In the afternoon I went on shore near the north extremity of the Cape, to
procure some bearings; after which we strolled about, and found a
temporary stream of water falling into the sea. In walking past a grove
of pandanus trees, which grew near the water, we disturbed a prodigious
quantity of bronze-winged butterflies, reminding us, in point of number,
of the Euploea hamata, at Cape Cleveland in 1819. It proved to be a
variety of the Urania orontes (Godart) of Amboyna and the other Indian
Islands. Mr. Cunningham took advantage of the Dick's boat going to the
bottom of the bay, to cut grass: near their landing-place he found some
natives' huts; some of which were of more substantial construction than
usual, and were thatched with palm leaves: inside of one he found a
fishing rod, and a line, five or six fathoms long, furnished with a hook
made from a shell, like the hooks of the South Sea Islanders: he also
found a small basket, made from the leaf of a palm-tree, lying near the
remains of their fireplaces, which were strewed with broken exuviae of
their shell-fish repasts.

A canoe twelve feet long, similar to the one described at Blomfield's
Rivulet (volume 1) was also seen; and, like it, was not more than nine
inches wide at the bilge. A small kangaroo was seen by Mr. Cunningham
feeding upon the grass, but fled the moment that it saw him approaching.

Nothing more was seen of the natives, nor were any heard, or suspected of
being near us; had there been any number the party would have been placed
in an awkward situation, for upon landing, they all incautiously, and
very imprudently, separated, to amuse themselves as they were inclined,
without regarding the situation of the boat, which was soon left dry by
the ebbing tide; and it was eight o'clock at night before they succeeded
in launching her. Immediately after its return, for which we had been