as to refit and water with all convenient despatch; and you are then to
proceed immediately to the north-west coast of New Holland, making the
coast in the vicinity of Dampier Land. The leading objects of your
examination there will be, the extent of the two deep inlets connected
with Roebuck Bay and Cygnet Bay, where the strength and elevation of the
tides have led to the supposition that Dampier Land is an island, and
that the above openings unite in the mouth of a river, or that they
branch off from a wide and deep gulf. Moderate and regular soundings
extend far out from Cape Villaret: you will, therefore, in the first
instance, make that headland; and, keeping along the southern shore of
Roebuck Bay, penetrate at once as far as the Beagle and her boats can
find sufficient depth of water; but you must, however, take care not too
precipitately to commit His Majesty's ship among these rapid tides, nor
to entangle her among the numerous rocks with which all this part of the
coast seems to abound; but by a cautious advance of your boats, for the
double purpose of feeling your way, and at the same time of surveying,
you will establish her in a judicious series of stations, equally
beneficial to the progress of the survey, and to the support of your
detached people.

Prince Regent River appears to have been fully examined by Captain King
up to its freshwater rapids, but as the adjacent ridges of rocky land
which were seen on both sides of Collier Bay, were only laid down from
their distant appearance, it is probable that they will resolve
themselves into a collection of islands in the rear of Dampier Land; and
it is possible that they may form avenues to some wide expanse of water,
or to the mouth of some large river, the discovery of which would be
highly interesting.

As this question, whether there are or are not any rivers of magnitude on