Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/154

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SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL lSlS. four miles more to the westward we had but nine- ?,p?l ?. teen fathoms. When the flood commenced, it was too dark to profit by it, and no progress ?. was made until the next morning, when, having a fresh breeze, we reached an anchorage in a bay' on the north side, and close under the base of Mount Bedwell. On our way we steered through strong tide.ripplings in wMch, at times, notwith- standing the strength of the breeze, the cutter was quite ungovernable. Off the bay is a low mangrove island, wMch I had the pleasure to name after the Reverend James W. Burford, of Strafford, Essex, and the bay in which we had anchored, was called after W. Alton, Esq., of the Royal Gardens at Kew. The bottom of Aiton Bay is shoal, and, appa- rently, terminates in an inlet or creek; at lo? water the tide lef? a considerable space dry that appeared to extend from shore to shore. Our distance from th? beach was so short that the howlings of dogs were.distinctly heard, and other noises were distinguished, which some of �us thought were made by natives, but they were more probably the screams of birds. ? At day-light the next morning we steered round the land, and passing under the' base of Mount Roe, we entered a strait that separates it from Greenhill Island; wMch is remarkable for