so; but I would not attempt it at this time, because we wanted water, and
could not depend upon finding it there. This place is in the latitude of
20 degrees 21 minutes, but in the draught that I had of this coast, which
was Tasman's, it was laid down in 19 degrees 50 minutes, and the shore is
laid down as all along joining in one body or continent, with some
openings appearing like rivers, and not like islands as really they are.
This place lies more northerly by 40 minutes than is laid down in Mr.
Tasman's draught, and besides its being made a firm continued land, only
with some openings like the mouths of rivers, I found the soundings also
different from what the pricked line of his course shows them, and
generally shallower than he makes them, which inclines me to think that
he came not so near the shore as his line shows, and so had deeper
soundings, and could not so well distinguish the islands. His meridian
or difference of longitude from Shark's Bay agrees well enough with my
account, which is two hundred and thirty-two leagues, though we differ in
latitude; and to confirm my conjecture that the line of his course is
made too near the shore, at least not far to the east of this place, the
water is there so shallow that he could not come there so nigh.

But to proceed. In the night we had a small land breeze, and in the
morning I weighed anchor, designing to run in among the islands, for they
had large channels between them of a league wide at least, and some two
or three leagues wide. I sent in my boat before to sound, and if they
found shoal water to return again, but if they found water enough to go
ashore on one of the islands and stay till the ship came in, where they
might in the meantime search for water. So we followed after with the
ship, sounding as we went in, and had twenty fathom till within two
leagues of the Bluff head, and then we had shoal water and very uncertain
soundings; yet we ran in still with an easy sail, sounding and looking
out well, for this was dangerous work. When we came abreast of the Bluff