COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
]23 
the deck at one time, their request was not ac- i 82 i. 
ceded to, and by degrees they separated and Dec. 24. 
retired in different directions. 
As soon as the brig was secured, two of our 
visitors went ashore, evidently charged with 
some message from the other native, but as 
he voluntarily remained on board, nothing hos- 
tile was suspected; we therefore landed and 
dug a hole three feet deep among the grass, 
about two yards above the highest tide-mark, 
for water ; but it was found to be so highly co- 
loured and muddy, as it flowed in, that other 
holes were dug in the sand nearer the edge of 
the tide-mark, where it was also produced, and 
proved to be of a much better taste, as well as 
clearer, from being filtered through the sand. 
On examining the place of our former encamp- 
ment, it was so much altered from the rapid 
growth of vegetation, that we could scarcely re- 
cognise its situation. The stem of the casuarina, 
on which the Mermaid’s name and the date of 
our visit had been carved, was almost destroyed 
by fire; and the inscription in consequence so 
nearly obliterated, that the figures “ 1818,” and 
two or three letters alone remained visible. 
There was not the least trace of our garden, for 
the space which it formerly occupied was co- 
vered by three or four feet of additional soil, 
