DISCOVERY OF THE ALBERT. 307 



the boat's crew regaled themselves on some large 

 brown hawks, in the absence of better fowl. There 

 was this evening a beautiful eclipse of the moon. 

 The temperature had again fallen to 60° ; at noon 

 it was 87° ; and at four a. m. 52°. 



August 1. — As time and tide wait for no man 

 we were obliged to move off at one in the morning. 

 The earth's shadow having passed over the moon, 

 the pale light of her full orb fell in a silvery stream 

 on the tortuous reaches, as the waters swelled in 

 silence between the growth of mangroves fringing 

 the banks. 



At the end of three miles in a W. by S. direction, 

 nearly double by the windings, we passed an island 

 on the left. The depth at low water, so far, being 

 nearly 2 fathoms, and the width about 250 yards, 

 promised well. Water-tasting had now become 

 rather out of fashion. However, it so happened that 

 one of the whaler's crew put his hand over, and gave 

 us the delightful news that the stream was quite fresh ! 

 A general tasting followed, each being anxious to get 

 the first draught of the water of our new-found river ; 

 and the agreeable intelligence was confirmed. Of the 

 importance of our discovery there could now no 

 longer be any doubt, and the exhilarating effect it 

 produced on all was quite magical, every arm stretch- 

 ing out as if the fatigue they had experienced had 

 suddenly passed away. 



There could be little difficulty in finding a name 

 for our new discovery. We had already called two 



X 2 



