As the wind abated about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, we availed ourſelves of this opportunity to fit out the pinnace. The engineer was diſpatched in order to examine whether an opening ſeen N. 30° E. afforded a paſſage for our veſſels.
The ebb-tide drifted us from eight in the evening till two in the morning at the rate of half a knot every hour to N.W.N.
The ſtiffneſs of the breeze preventing us from ſending any of our boats to the ſhore, we were obliged to remain on board.
19th. On the following day we were landed at the diſtance of 2,500 toiſes S.W. on an iſland which bounds this channel throughout its whole length. A boat belonging to the Eſperance had paſſed the night at the ſame place, and taken a great quantity of fiſh.
It was a great gratification to me to traverſe this country, where I found a large number of new plants, the moſt numerous of which belonged to the genus of melaleuca, aſter, epacris, &c.
The ſhore of the channel afforded us a very eaſy path through the buſhes which are here but thinly ſcattered. We afterwards climbed up ſome ſteep aſcents which riſe to about 25 toiſes perpendicular height above the level of the ſea. We here obſerved a quantity of ſea-ſalt depoſited by
the
