160 
SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
1822 . height, and appears to be furnished with a slight 
Jan. 10 . vegetation. The French ships sailed along this 
coast at the distance of four or five miles from 
the beach, and the report made by them is suf- 
ficiently in detail for all the purposes of navi- 
gation. 
Upon these considerations it was not deemed 
necessary that we should examine this part 
again, and therefore sailed at a distance from 
the land, to ensure a quicker passage to Cape 
Peron, in order to explore the bay behind 
the Isles of Louis Napoleon. Swan River 
and Rottnest Island had been already carefully 
examined by the French ; but from the latter 
island to the North-west Cape, with the ex-- 
ception of Shark’s Bay, they saw very little of 
the coast, and have given its outline principally 
from Van Keulen '^. 
At noon, on the 1 0th, our latitude was 34° 
16' 14", and a large bare, sandy patch upon 
the land, the “ Tache Blanche remarquable’' of 
Captain Baudin, bore N. 77° E. (mag.) At six 
o’clock in the evening we passed Cape Natu- 
raliste, having experienced a strong current, 
setting N. 11° W., at nearly two miles per 
hour; hence we steered to the northward, but it 
* Freycinbt, p. 441. 
