THE ABROLHOS GROUP. 137 



and a number of islets scattered to the north-west. 

 The lagoon at this place was not more than three 

 miles across, though marked twelve in the old 

 charts; and I could trace the long line of white 

 breakers rolling in on the other side in solemn gran- 

 deur, contrasting strongly in their foaming turbu- 

 lence with the placid waters within the protection 

 of the reef and island. I could clearly distinguish 

 the limit of the danger in this direction, and that 

 there was nothing to break the swell beyond. The 

 surface of the lagoon was diversified by blue and 

 grey patches, shewing the alternations of shoal and 

 deep water ; near the centre there appeared to be 

 a channel, which we afterwards found to be ten 

 fathoms deep. 



In the head of the bight where we were anchored, 

 there was a narrow low sandy neck, placed by our 

 observations in lat. 28° 58' 26" S. and long. ] ° 47' 32'' 

 west of Swan River,* over which we hauled a boat 

 to examine the opposite side of the lagoon. 



A few remarkable clumps of mangroves pointed 

 out the position of some lagoons about a mile and a 

 half from the south end of the island, which is fronted 

 by a line of low overhanging cliffs of recent, cream- 

 coloured limestone. Upon these rests a layer of a 

 kind of soil, in some places eighteen inches deep, in 



* As we shall refer all longitudes during this cruise to Scott's 

 Jetty, Swan River, I may here state that the approximate lon- 

 gitude of that place is considered to be 115" 47' E. of 

 Greenwich. 



