very inconvenient and even dangerous, as the rocks and reefs which lined
the coast extended in some parts beyond that distance.

The land appeared to be barren and arid, and were it not for a few bushes
or mangrove trees, scattered about the beach, it might be called a
complete desert.

1819. September 1.

Westerly winds and calms continued without intermission until the 1st of
September; during which the thermometer ranged between 79 and 93 degrees.
On this day a breeze from the North-East enabled us to make progress to
the southward; and after examining an indenture of the coast we anchored
at night off a point of land, which, from the circumstance of a very
large fire burning upon it, was called Point Blaze. The land still
continued low; but more wooded and less sandy than that we had seen
within the last two days.

September 2.

The next morning we resumed our course along the coast. To the south-west
a sandy hillock was observed, which proved to be on Captain Baudin's
Peron Island. This was the first opportunity that had occurred by which I
could compare my longitude with that of Captain Baudin; and as the Peak
of Peron Island is one of his fixed points, and is placed by him in 127
degrees 34 minutes 36 seconds, I find that my chart is in this part 6
minutes 24 seconds to the eastward.

In order to set at rest the question of the insularity of this land we
passed within it, but not without difficulty, from the numerous shoals