272 INVESTIGATOR ROAD. 



ration of the rains, and the other obstructing their 

 further infiltration. 



This was a very important discovery, as Investi- 

 gator Road is the only anchorage for vessels of all 

 sizes at the head of the Gulf in either monsoon, and 

 possesses an equal supply of wood, fish, and birds, 

 with turtle close at hand on Bountiful Islands. 

 Moreover, should an expedition be formed for the 

 purpose of exploring the interior from the head of 

 the Gulf, it is, as Flinders remarks, "particularly 

 well adapted for a ship during the absence of the tra- 

 vellers.*' In addition to this, it is a point at which an 

 expedition would first arrive to arrange plans for 

 the future ; and lastly, I should observe that in case 

 of our being fortunate enough to find rivers or fer- 

 tile country on the southern shores of the Gulf, we 

 at once saw that we might look forward to the time 

 when Investigator Road* should be the port from 

 which all the produce of the neighbouring parts of 

 the continent must be shipped, and when it should 

 bear on its shores the habitations of civilized man, 

 and the heaven-ward pointing spires of the Christian 

 Church. The feeling that we might be the means 

 of bringing about this happy state of things by dis- 

 covering a country habitable by Europeans, greatly 



* This road fully deserves the name of a good port, being 

 four miles in length by one in breadth, with a depth of from 

 4 to 6 fathoms, and sheltered at all points except from south 

 to SS.E., in which direction the shoalness of the water prevents 

 any sea from getting up. 



