COASTS OF AUSTRALIA, 
203 
their return, and, although the tide was in their i» 22 . 
favour, were six hours before they reached the Feb. 9. 
vessel ; from which Mr. Roe calculated the dis- 
tance to be nearly twenty miles, and by the sur- 
vey, subsequently made, it was found to be se- 
venteen. 
We did not leave this anchorage until the n- 
11th, and then had some difficulty in doing it, 
on account of the shoalness of the water upon 
the sand-bank that fronts the bay ; indeed we 
were obliged to anchor until the tide rose high 
enough to permit our crossing it. At two o’clock 
we again got underweigh and crossed the bank, 
when the wind falling calm, we anchored with 
Point Cunningham bearing S. 17° E., three and 
a half miles. The following morning, I sent 12 . 
Mr. Roe to the point to take some bearings 
the boat left the brig at half past three o’clock, 
but did not succeed in reaching the land be- 
fore the sun rose; at which time the horizon, 
from being clearer, would have presented a more 
distinct view of distant objects. The group of 
islands to the eastward was observed to extend 
no farther to the southward than the bearing of 
N. 88° E., and beyond this was an open, bound- 
less sea. The station whence this bearing was 
taken, was on the north-west trend of the point. 
On their first landing, Mr. Roe and Mr. Bas- 
