By the morning of September 24th the rough charts were completed, and
tracings, with other despatches, being deposited with the Resident, to be
forwarded to England, we sailed from Coepang. On the 26th the first
lieutenant, the surgeon, and the master, were seized with a violent
attack of cholera, which lasted twenty-four hours--another evidence of
the unhealthiness of Timor.

The work that now lay before us was, perhaps, one of the most interesting
features of the North-West coast--a remarkable indentation, south of
Roebuck Bay, many parts of which had never been seen. Its peculiar
configuration naturally suggested the idea that a river must exist there;
and it was accordingly with great anxiety that we looked forward to the
result. I had intended to examine the eastern part of Scott's Reef in the
way; but westerly winds, which were, however, favourable for reaching our
destination, prevented us. The track we pursued was entirely new, and in
order to see if any shoals existed, we sounded every twenty miles,
without, however, getting bottom, at nearly 200 fathoms, until the 1st,
when in latitude 14 degrees 24 minutes South, and longitude 123 degrees
23 minutes East we had 70 fathoms.*

(*Footnote. From the result of our soundings on the passage to the coast,
it would appear that a ship in 60 or 70 fathoms would be about the same
number of miles from the land between the latitude of 14 or 15 degrees
South--quality of bottom, a greyish sand, which becomes coarser as the
depth increases.)

After midnight on the 3rd and 4th we had strong breezes of short duration
from South-East, and although a hundred miles from the nearest land to
windward, a fine kind of dust was found on the rigging, which, on
examination by a microscope, proved to consist of sand and wood ashes.