1802.
April.
Sunday 4.
Alas, for the pelicans! Their golden age is past; but it has much exceeded in duration that of man.
I named this piece of water Pelican Lagoon. It is also frequented by flocks of the pied shag, and by some ducks and gulls; and the shoals supplied us with a few oysters. The surrounding country is almost every where thickly covered with brush wood; and the soil appeared to be generally of a good quality, though not deep. Prospect Hill and the parts around it are more sandy; and there seemed to be swamps at the head of both branches of the lagoon. The isthmus which separates the southern branch from the sea, is low; but rises gradually up the cliffs of the coast.
Not being able to return on board the same night, we slept near the entrance of the lagoon. It was high water by the shore,Monday 5. on the morning of the 5th, at six o'clock; but on comparing this with the swinging of the ship, it appeared that the tide had then been running more than an hour from the westward. The rise in the lagoon seemed to be from four to eight feet.
A few kanguroos had been obtained during my absence, as also some seal skins; but one of the sailors having attacked a large seal incautiously, received a very severe bite in the leg, and was laid up. After all the researches now made in the island, it appeared that the kanguroos were much more numerous at our first landing place, near Kanguroo Head, than elsewhere in the neighbourhood. That part of the island was clearer of wood than most others; and there were some small grass plats which seemed to be particularly attractive, and were kept very bare. Not less than thirty emus or cassowaries were seen at different times; but it so happened that they were fired at only once, and that ineffectually. They were most commonly found near the longest of the small beaches to the eastward of Kanguroo Head, at the place represented in the annexed plate; where some little drainings of water oozed from the rocks. It is possible, that with much time and labour employed in digging, water might be procured there to supply a ship; and I am sorry to