Amsterdam towards evening, and flattered ourselves that we were also
leaving the bad weather behind. The sky more settled; the sea less high;
and the barometer rising: such indications, however, cannot be implicitly
trusted in this boisterous climate; and shortly after dark, having
shipped a very heavy sea, we rounded too for the night. The constant set
of the huge following seas, carried our little vessel much faster to the
eastward than could be easily credited, till proved by actual
observation. During the last three or four days, we had run upwards of
195 miles daily by the observations, being from twenty to thirty more
each day than appeared from the reckoning.

ROTTNEST ISLAND.

We made Rottnest Island on the morning of Wednesday, November 15th; and
in the afternoon of the same day, anchored in Gage's Road, Swan River.
Our position at midnight, the night before, made us about 30 miles from
the mainland, when we had the wind from the eastward, getting round again
towards noon to south and by west. This may be some guide to the limit of
the land wind, and as such I record the fact. During the three days
previous to our making the land, we experienced a northerly current of
one knot per hour. We tried during the same period for soundings, with
nearly 200 fathoms, but in vain.

We passed along the north shore of Rottnest at the distance of a mile and
a half, closing with it as we got to the eastward, where it is not so
rocky. The north shore should not be approached within a mile. As we were
opening out the bay on the north-east end of the island, we passed over a
rocky patch, with, from appearance, not more than three fathoms on it, it
is small, and we had 14 fathoms close to it. This patch is about one mile
North by West from the north-west point of the bay. Off this point is a