COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
299 
our station ; but, finding the country as barren isl- 
and dreary as before, the evening was spent in Sept. 23 , 
sounding between the cutter and the western 
shore. 
The next morning we reached the farther end 24. 
of the basin, and anchored under a remarkable 
range of hills; which, from their appearance, 
were called the Bastion Hills ; the latitude of 
this station is 15° 29' 38" S. The gulf, which 
had now assumed the character of a river, trended 
to the 3.W., and, at the distance of three or four 
miles, disappeared among some high land in that 
direction. 
In the evening, (since we had lately seen no 
appearance of sharks,) the people were allowed 
to bathe; but they had no sooner finished, and 
every one on board, than an alligator swam 
past the vessel. The appearance of this animal 
revived some hopes of our yet finding fresh 
water, and also that the gulf would terminate 
in a river ; the breadth here is about a mile 
and a half, and the rise of the tide about twenty- 
one feet: the ebb set at the rate of three knots 
per hour, and the water was very muddy ; but 
at low tide, upon being tasted, it still retained 
its saltness. 
At daylight the next morning we were again 25 . 
under weigh ; but, the wind being directly ad- 
