Project Gutenberg Australia a treasure-trove of literature treasure found hidden with no evidence of ownership

BROWSE the site for other works by this author (and our other authors) or get HELP Reading, Downloading and Converting files) or SEARCH the entire site with Google Site Search

BOOK 1. - AUSTRALIAN DISCOVERY BY SEA

XVI. FLINDERS' DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA

[FLINDERS' account of his discovery of southern Australia was contained in his book, A Voyage to "Terra Australis"*, published in 1814. He had wished to adopt the name "Australia" for the island-continent for two good reasons. First, he pointed out that the Dutch, who had given the name New Holland to the western half, had known nothing of the eastern, whilst Cook's name for the eastern coast, New South Wales, was inappropriate for the whole country. Secondly, the name Australia would, he considered, be "more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth." But Sir Joseph Banks, whose influence counted for very much, was not favourable to the change, and Arrowsmith, the publisher of Admiralty charts, "did not like the change", because "New Holland" had always been the name used in charts. As Flinders' book was published at the instance of the Admiralty, he could not insist upon the name "Australia" being used in the teeth of official opposition, though he fought hard for it, and enlisted as much support as he could.—The voyage of the Investigator, in which the discovery of southern Australia was made, commenced in May 1801. Two years later Flinders circumnavigated Australia in the same ship, after which she was condemned as unseaworthy.]

[* This is one of several works by Flinders available in full on the Project Gutenberg Australia website at Flinders' listing]

On the 6th of December, 1801, our latitude was 35° 10' and longitude 114° 19' which placed us about S.W. ½ S. twenty-two leagues from the westernmost isles lying off the south-west cape of New Holland, according to their position by the French rearadmiral D'Entrecasteaux; a traced copy of whose general chart of this coast had been furnished to me from the hydrographical office at the Admiralty. There were no names applied in this copy; but in the charts of the French voyage, lately published, these islets are called Iles St. Alouarn.

Notwithstanding the nearness of the land there were no signs of such proximity: no discolouring in the water, no sea weed, no new birds, and but few of the species before seen. The current had, indeed, somewhat changed; for while, during the three preceding days, it had set N. 12° W. twenty-seven miles per day, on an average, it was found this day to have run N. 47° E. twenty-two miles. This change, however, could scarcely be thought a sign of land, since equal or greater differences had occurred during the passage, and might arise, in part, from errors in the log.

At two in the afternoon, the wind being north-westward, we hauled up to make the south-western point of Leeuwin's Land, and bent the cables. At seven, land was seen right ahead, bearing N. 14° E., at the supposed distance of ten leagues; and on sounding there was 85 fathoms, coral sand. We stood for it until eleven at night, and then veered to the south-west, in 65 fathoms, same bottom.

The examination of Nuyts' and of Leeuwin's Lands was not prescribed in my instructions to be made at this time; but the difference of sailing along the coast at a distance, or in keeping near it and making a running survey, was likely to be so little that I judged it advisable to do all that circumstances would allow whilst the opportunity offered; and I had the pleasure to find this slight deviation approved at the Admiralty.

Monday, 7.—At two in the morning we had 80 fathoms, and veered towards the land. It was seen from the mast head at five; and the highest part, the same which had been set in the evening, bore N. 12° W. This is the largest of the before-mentioned Isles of St. Alouarn; but at half past seven we saw hills extending from behind, and, to all appearance, joining it to the main land. This supposed isle is, therefore, what I denominate Cape Leeuwin, as being the southwestern and most projecting part of Leeuwin's Land. The highest hill lies nearly in latitude 34° 19' south, and longitude 115° 6' east; it is a sloping piece of land of about six hundred feet in elevation, and appeared to be rocky, with a slight covering of trees and shrubs. A piece of lower land was seen to the north-west, probably a continuation of the coast, and there are some rocky islets scattered on the south side of the cape. The largest of these islets, lying about four miles off, was passed before eight o'clock, at the distance of seven or eight miles, and seen to be surrounded with high and extensive breakers.

