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 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 



