built of sticks, stuck in the ground, and being united at the top,
supported a roof of bark, which was again covered with sand, so that the
hut looked more like a sand-hillock than the abode of a human creature:
the opening was at one side, and about eighteen inches in diameter; but
even this could be reduced when they were inside, by heaping the sand up
before it. In one of the huts were found several strips of bamboo, and
some fishing-nets, rudely made of the fibres of the bark of trees.

Mr. Cunningham took the advantage of a good spot of soil in the vicinity
of our wooding-place to sow every sort of seed that we possessed, namely,
peach, apricot, loquat (a Chinese fruit), lemon, seventeen sorts of
culinary seeds, tobacco, roses, and a variety of other European plants;
and in addition to these, the coconut was planted, which we had found
upon the beach of South-West Bay, but it is very doubtful whether any
have succeeded, on account of the custom that the natives have when the
grass is dry, of setting fire to it, so that there is little doubt but
that all the annual plants have been destroyed.

The bay was called Mullet Bay, in consequence of the immense shoals of
that fish which were seen near the shores, and of which Boongaree speared
several with his fiz-gig. The trepang were found about the rocks on the
beach in great numbers, as they were also on the South Island.

April 8.

On the 8th we left Mullet Bay, and made an unsuccessful attempt to beat
round the north end of the island, and to return by steering through the
strait that separates the Northern from the Southern Island: we were,
however, prevented by the freshness of the wind, and the strength of the
current.