I therefore started to look for water and to explore the country.
SEARCH FOR WATER.
The point we had landed at was immediately at the base of some bare sandhills, about four hundred feet high.

These are the hills which are visible from the high land of Dorre Island on the opposite side of the bay: it struck me that from their great height and their porous nature there was a probability of our finding water by digging, even in this apparently sandy desert; I therefore selected a spot at the foot of the highest hill, in the bare sand, and ordered a well to be opened.

Our efforts were crowned with success; the well had not been sunk more than four or five feet when we came to a coarse gravelly sand, saturated with water, which was perfectly sweet and good; and when the well was sunk about two or three feet deeper the water poured in so fast that there would have been no difficulty in watering a ship at this point.
APPEARANCE OF A LAKE.

EXAMINATION OF IT.
Whilst the men were engaged in filling the water kegs I ascended the highest sandhill, the summit of which was not distant more than a mile from the well.

When I gained this a most splendid sight burst upon my view: to the westward stretched the boundless sea, lashed by the wind into white and curling waves; whilst to the east of me lay a clear calm unruffled lake, studded with little islands.