Volume II Part 9 (1/2)

November 29

This afternoon and the whole of the next day, when the tide suited, ere endeavouring to weigh the shi+p's anchors; but they were together with the cables so imbedded in the bottom, which must have been a quicksand, that this proved impossible Had the shi+p been fitted with Captain Charles Phillips', RN, capstan, there would have been a better chance of succeeding As it was, after heaving down the shi+p nineteen inches by the head, and splitting the hawse pipes, ere ultied to leave both behind, and thirty fathoms of cable with one and fifteen with the other This circuested the appropriate name of Holdfast Reach for this locality; and perhaps in soone the changes that seeist of Victoria Riverthe Beagle's anchors

Whilst at this anchorage, just after dark, flocks of whistling ducks were constantly heard passing over our heads in a South-West by West direction, or towards the head of Cae Gulf, which led to the supposition that there was a river in that neighbourhood We placed the south point of Water Valley in latitude 15 degrees 13 3/4 rees 22 ree easterly Our tidal observation e of the s was sixteen feet, and at neaps ten The duration of the flood-streareater than the ebb The forh-water, and the latter 30Holdfast Reach, Lieutenant E the only ones that had been seen frooing up alone towards theot near

DROP DOWN THE RIVER

Deceht, and proceeded down the river After pirouetting through Whirlpool Reach, we got as far down as the flats fronting River Peak, above which we anchored near noon After having been shut up aht of the sea horizon was a novelty, and the cool, refreshi+ng breeze, as it ca over the unbroken expanse of waters, created in us very pleasing sensations

Nextwe beat down the main channel, which was called the Queen's, the deep water varying fro on the west side

Sosand extending off its northern side, prevented our proceeding further The boats completed the survey of the western side of the channel in the afternoon: the largest creek examined by Mr Forsyth received his na down the channel with a light air fro, no i off Observation Island, as a fine deep channel of six and eight fatho sand stretching off its north end When we had cleared this the anchor was dropped in eight fatho

That the Beagle was once more anchored outside all the banks--to have touched on any of which, with the great strength of the tides that hurried us along would have been fatal--was a great relief to all of us, especially to me, in whom Captain Wickham had placed so uidance, whilst exposed to the dangers I have mentioned

December 4

Moved the shi+p within three miles and a half of the south extrerees West A party of us visited it, and, froht we there beheld, it was called Turtle Point

DEAD TURTLES ON THE Shore

Behind sorove flat, we beheld great numbers of dead turtles, that seemed to have repaired thither of their own accord to die They were lying on their bellies, with their shells for the h sons of visits froe bustard were also seen there, so that the place had quite the appearance of a ceos in Patagonia, where the guanacos (a kind of llama) assemble to pay the debt of nature, and leave their bones to whiten the surface of the plain Never before, on any occasion, had we seen dead turtles in any siot there was a mystery, unless we suppose them to have been thrown up by some earthquake wave They had evidently not been transported thither by the hand of h, as I have observed, so theifts of fortune I could not help, as I gazed on this re to mind the marvellous elephant cemetery described by Sinbad the Sailor It is possible that the observation of soination of the authors of the Thousand and One Nights their ro round Turtle Point until the facts I have mentioned shall have been explained

(Footnote A speciht away and deposited in the Museum at Sydney)

The nature of this part of the country I have before described on e of breakers ran off north a couple of rees South about eight or nine , with sorees West about four or five leagues, terminated our view to the ard We found the tidethree miles an hour; the streah-water The tih-water for the last three days had been most unaccountably the same

Deceht, but the wind being light all the e till the afternoon; the extrerees West three-quarters of a s extended a couple of miles off to the south-west of it, in which we found there was only four fatho across the entrance we passed first a bank of three fatho South 45 degrees West 11 ht fathoms, with twelve and seventeen on each side, the other of only two fathoms with twelve on the south, and twenty on the north side

MERMAID BANK

We subsequently found the latter to be a continuation of the bank on which Captain King had five fathorees East 5 miles; and in order to record his visit we named it, after his vessel, Mermaid Bank

VISIT THE Shore FOR OBSERVATIONS

Dece to make some observations at Point Pearce for the errors of the chronometers I was acco on a shooting excursion It being high-water, I was obliged to select a spot near the cliffs for out my intention That selected was about 60 yards fro such an intervening distance would secure me from the spear of the treacherous native This caution rather resulted from what had before occurred at Escape Cliffs, where Messrs

Fitzmaurice and Keys so narrowly escaped, than fro about Indeed, Mr Bynoe had been shooting all over the ground yesterday, and had neither seen nor heard anything to indicate their existence in this neighbourhood; though doubtless, fro hi an attack, by the alar death to the birds,equal altitudes, I was compelled to revisit the spot in the afternoon for the corresponding observations The boat in which Mr Bynoe returned to the shi+p, was to carry way, and in answer to my inquiry, he informed me that he had seen no traces of the natives He had shot a new and very beautiful bird of the finch tribe, in which the brilliant colours of verdigris green, lilac purple, and bright yelloere admirably blended The time was short; half an hour would have sufficed for the observations, and we should have left the coast As it was noater, and I had to traverse a coral reef half a un, which I had taken with reater safety carry the chrono I directed Mr Tarrant and one of the boat's crew to folloith the rest of the instru streith coral frage pools With my mind fully occupied by all we had seen of late, I hurried on without waiting, and reached the observation spot, just glancing towards the cliff, which presented nothing to the view except the silvery steured by Mr Gould froouldiae)

THE AUTHOR SPEARED