1803.
February.
Friday 25.
supposed he did not want appetite. I noticed this in silence till the whole were prepared, and then had him called up to take his portion of the mullet; but it was with much difficulty that his modesty and forbearance could be overcome, for these qualities, so seldom expected in a savage, formed leading features in the character of my humble friend. But there was one of the sailors also, who preferred hunger to ray-eating! It might be supposed he had an eye to the mullet; but this was not the case. He had been seven or eight years with me, mostly in New South Wales, had learned many of the native habits, and even imbibed this ridiculous notion respecting rays and sharks; though he could not allege, as Bongaree did, that "they might be very good for white men, but would kill him." The mullet accordingly underwent a further division; and Mr. Westall and myself, having no prejudice against rays, made up our proportion of this scanty repast from one of them.
We rowed northward, round the west end of Inglis' Island, leaving a hummocky isle and a sandy islet to the left; but on coming to a low point with a small island near it, the rapidity of the flood tide was such, that we could not make head way, and were obliged to wait for high water. I took the opportunity to get another set of bearings, and then followed the example of the boats' crew, who, not finding oysters or any thing to eat, had fallen asleep on the beach to forget the want of food.
It was high water at eleven o'clock, and we then passed between the islet and sandy point, and across two rather deep bights in Inglis' Island; and leaving three rocks and as many small islands on the left hand, entered the passage to the west of the ship, and got on board at two in the afternoon.
This island is twelve miles long, by a varying breadth of one to three miles. Its cliffs and productions are much the same as those of Cotton's Island; but in the south-eastern part it is higher, and the size and foliage of the wood announced more fertility in the soil.
The construction of my chart, and taking bearings from the