322 KAXGAROO POINT. 



coloured kangaroo, which, for want of a better, 

 afforded us a name. Our observations refer to this 

 spot, Kangaroo Point, which they place in lat. 17° 

 35" 10' S. and long. 7° 35' 50" E. of Port Essington. 

 Instead of the usual mangrove shore, the coast to 

 the eastward was sandy ; but the most remarkable 

 feature, hereabouts, is a clump of tall mangroves, 

 towering over their fellow evergreens, close to the 

 western entrance point. They are called in the 

 chart the Hioh Trees of Flinders, having been 

 noticed by that celebrated navigator whilst passing 

 at a distance from the coast. Bearing S. W. i S. 

 they guide a ship to the bar, which can only be 

 taken at high water springs, when the depth averages 

 eleven feet.* When the eastern part of this clump of 

 trees bears S. 45° W., and Kangaroo Point S. 10° W. 

 the bar will have been passed, and the depth, at the 

 same time of tide, will be seventeen feet ; when the 

 bearing of Kangaroo Point, given, leads up the 

 channel, which deepens in a quarter of a mile to 

 twenty-three and soon after to thirty feet. The 

 impetus given to the water, from the first reach of 

 the Albert, being straight, forces a channel of two 



* The tides in the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria appear to 

 be a compound of many others, obliterating the common daily 

 difference, and producing only one tide in 24 hours. The direc- 

 tion of the flood stream commences at S. S. E., changing gradu- 

 ally to S. S. W. as it terminates; that of the ebb changes from 

 N."W. to N. N. E. The strength of each is from a quarter to 

 one knot. The rise at springs is from 9 to 12 feet, and at 

 ' n ) ; from 3 to 8 feet. 



