HURRICANE IN SHARKS BAY. 127 



Whilst on this humane excursion, Mr. Roe wit- 

 nessed a wondrous gift possessed by the natives. 

 The one that accompanied him, perceiving foot- 

 marks on the sand, where some of his countrymen 

 had been, was enabled by them to tell Mr. Roe, not 

 only in what number they were, but the name of 

 each. This account was verified on their return to 

 Perth, from whence the natives had been sent dur- 

 ing Mr. Roe's absence on the same errand. 



The hurricane I have mentioned, as encountered 

 by Captain Grey in Sharks Bay, lat. 26° S., occur- 

 red on February 28th, which, corresponding with the 

 hurricane season of the Mauritius, leaves little 

 doubt that at the same time the shores of New 

 Holland are occasionally visited by more easterly 

 ones, moving in nearly the same direction. The 

 other two instances of hurricanes occurring in the 

 neighbourhood are those of the Ceres, in 1839, in 

 lat. 2P S., above 300 miles N. N. W. from Sharks 

 Bay, and of the Maguashas towards the end of 

 February,* 1843, in lat. 18'' S., about 400 miles 

 north of the same place. Ships, therefore, passing 

 along the North-west coast of New Holland at the 

 season we have mentioned, should be prepared for 

 bad weather. The hurricane experienced by Cap- 



* In vol. I. p. 101, -will be found mention of the bad weather 

 met with by the Beagle in this month on the north-west coast. 

 For^further information on this subject see Mr. Thom's 

 interesting " Inquiry into the Nature and Course of Storms," 

 London, 1845. 



