, lay about three miles in our rear, fol- 

 lowing the trend of the shore. Two peaks rising in 

 hollows on it attained an elevation of 260 and ^290 feet. 

 There were no rocky points visible at low water — 

 a clean sandy beach, which appeared, strange to 

 say, to have been washed occasionally by a heavy 

 surf, forming the coast line. A singular clump of 

 Casuarina was close to the westward of the cliffs, 

 and its dark naked aspect contrasted with the 

 stunted gum-trees and scattered palms, sparingly 

 sprinkled over this sterile tract of country. With 

 the exception of a few sea-birds, there w^as nothing 

 living stirring to change the opinion we have just 

 expressed of this part of Melville Island. Our 



