The point we had landed at was immediately at the base of some bare sandhills, about four hundred feet high. These are the hills which are visible from the high land of Dorre Island on the opposite side of the bay: it struck me that from their great height and their porous nature there was a probability of our finding water by digging, even in this apparently sandy desert; I therefore selected a spot at the foot of the highest hill, in the bare sand, and ordered a well to be opened. Our efforts were crowned with success; the well had not been sunk more than four or five feet when we came to a coarse gravelly sand, saturated with water, which was perfectly sweet and good; and when the well was sunk about two or three feet deeper the water poured in so fast that there would have been no difficulty in watering a ship at this point. APPEARANCE OF A LAKE. EXAMINATION OF IT. Whilst the men were engaged in filling the water kegs I ascended the highest sandhill, the summit of which was not distant more than a mile from the well. When I gained this a most splendid sight burst upon my view: to the westward stretched the boundless sea, lashed by the wind into white and curling waves; whilst to the east of me lay a clear calm unruffled lake, studded with little islands. To the north or north-east I could, even with a good telescope, see no limits to this lake, and, with the exception of the numerous beautiful islands with which it was studded, I could, even from the commanding position which I occupied, distinguish nothing like rising land anywhere between north by east and south-east. The lake had a glassy and fairy-like appearance, and I sat down alone on the lofty eminence to contemplate this great water which the eye of European now for the first time rested on. I looked seaward, and it appeared as if nature had heaped up the narrow and lofty sandy barrier on which I stood to shut out from the eyes of man the lovely and fairy-like land which lay beyond it. At length I rose and returned to the party. The news of my discovery filled all with hope; and, our miserable breakfast having been hurriedly despatched, I selected three men to accompany me in my first examination of the shores of this inland sea. When we had gained the top of the sandhills the surprise of these men was as great as my own, and they begged me to allow them to return and endeavour by the united efforts of the party to carry one of the whale-boats over the intervening range, and at once to launch it on this body of water.