Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 2: Performed between the years 1818 and 1822King, Philip Parker
History
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 2: Performed between the years 1818 and 1822
King, Philip Parker
Australia -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Australia
There is no wood of any size to be procured among the islands, which is a
great drawback upon its utility as a port. In the rainy season water is
doubtless abundant, but must be soon evaporated. We saw no rivulet or any
fresh water, excepting a few gallons that were protected from the heat of
the sun by being under the shade of a fig, but from the number of natives
seen by us, it is probable that there must be a large quantity not far
off. The natives of this part use logs to convey them from and to the
islands. A small sandy island, with a reef extending for two miles from
its north-west end, and one mile and a half from its south-east end, lies
off the south-west end of Enderby Island, and would serve as a good
protection from the sea in a South-West wind, for the anchorage on the
south side of Enderby Island.
The mainland is high and rocky behind the islands, but at the bottom of
the bay again assumes a low character: more to the westward, a range of
hills rises abruptly and advances for fourteen miles in a North-West
direction from the interior, and reaches the shores of the bay, when it
extends for eleven miles to the westward, and is then terminated by a
valley, or an opening of one mile and a half wide, that separates it from
the rocky hills of CAPE PRESTON. The cape juts out into the sea, and is
connected by reefs to some low sandy islands to the North-East; it is in
latitude 20 degrees 49 minutes 45 seconds, and longitude 116 degrees 5
minutes. In the centre of the bay, at eight miles North 64 degrees East
from the extremity of the cape, is a low, sandy islet, of about one-third
of a mile in diameter; and behind it, near the shores of the bay, there
appeared to be other islands of the same size and character, the
particular form and situation of which could not be distinguished.
There is a small rocky islet off Cape Preston, and some to the
South-South-West, in which direction the shore trends in and forms a bay,
the shores of which were not seen.
From Cape Preston the coast assumes a very different character from that
to the eastward, being less sinuous, very low, and either fronted by
mangroves, or by a range of sandhills, both of which conceal the
interior. The coast, at from three to seven miles, is fronted by a range
of low, sandy islets, from one quarter to two-thirds of a mile in
diameter: there are, however, two or three near Cape Preston of larger
size, particularly one bearing South 66 degrees West, fifteen miles from
the extremity of the cape, of rocky character, but very level, and
apparently sterile; it is nearly circular, and about two miles in
diameter. It is visible for about five leagues.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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