332 WILD POTATO—SPEEDWELL BAY. Jan. 1830. 
‘¢ Being well supplied with powder and small shot, the people 
provided themselves plentifully, during our stay at Speedwell 
Bay, with a variety of wild-fowl, namely, geese, ducks, red- 
beaks, shags, and the ibis; curlew, snipe, plover, and moorhens, 
were also met with, and fish were observed in shoals near the 
vessel, but, as we had no seine, they escaped. With hooks and 
lines our fishermen had no luck; the baits were no sooner at 
the bottom, than they were taken away, and for a day or 
two the cause of their loss was unknown; but being acci- 
dentally ascertained, small trap-nets were made, and great 
numbers of crabs were taken, about a pound each in weight. 
** In almost every bay we noticed the potato, growing among 
wild celery, close above high-water mark: but in so unfavour- 
able a situation, choked by other vegetables, its produce was 
very small. 
“* The trees are not of large growth in these islands, neither 
is the land thickly wooded ; but above the beach, and almost 
round the coast, there is a breast-work of jungle and under- 
wood, from fifty to one hundred yards broad, and nearly im- 
penetrable ; beyond which is a great extent of clear, but low 
and swampy g ground. 
“« On the 25th, we left this port, and ran to the S.E., through 
what I have named Rundle’s Passage. This small channel, 
where the islands approach each other, is about a quarter of a 
mile wide, perfectly clear in the whole extent, and also at its 
southern entrance ; but at the northern there are many detached 
rocks, which are obstacles to entering Speedwell Bay, except 
in daylight. Rounding the islets, at the S.E. extreme of 
Byron Islands, we anchored in Muscle Bay, which lies on 
the northern side: by no means a secure place,—but the 
only one that could be found, by the boats, after many hours’ 
search. I selected this situation in order that the entrance to 
the Fallos Channel, and the whole outline of these islands, 
might be laid down, and properly connected with the land of 
Port Barbara; which was thoroughly executed by Mr. Kirke 
and Mr. Millar, although delayed in the completion of their 
