OUTLET OF LAKE TO THE SEA. 
239 
already terminated. Captain Barker, therefore, ascended 
to higher ground, and, at length, obtained a view of the 
Lake Alexandrina, and the channel of its communication 
with the sea to the N. E. He now descended to the flat, 
and frequently expressed his anxious wish to Mr. Kent that 
I had been one of their number to enjoy the beauty of the 
scenery around them, and to participate in their labours. 
Had fate so ordained it, it is possible the melancholy tra- 
gedy that soon after occurred might have been averted. 
At the termination of the flat they found themselves 
upon the banks of the channel, and close to the sand 
hillock under which my tents had been pitched. From 
this point they proceeded along the line of sand-hills to the 
outlet ; from which it would appear that Kangaroo Island 
is not visible, but that the distant point which I mis- 
took for it was the S.E. angle of Cape Jervis. I have 
remarked, in describing that part of the coast, that there is 
a sand-hill to the eastward of the inlet, under which the 
tide runs strong, and the water is deep. Capter Barker 
judged the breadth of the channel to be a quarter of a mile, 
and he expressed a desire to swim across it to the sand-hill 
to take bearings, and to ascertain the nature of the strand 
beyond it to the eastward. 
It unfortunately happened, that he was the only one of 
the party who could swim well, in consequence of which 
his people remonstrated with him on the danger of making 
the attempt unattended. Notwithstanding, however, that 
he was seriously indisposed, he stript, and after Mr. Kent 
