Hauling up for an opening which he was desirous of examining, he came to a small sandy islet, which lay at the mouth of it. Being unable to find a passage into the opening with the sloop, he came to an anchor, and went ashore upon this island, which was surrounded with shoal water. The base of it he found to be a hard stone, over which was a covering of sand, mixed with pieces of coral and shells. There was a little cluster of palms upon it, and some other small trees. Two or three large trees were lying upon the shore, thrown down either by wind or the flood, assisted by the weight of the trees themselves, which the depth of soil was not sufficient to support. They were a tough, hard, and close-grained wood. Being about half ebb, the surrounding shoal was dry. On it were some thousand curlews and gulls, and some pelicans; but all too shy to allow of his approach within musket shot. Upon one of the trees was stuck the cap of a small whale's skull, and in one of the sockets of the eyes was a bird's nest apparently of the last season. This islet must at times be visited by natives; for they found three spears, and near them was hidden a small shield, of the same form and substance as that seen in Pumice-Stone river. The spears were of solid wood, of twelve feet in length, and could not have been used with a throwing-stick. One of them was barbed with a small piece of some animal's bone. From the trending of the shores of this harbour, it was divided into two bays, an upper and a lower bay; the former of which was the smallest, and, in comparison with the latter, resembled the cod to a seine. The shore on the east side of this bay (the upper) was high, and bounded by white, steep cliffs; whence Mr. Flinders was induced to hope that a deep channel might be found there, being unwilling to believe that there was not a good passage even to the head of a sheet of water of six or seven miles square, and into which most probably one or more streams of water emptied themselves. With the intention of attempting the eastern passage into this upper bay, he returned on board from his visit to the islet (which he named Curlew-Islet, and which is in the latitude of 25 degrees 17 minutes S) and got the sloop under weigh; but was obliged to give up the idea, on finding the shoal water so extensive as to make it probable that it joined a line of breakers; and, the sun being near the horizon, to get clear of the shoal water before dark became a principal concern, and together induced him to shape a course for a sloping hummock on the west side of the bay.