that our conjecture was right respecting the opening close to the
eastward. The shore was sandy to the westward, a remarkable circumstance,
considering that nearly everywhere else all was mangrove. Whatever we saw
of the interior, appeared to be low patches of bare mud, which bespoke
frequent inundations. We could also trace a low mangrove shore forming
the head of the Gulf, without any appearance of a large opening, which
was a bitter disappointment; in some measure, however, compensated by the
fact that it was all new, Flinders having expressed himself doubtful how
far back the shore lay.

DISASTER INLET.

The point on which The Sandhill is situated I called after Lieutenant
Gore, and the inlet, which we entered just before dark, Disaster Inlet,
from a circumstance of what may be called a tragical nature which
happened in it. Like all the other inlets, as we afterwards found, it had
a bar scarcely passable at low-water for boats; but within there was a
depth of two and three fathoms. It appears that the streams passing out
of these openings groove out a channel in the great flat fronting the
shores for from one to three miles; but as the distance from their mouths
increased, the velocity and consequent strength of the stream diminished
in proportion, and, as we afterwards found, at this season was never
strong enough to force a channel the entire way through the flat or bank
at the entrance, which was thrown out in consequence further from the
shore. The projection thus formed in the great flat indicated the
importance of the inlet.

We passed the night a mile within the mouth of Disaster Inlet, and next
morning, which was cool and bracing enough for a latitude twenty degrees
further south, we followed its upward course, which was more westerly