180 SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPIC AL 
1819 . appears to be productive and wooded; for al- 
May~23. though the hills are steep and rather precipitous, 
yet their verdant and agreeable appearance au- 
gurs favourably for the fertility of the valleys be- 
tween them. 
Light winds retarded our progress along the 
25. coast until the evening of the 25th, when the wind 
freshened up from the westward and, by the fol- 
lowing sunset, we were abreast of Cape More- 
27 . ton ; the following morning part of the sandy 
peninsula was in sight; but we did not pass 
28 . round Breaksea Spit until the next day. We 
then steered across Hervey’s Bay towards Bus- 
tard Bay, and passed a small island that was 
discovered by the ship Lady Elliot in 1816, and 
that had not yet [a place upon the chart of this 
part of the coast*. 
29 The next day, at noon, we were off Bustard 
Bay, and passed half a mile without the dry 
rock, which lies off its north end. 
The course was now directed for Gatcombe 
Head of Port Curtis, whither it had become neces- 
sary to proceed, to repair some little damage that 
we had met with during the preceding night ; as we 
proceeded, a shoal opening presented itself round 
the north head of Bustard Bay, probably communi- 
cating with the inundated lands at the back: 
* See Appendix A. Part II. 
