party found their course obstructed by a swamp, covered with mangroves, which however they resolved to pass; the mud was almost knee-deep, yet they resolutely went on; but before they got half way, they repented of their undertaking: the bottom was covered with branches of trees interwoven with each other, sometimes they kept their footing upon them, sometimes their feet slipped through, and sometimes they were so entangled among them, that they were forced to free themselves by groping in the mud and slime with their hands. In about an hour, however, they crossed it, and judged it might be about a quarter of a mile over. After a short walk, they came up to a place where there had been four small fires, and near them some shells and bones of fish that had been roasted: they found also heaps of grass laid together, where four or five people appeared to have slept. The second lieutenant, Mr. Gore, who was at another place, saw a little water lying in the bottom of a gulley, and near it the track of a large animal: some bustards were also seen, but none of them shot, nor any other bird except a few of the beautiful loriquets which we had seen in Botany Bay. Mr. Gore, and one of the midshipmen, who were in different places, said that they had heard the voices of Indians near them, but had seen none: the country in general appeared sandy and barren, and being destitute of fresh water, it cannot be supposed to have any settled inhabitants. The deep gulleys, which were worn by torrents from the hills, prove, that at certain seasons the rains here are very copious and heavy. The inlet in which the ship lay, I called THIRSTY SOUND, because it afforded us no fresh water. It lies in latitude 22° 10ʹ S., and longitude 210° 18ʹ W.; and may be known by a group of small islands lying under the shore, from two to five leagues distant, in the direction of N. W., and by another group of islands that lie right before it, between three and four leagues out at sea. Over each of the points that form the entrance is a high round hill, which, on the N. W., is a peninsula that at high water is surrounded by the sea: they are bold to both the shores, and the distance between them is about two miles. In this inlet is good anchorage in seven, six, five, and four fathom; and places very convenient for laying a ship down, where, at spring-tides, the water does not rise less than sixteen or eighteen feet. The tide flows at the full and change of the moon about eleven o’clock. I have already observed that here is no fresh water, nor could we procure refreshment of any other kind: we saw two turtles, but we were not able to take either of them: neither did we catch either fish or wild-fowl, except a few small land birds: we saw indeed the same sorts of water-fowl as in Botany Bay, but they were so shy that we could not get a shot at them.