On the east side of Cape Leeuwin the land falls back northeastward three or four leagues, and afterwards curves to the south-east, forming a large bight which appeared to be wholly exposed to the southern winds. The coast-line round the upper part of this bight was not distinguishable; but the hills at the back showed more of bare sand than of vegetable covering. At ten o'clock a low, black projection, forming the eastern point of the bight, bore east three miles; and the depth was 15 fathoms upon a coarse sandy bottom. We then veered round to the southeastward, following the direction of the coast, with the wind at west-south-west and weather somewhat squally.

The shore abreast was seven or eight miles distant; and behind it ran a continuation of the same ridge of sandy hillocks which surrounds the bight, and it extended to the southern extreme. Over this ridge were perceived, here and there, the tops of some higher and less sandy hills, standing a few miles inland, but the general aspect of the country was that of great sterility; nor was there, as yet, any appearance of its being inhabited.

Tuesday, 8.—The wind was at south-west, and we stretched onward until one in the morning, before tacking to the northwest for the land. At daylight the ship was found to have been carried to the eastward, and neither Point D'Entrecasteaux nor the two white rocks were in sight; but in the N. 19° E., about eight miles, was a head not far from the extreme set in the evening. It afterwards proved to be a smooth, steep rock, lying one mile from the main, and is the land first made upon this coast by captain Vancouver, who called it Cape Chatham.

At seven o'clock we got sight of the two white rocks, which enabled me to take up the survey of the preceding evening; and we then bore away along the coast at the distance of four or five miles, with a pleasant breeze and fine weather.

Some parts of the shore between Point D'Entrecasteaux and Cape Chatham were not distinctly seen. That which is nearest to the cape lies in the line of N. 38° W. from its outer part, and presents an intermixture of steep cliffs and small sandy beaches, with a back land moderately high, and better covered with wood than that before described. On the east side of Cape Chatham the shore falls back to the northward, and makes a bight in which is a small reef of rocks. It then projects in a cliffy head, which lies S. 75° E. seven miles from the cape, and is called Point Nuyts in the French chart; upon the supposition, probably, that this was the first land seen by Nuyts in 1627. Beyond this point the coast trends very nearly east; but forms several projections, some of which are steep and others low; and between them are sandy bights where small vessels might obtain shelter from all northern winds. The hills lying at the back of the shore seemed to be barren, though trees grew thickly on their eastern sides; they are not high, but it was rare to perceive any thing of the interior country above them.

At noon the nearest parts of the coast were a steep and a more eastern low point, both distant about four miles; and from the bight between them was rising the first smoke seen upon this coast.

Soon after two o'clock we passed at the distance of five miles from a steep point which has a broad rock lying near it. This point, being unnamed and somewhat remarkable, I call Point Hillier; it lies In 35° 4' south and 117° 9' east. The coast extends from thence nearly east-by-south, without any considerable projection except at the furthest extreme then visible; and on coming up with it, at half-past five, it proved to be the Cape Howe of Vancouver. There is another Cape Howe upon this same coast, named by Captain Cook, which makes it necessary to distinguish this by a descriptive adjunct, and I shall therefore call it West Cape Howe. The situation of this projecting cliffy cape is in 35° 8½' south and 117° 40' east. Beyond it the land trends north-by-east, four miles, into a sandy bight, in which there is a small islet; and further along the shore, which then stretches eastward and again becomes cliffy, there are two others. When the cape bore N. 10° W. four miles, the highest of the Eclipse Isles was in sight, bearing E. 4° N.; but "the small detached islet", which Captain Vancouver says "lies from Cape Howe S. 68° E., three leagues", could not be seen; though it should have lain nearly in our track.

