At sunset, we were in the meridian of Albatross Island, and by midnight
cleared the Strait, when we steered a course for King George the Third's
Sound.

Upon examining our bread, we found that a considerable quantity was
spoiled from damp and leaks, which necessarily obliged us to go at once
upon a reduced allowance of that article.

January 16.

From a succession of westerly winds, the vessel was driven so near to the
Archipelago of the Recherche, that we were induced to bear up for the
anchorage in Goose Island Bay; but as we steered round Douglas's Isles,
the wind veered back to the South-East, and we might have proceeded: we
were, however, so near the anchorage, that I determined upon occupying it
for the night; and steering in between Middle Island and Goose Island,
the anchor was dropped off the first sandy beach to the eastward of the
highest hill, at the north-west end of the former.

In the evening I landed with the botanist and Mr. Roe, but we found
little that was worthy of our attention. The basis of the island is
granitic, and covered with a shallow soil, formed of decayed vegetable
matter, mixed with sand, which nourishes the stunted vegetation that
thickly clothes the surface, particularly on the north-eastern, which is
its most sheltered side.

No animals were observed, excepting some small quadrupeds, which were
momentarily seen by Mr. Roe, and, from his description, were
kangaroo-rats. On Goose Island, the bird from which it takes its name