46 
A VOYAGE TO 
[East Coast. 
1802. 
August. 
Tuesday 31 
contracting until, at four miles above the arm, the shores were less 
. than one mile asunder, and the head of the bay assumed the form 
of a river, though the water remained quite salt. The depth here was 
from 4 to 6 fathoms ; and the east side of the contracted part being 
a little elevated, I was able to land and take a set of angles to fix its 
position. The width and depth continued nearly the same two miles 
higher up, to a woody islet in the middle of the channel ; where 
the latitude 22 0 37' 6" was observed from an artificial horizon, and 
more bearings taken. 
A ship may get up as high as this islet, for the channel is no 
where less than half a mile wide, nor the depth in it under 3 
fathoms ; but there the stream divides into several branches, which 
appeared to terminate amongst the mangroves, similar to the branches 
of the eastern arm. The largest runs S. S. E. ; and I could see 
three or four miles up it, near to the foot of the hills behind 
Cape Manifold, where it probably ends, as did the southern arm of 
Port Bowen. 
The islet had been visited by Indians, and several trees 
upon it were notched, similar to what is done by the people of 
Port Jackson when they ascend in pursuit of opossums. Upon the 
main, to the west of the islet, where I walked a mile inland, fire 
places and other signs of inhabitants were numerous, and still more 
so were those of the kanguroo ; yet neither that animal nor an Indian 
was seen. Around the extinguished fires were scattered the bones of 
turtle, and the shells of crabs, periwinkles, and oysters of the small 
kind ; and in the low grounds I observed many holes, made appar- 
ently by the natives in digging for fern roots. An iguana of between 
two and three feet long, which lay upon the branch of a high tree 
watching for its prey, was the sole animal killed ; but the mud banks 
are frequented at low water by sea pies of both kinds, curlews, and 
small cranes. 
The soil was stiff', shallow, and often stony ; the vegetation 
consisted of two or three species of eucalyptus and the casuarina, not 
