* 



A LEAK STOPPED. 477 



foot and a half at high tide, — so much did the day tide fall short 

 of that of the night. They again threw overboard every thing 

 which it was possible to spare ; but the vessel now began to leak, 

 and it was feared she must go to the bottom as soon as she 

 ceased to be supported by the rock, — so that the floating of the 

 ship was anticipated not as a means of deliverance, but as an 

 event that would precipitate her destruction. The ship floated 

 at ten o'clock, and was heaved into deep water: there were 

 nearly lour feet of water in the hold. The leak was held at bay 

 for a time ; but the men were finally exhausted, and threw them- 

 selves down upon the deck, flooded as it was to the depth of 

 three inches by water from the pumps. The vessel was finally 

 saved by the following expedient, proposed and executed by Mr. 

 Markhouse. He took a lower studding-sail, and having mixed 

 together a large quantity of oakum and wool, chopped pretty 

 small, stitched it down in handfuls upon the sail as tightly as 

 possible. The sail was then hauled under the ship's bottom by 

 ropes; and, when it came under the leak, the suction which car- 

 ried in the water carried in with it the oakum and the wool. 

 The leak was so far reduced that it was easily kept under by 

 one pump. The vessel was finally got ashore and beached in 

 Endeavor River: the surrounding localities were fitly named 

 Tribulation Bay, Weary Point, and the Islands of Hope. 



The repairs of the vessel occupied many weeks, — the officers 

 and crew occupying themselves in the mean time in fishing, in 

 endeavors to obtain interviews with the natives, and in excur- 

 sions for botanical or geological purposes. On the 14th of July, 

 Mr. Gore killed an animal which had excited the interest and 

 curiosity of the English in the highest degree, being totally un- 

 like any animal then known. The name given by the natives to 

 this creature was "kangaroo." He was dressed the next day 

 for dinner, and proved most excellent fare. 



A party of natives in the neighborhood having been rendered 

 hostile by the refusal of a pair of fat turtle belonging to the 



