COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
271 
observed among the trees near the same spot, 1819 « 
The next day we made but little progress along Au £* 30 - 
the coast to the south-west, which is so low, as 
not to be visible from the cutter’s deck, at a 
greater distance than six miles; this rendered 
the examination of it very inconvenient, and even 
dangerous, as the rocks and reefs which lined 
the coast extended in some parts beyond that 
distance. 
The land appeared to be barren and arid, 
and, were it not for a few bushes, or mangrove 
trees, scattered about the beach, it might be 
called a complete desert. Westerly winds and 
calms continued without intermission until the 
1st of September; during which the thermometer Sept. l. 
ranged between 79° and 93°. On this day, a 
breeze from the N.E. enabled us to make pro- 
gress to the southward ; and after examining an 
indenture of the coast, we anchored at night off a 
point of land, which, from the circumstance of a 
very large fire burning upon it, was called Point 
Blaze. The land still continued low; but more 
wooded, and less sandy, than that we had seen 
within the last two days. The next morning we 2 . 
resumed our course along the coast. To the 
south-west, a sandy hillock was observed, which 
proved to be on Captain’s Baudin’s Peron Island. 
This was the first opportunity that had occurred by 
