Nay*? Archipelago.] TERRA AUSTRALIS. 
vegetable soil to cover the sand and rock ; and from the hot winds 
off the land, which we felt in Streaky and Smoky Bays, it would seem 
that this aridity prevails to a considerable distance in the interior. 
There are, however, some grounds to believe, that a lake, or run of 
fresh water exists not far from Denial Bay : the flock of teal seen upon 
the western Isle of St. Peter, and the number of winged, fresh-water 
insects skimming the surface of that bay, are the grounds to which I 
allude. 
My examination of this group of islands was tolerably minute 
to be done wholly in a ship ; but much still remained, which boats 
would best accomplish, to make the survey complete, especially in 
the bays of the main land. No more than a general examination was 
prescribed by my instructions at this time, and I therefore left the 
minute parts for a second visit, when the ship would be accompanied 
by the Lady Nelson tender. 
Upon the identity of the particular islands composing this 
group, as compared with the chart of Nuyts' discovery, there may 
possibly be some difference of opinion, but there can be no doubt 
that the group, generally, is the same with that laid down by the 
Dutch navigator ; and I therefore distinguish it from others upon 
this coast by the title of Nuyts' Archipelago. Besides the nine 
Isles of St. Francis and two of St. Peter, and several distinct rocks 
and patches of reef, it contains Sinclair's four Rocks, Purdie's Isles, 
Lound's Isle, Lacy's and Evans' Islands, Franklin's Isles, and Olive's 
Island ; all of which are named after young officers of the Investi- 
gator. The state of navigation in 1627, does not permit the expec- 
tation of any exact coincidence between the islands laid down by 
the Dutch and those in my chart ; if a few leading features of re- 
semblance be found, this is all that can be fairly required ; and these 
I shall endeavour to trace. 
The cape marked A ( see the copy of the Dutch chart from 
Thevenot), the Point B, and the western reefs, I conceive to be 
dearly identified in Cape Nuyts, Point Fowler, and Nuyts' Reefs, 
VOL. L T t 
