102 LOSE TWO ANCHORS. 



November 29.— This afternoon and the whole of the 

 next day, when the tide suited, we were endeavouring 

 to weigh the ship's anchors ; but they were together 

 with the cables so imbedded in the bottom, which 

 must have been a quicksand, that this proved im- 

 possible. Had the ship been fitted with Captain 

 Charles Phillips', R. N., capstan, there would have 

 been a better chance of succeeding. As it was, 

 after heaving down the ship nineteen inches by the 

 head, and splitting the hawse pipes, we were 

 ultimately obliged to leave both behind, and 

 thirty fathoms of cable with one and fifteen with 

 the other. This circumstance suggested the ap- 

 propriate name of Holdfast Reach for this lo- 

 cality ; and perhaps in some future generations, 

 when this part of the world has undergone the 

 changes that seems destined for it, the archaeologist 

 of Victoria River may in vain puzzle his wits with 

 speculations concerning the Beagle's anchors. 



Whilst at this anchorage, just after dark, flocks 

 of whistling ducks were constantly heard passing 

 over our heads in a S. W. by W. direction, or 

 towards the head of Cambridge Gulf, which led to 

 the supposition that there was a river in that neigh- 

 bourhood. We placed the south point of Water 

 Valley in latitude 15° 13}' S. and longitude 2° 22' 

 W. of Port Essington, variation one degree easterly. 

 Our tidal observation made the time of high water, 

 at the full and change of the moon, 9 o'clock, when 

 the mean rise at springs was sixteen feet, and 

 at neaps ten. The duration of the flood stream 



