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
"The mouth of Swan River is in latitude 32 degrees 4 minutes 31 seconds,
and longitude 113 degrees 26 minutes 28 seconds East of Paris, or (115
degrees 46 minutes 43 seconds East of Greenwich). The channel is
obstructed by a bar of rocks, which it is very difficult to pass over,
and, indeed, impracticable if the wind blows from the sea. On entering,
the passage is on the starboard side: it is narrow and shoal, and divided
into two channels; in each of which there is from five to six feet of
water; after passing this, there is seven and eight feet: the course must
then be towards the west, to avoid two shoals, which are upon the right
bank: after half a mile the navigation is free, and in mid-channel the
depth is not less than seven, eight, and nine feet. The river then trends
in a northerly direction for seven miles, without any sinuosity of
consequence. On the eastern bank, are two shoals; the passage is then on
the opposite side of the river, the depth of which is eight feet: beyond
these banks the course of the river trends to the eastward towards a low
point, upon which there is a solitary tree; an extensive bank fronts this
point, and the channel continues on the western shore, ten feet deep.
Here the river is a mile broad; it then increases its width, and forms
spacious bays on either side, that were not examined. To the South-East
is an opening, which may probably be an arm of the river; it was called
MOREAU INLET; it was not examined. Opposite to it is a sharp point,
fronted by a shoal, and the channel is on the eastern side of the river,
with thirteen feet water. Here the river widens and forms a basin, two
miles and a half wide: a little above this the river is blocked up by
shoals and islets (HEIRISSON ISLES) between which the depth is not more
than two or three feet, but afterwards deepens gradually from five to
fifteen feet: the banks of the river are then not more than one-third of
a mile wide, and then continue in a serpentine course, with a channel
from seven to ten feet deep, and free from shoals, as far as the French
boats examined it. The stream of the river ran very slowly, and winds
through a valley, one side of which is abrupt and precipitous, and when
it ceases to be so on one side, the heights immediately appear on the
other."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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