On the easternmost bank were nine fathoms, but on the other, we found overfalls between five and seven fathoms. A native's fire, that was burning on Oxley's Island', served to fix the position of this last bank. 'The next morning we were off Cape Croker, and at noon were passing Port Essington; the.proje?. 'ng heads of which, at the distance ot? four or five leagues, have the appearance of being two small islands, for the land at. the back and on' either side is too low to be seen. Between Port Essington and Cape Van Diemen, we steered so as to see several parts of the coast of Melville Island, in order to. compare their. relative meridional dis. tances with, those of last year's survey. The latter projection, which is the western limit of the north coast, came in sight on the evening of the '22d, when its longitude was found to be 130 � 33", which is 1' g' to the west- ward of last years' observation; the mean there- fore may be considered as its true longitude, which is'130 �' 30". At sunset we were eleven miles from the Cape, bearing S. 67? �' and the next morning it was seen in the S.S.E. ? . At?r rounding it, a course was steered down the western side of Bathurst Island ;' but it took us until the ?26th be- fore we passed Cape Fourcroy. On the foliowin?
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