96 SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
1818. four miles more to the westward we had but nine- 
Aprii 26 . teen fathoms. When the flood commenced, it 
was too dark to profit by it, and no progress 
27> was made until the next morning, when, having a 
fresh breeze, we reached an anchorage in a bay 
on the north side, and close under the base of 
Mount Bedwell. On our way we steered through 
strong tide-ripplings in which, at times, notwith- 
standing the strength of the breeze, the cutter 
■was quite ungovernable. Off the bay is a low 
mangrove island, which I had the pleasure to 
name after the Reverend James W. Bur ford, of 
Stratford, Essex, and the bay in which we had 
anchored, was called after W. Aiton, Esq., of the 
Royal Gardens at Kew. 
The bottom of Aiton Bay is shoal, and, appa- 
rently, terminates in an inlet or creek ; at low 
water the tide left a considerable space dry that 
appeared to extend from shore to shore. 
Our distance from the beach was so short that 
the howlings of dogs were distinctly heard, and 
other noises were distinguished, which some of 
us thought were made by natives, but they were 
more probably the screams of birds. 
28> At day-light the next morning we steered 
round the land, and passing under the base of 
Mount Roe, we entered a strait that separates it 
from Greenhill Island ; which is remarkable for 
