12 
NORTH AUSTRA LIAN EXPEDITION. 
[Nov. 9, 1857. 
On tli 3 3 Otli we stood to the south-east, with a heavy confused 
green sea, breaking occasionally in shallow places, and, as usual, 
at night had calms, with a squall, which pressed the boat’s gunwale 
under before I could bring her to the wind, while a heavy shower 
drenched everything that the sea had not wetted. 
In the morning we landed on a shelving beach, near Point Hall, 
and were joined by seven natives and a boy 13 or 14 years of 
age. Some of them had worn eras or throwing sticks, rounded 
instead of flat, like those of the Victoria ; but only one had a rough, 
sharpened pole, with which he speared a fish something like the 
snook of Table Bay. All except the boy were scarred, as usual. 
They could speak no English, but were very friendly, giving us as 
' much of their fish as we chose to take, and sitting opposite our fire 
with their dogs to eat and drink the bread, pork, and tea that we 
gave them. They informed us that there was water to the north, 
where we saw the mouth of a small creek. 
We had some difficulty during the day in finding a passage be- 
tween a reef and the main land, and at night had strong breezes 
with indications of broken water. I am sorry to say that this day 
I found the chronometer and my watch wet through the leather 
case in which I kept them, and both were rendered unserviceable. 
November ls£. — In the afternoon we made haul round the island, 
and, Mr. Graham being ill, I wished to land, but found the approach 
too dangerous ; in attempting to work out the boat struck. We 
jumped out, and bore her off with no other injury than some severe 
cuts from the coral rocks that lamed us for several days after. I next 
tried another apparent harbour, but found no landing, and ran for 
Entrance Island, at the mouth of Liverpool River, where we found 
fire-places with heaps of charcoal and platforms for drying trepang, 
erected by the Malays. 
On the 2nd it blew hard from the W.N.W. with a heavy and 
dangerous sea, and, after working all day, we weathered Sandy 
Island after sunset by little more than a quarter of a mile. The 
dangers of Cape Stewart and the Crocodile Islands were but imper- 
fectly marked upon the map, and, failing to find any shelter, we 
were obliged to reef our sails and heave-to for the night. 
In the morning of November 3rd we ran to the S.E., with a 
dangerous sea and breakers visible in almost every direction, to the 
largest Crocodile Island, where Mr. Phibbs swam ashore and dis- 
covered a small sheltered cove to which we followed him, and found 
the wreck of a Malay canoe and some trepang frames. The south side 
of the island not being marked on the map, I took sketches and 
bearings: it appeared to be a deep bay, fronted by other islands, 