The wind blew fresh at this time, and a current of more than one mile an hour ran with us, so that, by carrying all sail, I hoped to get sight of King George's Sound before dark. At seven we passed close on the south side of the Eclipse Isles; but Bald Head at the entrance of the sound had so different an appearance from what I had been led to expect, being a slope in this point of view, that the steep east end of Break-sea Island was at first taken for it. The error was fortunately perceived in time; and at eight o'clock we hauled up round the head, with the wind at west, and made a stretch into the sound. It was then dark; but the night being fine, I did not hesitate to work up by the guidance of captain Vancouver's chart; and having reached nearly into a line between Seal Island and the first beach round Bald Head, we anchored at eleven o'clock in 8 fathoms, sandy bottom.

Wednesday, 9.—King George's Sound had been chosen as the proper place in which to prepare ourselves for the examination of the south coast of Terra Australis, and I sought to make the best use of the advantages it might furnish. The first essential requisite was a place of secure shelter, where the masts could be stripped, the rigging and sails put into order, and communication had with the shore without interruption from the elements; but this, from captain Vancouver's chart and description, I did not expect the outer sound to afford. The facility of quitting Princess-Royal Harbour, with such a wind as would be favourable for prosecuting the investigation of the coast, induced me so far to prefer it to Oyster Harbour as to make it the first object of examination; and in the morning, after we had sounded round the ship and found her so placed as to require no immediate movement, I went in a boat for the purpose, accompanied by the master and landscape painter; the naturalist and some other gentlemen landing at the same time, to botanise in the vicinity of Bald Head.

Seal Island, where we stopped in passing, is a mass of granite, which is accessible only at its western end, as represented in Mr. Westall's sketch. After killing a few seals upon the shore, we ascended the hill to search for the bottle and parchment left by captain Vancouver in 1791; but could find no vestiges either of it or of the staff or pile of stones; and since there was no appearance of the natives having crossed over from the main, I was led to suspect that a second ship had been here before us.

At Point Possession, on the south side of the entrance to Princess-Royal Harbour, we had a good view of that extensive piece of water. Wood seemed not to be abundant near the shores; and therefore a projection two or three miles to the south-west, which was covered with trees. first attracted my notice. The depth of water in going to it was, however, too little for the ship; nor was there any fresh stream in the neighbourhood. Some person, but not captain Vancouver, had nevertheless been cutting wood there; for several trees had been felled with axe and saw. Not far from thence stood a number of bark sheds, like the huts of the natives who live in the forests behind Port Jackson, and forming what might be called a small village; but it had been long deserted. Going across from the woody point to the north side of the harbour, we there found 3 fathoms within less than half a mile of the shore; and an increasing depth from thence out to the entrance. The soundings in the entrance were from 5 to 7 fathoms; but the channel was too narrow to admit of getting in without a leading wind and much caution.

Thursday, 10.—On Thursday morning the master was sent to examine the north side of the harbour for water and wood; and we got the ship under way to beat up to the entrance, the wind blowing still from the westward. At eleven o'clock the anchor was dropped in 6 fathoms half a mile from Point Possession; and as I was doubtful of the master's success, I went in a boat, accompanied by lieutenant Flinders, to examine Oyster Harbour. We carried 7 and 6 fathoms from the ship towards the entrance until Michaelmas and Break-sea Islands were closing on with each other; after which the depth diminished to 5, 4, 3, and 2¾ fathoms. On hauling westward we got into six feet; but steering the other way, it deepened to seventeen, the east side of the opening behind then in a line with the middle of some high, flat-topped land, at the back of the harbour. Keeping in that direction, we carried 3, 4, and 5 fathoms; and had 6 in the narrowest part of the entrance. Within side the deep water turned on the starboard hand, but in many parts there was not more than 3 fathoms.

As I proposed to make a new survey of King George's Sound, we landed to take a set of angles upon the small central island; the same which captain Vancouver describes as covered with luxuriant grass and other vegetables, and where he planted vine cuttings, water-cresses, and the seeds of various fruits. There were no remains of these valuable gifts, although nothing indicated the island to have been visited since his time; and, to our disappointment, the vegetation upon it now consisted of tufts of wiry grass and a few stunted shrubs, supported by a thin layer of sandy soil, which was every where perforated with rat-holes.

