COASTS OP AUSTRALIA. 
47 
recovering from the effects of his fall, had ob- i 82 i. 
tained the sun’s meridional altitude upon the July 26. 
islet at the entrance of the river, which gave 
15° 25' 46" for its latitude, differing from the 
plan of last year by only fifteen seconds. 
The following day the boats were despatched 
up the river, but as the ebb-tide ran until after 
four o’clock, it was late at night before they 
reached the cascade, having experienced some 
delay by running upon the sand-banks, which, 
above Alligator Island, are very numerous, and 
form a narrow winding channel of not more than 
twelve feet deep; these banks are dry at low- 
water, and are composed of a yellow quartzose 
sand. At midnight, as soon as the launch and 
cutter were loaded, for it did not take more than 
half an hour to fill the casks, I despatched them 
to the vessel, with orders to return the following 
night for another load, and in the mean time I 
purposed continuing the examination of the river, 
of which we knew nothing beyond a few miles 
above the cascade. We were, however, unable 
to set out until half flood the next morning, on 28 , 
account of the shoalness of the channel. 
For ten miles we found little or no variation 
either in its character or course: its windings 
were only just sufficient to intercept a clear view; 
for so direct was its course, that from this part 
