44 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



The skipper of the " Pera " was " ordered " to land on the 

 25th, and to look out for fresh water. He landed, there can be no 

 doubt, on the nearest beach, where he saw huts and a few natives, 

 and dug unsuccessfully for water. There is no indication what- 

 ever that he landed at, or because he saw, any " revier " or inlet. 

 He returned to the " Pera " at noon. 



In the afternoon, the Commodore (Carstenszoon) took the 

 two boats and, having found a " salt inlet," rowed up for some 2\ 

 (English) miles. The probability is that he searched to the south 

 for an inlet, the coast-line to the north having already been seen 

 from the ship the day before. Assuming the anchorage to have 

 been 17 10', there were only 4 (English) miles to go before falling 

 in with ACCIDENT INLET, in 17 12', one of the mouths of 

 the Gilbert River. It was this inlet, there is every reason 

 to believe, which was named the STATEN REVIER. It would 

 have been 9 (English) miles from the anchorage to the nearest 

 inlet to the north, viz., the (erroneously named) Van Diemen 

 Revier (17 3' S.), which is another mouth of the Gilbert, 

 known inland as the Smithburne River, and the 18 miles of rowing 

 at sea, added to \\ on the inlet, would have taken so much of the 

 afternoon that the landing party would not have had daylight 

 enough to do all that they did on shore. 



There is no ground whatever, now that we have the informa- 

 tion furnished by the log of the " Pera" for continuing to hold the 

 belief embodied in Flinders' chart (1802) and all subsequent official 

 maps, that the " Pera's " Staten River runs into the Gulf of 

 Carpentaria between latitudes 15 24' and 15 30' S. 



The party left the boat and walked some distance, over country 

 which was partly " under water " presumably stagnant salt water, 

 lying in " claypans." Thereafter they scratched an inscription on 

 a wooden slab, which they nailed to a tree before returning to the 

 ship. R. L. J.] 



