3^6 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLIMATE AND 



towards the heads at low tides ; and from the re- 

 port we afterwards heard at Port Essington that 

 Malay proas occasionally visit the southern shores 

 of the Gulf, and fill fresh water from alongside, 

 some distance off the land. If we receive this 

 statement as correct, we must suppose that at cer- 

 tain seasons the discharge from the various inlets 

 and rivers we discovered is sufficiently powerful to 

 force back the great body of sea-water, as is the case 

 at the embouchures of many large rivers. 



The general appearance of the head of the Gulf 

 is that of a low mangrove shore, between ten and 

 thirty feet high, over which the interior is not visible 

 from the offing. 



During our visit to this part of the continent we 

 found the climate well suited for Europeans ; but 

 what it might be in the middle of the north-west 

 monsoon we had no opportunity of ascertaining. 

 At its commencement in the month of Novem- 

 ber, Flinders found the thermometer to range on 

 board between 81° and 90° ; but on shore, he says, 

 that in the course of the day it might have been 

 about seven degrees higher ; the temperature, how- 

 ever, being alleviated by constant breezes either from 

 sea or land, it was seldom oppressive. In July, 

 as I have already stated, the thermometer, on one 

 occasion, at 5 a.m., was down to 51°; and on another, 

 at noon, up to 87°, being, in the first instance, six 

 degrees lower than it was on board, and in the 

 second, seven degrees higher, which gave an excess 



