COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
259 
smoke, we reimbarked, and pulled five miles fur- isi9. 
ther up the river, when its further examination Aug. 6. 
was given up ; at this place its breadth was about 
twenty yards, and being high water, the greatest 
depth was twelve feet; at low water, the channel 
must be nearly dry. We did not reach the cutter 
until six o’clock in the evening, much exhausted 
for want of rest, and from exposure to a powerful 
sun, and a hot land wind that prevailed all day. 
This river, which I have named the Liverpool, 
runs up from a well-formed port about forty miles, 
taking in its way a very serpentine course; its 
breadth at Entrance Island, is about four miles ; 
ten miles from the mouth its width is about half a 
mile, after which it very gradually decreases ; at 
about fourteen miles from our anchorage the water 
is fresh at half tide, but at low water it might pro- 
bably be obtained four or five miles lower down. 
The bottom is muddy, as are also the banks ; and 
in consequence the latter are only accessible at 
high tide, at which time they are seldom more 
than two or three feet above the water’s edge. 
The country within is very level, and appeared, 
during the wet season, to be occasionally inun- 
dated : the soil where we landed, is a sour stiff 
clay, on which grew an arundinaceous grass. 
At one place where the bank was about fifteen 
feet high, and formed of red clay, Mr. Cunning- 
