300 
SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
1819. verse, were obliged to make several tacks: as 
Sept. 25. we proceeded, the opening was found to get 
more contracted, and to wind through a very 
narrow strait between high precipitous hills ; and 
as, on approaching it, the passage appeared too 
narrow to be attempted with safety, we anchored 
at about two miles from it, near the low west 
bank ; and after breakfast, Mr. Cunningham ac- 
companied me in the whale-boat, to continue its 
further exploration. 
^he wind was blowing a fresh gale from the 
S.W. directly out of the Gut, and impeded us a 
good deal; but the tide was running with such 
strength, that we were not long before we passed 
through. This passage is about two miles and 
a half long, bounded on either side by rocky 
barren hills, rising abruptly from the water. 
The channel is deep, for our boat's lead-line of 
twenty fathoms did not reach the bottom. At 
the south end of the gut, the land opened out 
into another basin, which, like the former, is 
surrounded by low land, overrun with man- 
groves, and studded with several islets, occa- 
sionally covered by the tide. The course of the 
river still trended to the south-west, in which 
direction we continued to pull, but found some 
difficulty from its being very shoal; for in the 
fair way across, there was not more water than 
