266 
A VOYAGE TO 
[South Coast, 
May' n ° £ roun d 2 5 fathoms ; and as we approached to do the same by 
Tuesday ir. the isles, Mr. Charles Douglas, the boatswain, breathed his last ; 
and I affixed his name to the two lumps of land, which seemed to 
offer themselves as a monument to his memory. We hauled up 
close along the east side of Middle Island with the wind at west ; 
and at six in the evening anchored in Goose-Island Bay, in 12 fa- 
thoms, fine sand, one-third of a mile from the middle rock, and 
nearly in a line between it and the north-east point of Middle Island. 
Wednes. is. In the morning, a party of men was sent to kill geese and 
seals upon the rocky islets to the eastward, and another upon 
Middle Island to cut wood and brooms. There was now so much 
more surf upon the shores of the bay than in January of the former 
year, that we could not land at the eastern beach, behind which lies 
the salt lake ; I therefore went with the master to the middle beach, 
and being scarcely able to get out of the boat from scorbutic sores, 
sent him to examine the lake and make choice of a convenient place 
for filling some casks ; but to my surprise he reported that no good 
salt could be procured, although it had been so abundant before, that 
according to the testimony of all those who saw the lake, it would 
have furnished almost any quantity : this alteration had doubtless 
been produced by the heavy rains which appeared to have lately 
fallen. I caused a hole to be dug in a sandy gully, in order to fill 
a few casks of water, thinking it possible that what we had taken in 
at Timor might have been injurious ; but the water was too salt to 
be drinkable, although draining from land much above the level of 
the sea. This may afford some insight into the formation of salt in 
the lake ; and it seems not improbable, that rock salt may be con- 
tained in some part of Middle Island. 
We remained here three days, cutting wood, boiling down seal 
oil, and killing geese ; but our success in this last occupation was 
very inferior to what it had been in January 1802, no more than 
twelve geese being now shot, whereas sixty-five had then been 
procured. Mr ; Douglas was interred upon Middle Island, and an 
