Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/333

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

observed ,amor? the trees near the same spot. isle. The next day we made but little progress along Auw �?o. the coast to the south.west, which is so low, as not to be visible from the cutter's deck, at a greater distance' than six miles; this rendered the' examination of it very inconvenient, and even dangerous,. as the rocks and reefs which. lined' the coast 'extended in some parts beyond that distance. .. The land appeared to be barren and arid, and, were it n6t for a few bushes, or mangrove trees, scattered about the beach, it might be called a complete desert. Westerly winds and c?lms continued without 'intermission until the 1 st of September; during which the thermometer se?,t. 1. ranged between V0? and 93 � this day, a breeze from the N.E. enabled us to make pro- gress to the. southward; and after examining an ifidenture .of the .coast, we anchored at night off a point of land, which, from the circumstance of a very large fire burning upon it, was called Point Blaze. The land still continued low; but more wooded,. and less sandy, than that we had seen within the last two days. -The next morning we s. resumed our course along the coast. To the south-west, a sandy hillock was observed, which proved to be on Captain's Baudin's Peron Island. This was the first opportunity that had occurred by