Page:Narrativeavoyag01wilsgoog.djvu/137

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MOUNT NORRIS BAY.—BOWEN'S STRAITS.
105

I received by falling into the creek. Wadeia observing that I did not appear well, came towards me, and, on understanding that I complained of headach, he pressed it in the same manner as any civilized nurse would have done. I requested him to send one of the boys for water: not one of them, however, would obey him, and, instead of enforcing obedience, he went for it himself, and, in a short time, returned with a basket-ful.

Having spent about an hour with them, we returned to the yawl; and after supper, it was agreed to take a nap for a few hours. At two, A. M., we awoke, got under weigh, and plied to windward. At daylight, we saw three canoes, with two natives in each, who seemed rather to avoid us, but we would have joined them, had we not been prevented by a reef that extended a considerable way from the shore.

We sailed round Mount Norris Bay, and observed that it had been correctly surveyed by Captain King. We then returned by Bowen's Straits, which, as Captain King had not passed through, and as it is the common route of all the Malay proas, passing to and from the eastward, Captain Laws surveyed very carefully. Moreover, we noticed that the trepang, the object of their voyage, abounded here.

About half way through the Straits, on the side of the Cobourg Peninsula, there is a capacious bay, having a sufficient depth of water for a first-rate man-of-war, within a few fathoms of the shore. This bay, which was considered by Captain Laws as a very eligible spot