McAdam Range.
Adventure with an Alligator.
Exploring party.
Discovery of the Victoria.
Ascend the river.
Appearance of the Country.
Fitzmaurice River.
Indian Hill.
The Beagle taken up the river.

LEAVE PORT ESSINGTON.

Early on the morning of the 4th of September, 1839, the Beagle was once
more slipping out of Port Essington before a light land wind. We had
taken a hearty farewell of our friends at Victoria, in whose prosperity
we felt all the interest that is due to those who pioneer the way for
others in the formation of a new settlement. No doubt the hope that our
discoveries might open a new field for British enterprise, and contribute
to extend still more widely the blessings of civilization, increased the
sympathy we felt for the young colony at Victoria. There is always a
feeling of pride and pleasure engendered by the thought that we are in
any way instrumental to the extension of man's influence over the world
which has been given him to subdue. In the present instance, the success
of our last cruise and the state of preparation in which we were now in
for a longer one, caused us to take our departure from Port Essington in
far higher spirits than on the former occasion.

PASS THROUGH CLARENCE STRAIT.

We again shaped our course for Clarence Strait, the western entrance of