262 GULF OF CARPENTARIA. 



Bold Point, we observed an opening, and after 

 anchoring the ^ship as near the entrance as pos- 

 sible, I left with the whale-boats, accompanied by 

 Messrs. Forsyth, Fitzmaurice, and Tarrant, to ex- 

 amine it, early in the afternoon. The view an- 

 nexed, taken by Lieut. Gore, just after the boats had 

 shoved off, will give the reader an excellent idea of 

 the appearance of the south-eastern shore of the Gulf 

 of Carpentaria, from a distance of only two miles. 

 In this view, a gull, resting on the back of a sleep- 

 ing turtle, will attract the attention of the reader. 

 Proceeding, we crossed the bar, extending three 

 quarters of a mile off the mouth of the inlet, on 

 which we found only two feet at low water. The 

 coast on each side was sandy, with clumps of trees, 

 and to the northward was fronted by an extensive 

 flat of sand. The first reaches of the inlet promised 

 well, having a depth of from 1^ to 8 fathoms, and 

 a width of from two to three hundred yards ; but it 

 ultimately became much narrower, and so tortuous 

 that, after following its windings for twenty-seven 

 miles, we had only advanced eight miles in a 8.60" E. 

 direction from the entrance. It then divided — one 

 branch trending south, and the other east ; and each 

 being only fifteen yards wide and two feet deep, the 

 water quite salt, and the mangroves on either side, 

 moreover, almost meeting, rendered it impossible 

 to proceed further. Our hopes had been buoyed 

 up as we advanced, an impression prevailing that 

 we had discovered a river, from our finding that 