From the island we rowed in various directions, sounding the harbour; but the boat could seldom approach the shore within a cable's length, or the eighth part of a mile. On the south-west side there were two small streams, in one of which the water was fresh, though high-coloured. Returning to the entrance, we landed on the east side, and found a spot of ground six or eight feet square, dug up and trimmed like a garden; and upon it was lying a piece of sheet copper, bearing this inscription: "August 27, 1800. Chr. Dixson—ship Elligood"; which solved the difficulty of the felled trees and the disappearance of captain Vancouver's bottle. On digging in this place I found that fresh water of a high colour, but well tasted, might be obtained; wood was abundant, and the depth of the entrance admitted of the ship being made fast to the shore; so that this was a situation adapted to our purpose of refitment, provided the ship could be got over the bar. This point I was desirous to ascertain in my way on board, but the strength of the wind prevented it.

The report of the master from Princess-Royal Harbour was, that water could be obtained at the north side by digging near the shore, at the foot of the highest hill; but that there was no wood at a convenient distance. I therefore sent him, next morning, to land the naturalists at the entrance of Oyster Harbour, and then to sound the bar; and not being satisfied with his report, that there was not so much as fourteen feet, which the ship drew when captain Vancouver had marked seventeen, I went to the nearest head, with a theodolite and signal flags, to direct his movements. No more, however, than thirteen feet could now be found upon the shallowest part of the bar; and, consequently, the idea of refitting in Oyster Harbour was abandoned. The boat which brought off Mr. Brown and his party in the evening collected a good quantity of oysters, and of the large fan muscles, from the shoals.

Saturday, 12.—The wind continuing foul for going into Princess-Royal Harbour, a wooding party was sent next morning to a bight round the north side of the entrance, where the wood was found to split better than at some other places. Another party went to the same place with the launch, to haul the seine, but the wind coming round to the eastward, the boat was recalled and a kedge anchor and hawser put into it. We then weighed and ran into the harbour under the top-sails; and at eleven anchored in seventeen feet upon muddy ground, at one-third of a mile from the shore under the highest hill. When the ship was moored Michaelmas Island was on with the north, and Break-sea Island with the south point of the entrance, and the highest hill bore N.E. by N. by compass. The least depth of water we had in passing the entrance was 4 fathoms; but to those who may wish to go in, the plan in Plate II of the Atlas, and a good look-out from the masthead, will be of more service than any written directions.

So soon as the ship was secured, I landed with the naturalists; and after fixing upon a place for our tents, ascended the highest hill to take angles. Amongst other objects I perceived in the bearing of N. 87° 20' W. two distant pieces of water, at the back of the bight near West Cape Howe; but whether they were lakes or an inlet of the sea could not be distinguished. Our tents, under the guard of a party of marines, were set up this evening; and in the morning the observatory and instruments were sent on shore, under the care of lieutenant Flinders, who had undertaken to assist me in performing the office of astronomer.

Marks of the country being inhabited were found every where, but as yet there was nothing to indicate the presence of the natives in our neighbourhood; I therefore allowed a part of the ship's company to divert themselves on shore this afternoon; and the same was done every Sunday during our stay in this harbour. On Monday the topmasts were struck, and our various duties commenced; the naturalists ranged the country in all directions, being landed at such places as they desired; whilst my own time was divided betwixt the observatory and the survey of the Sound.

Some smokes being perceived at the head of the harbour, Mr. Brown and other gentlemen directed their excursion that way and met with several of the natives, who were shy but not afraid. One man with whom they had communication was admired for his manly behaviour, and they gave him a bird which had been shot, and a pocket-handkerchief; but, like the generality of people hitherto seen in this country, these men did not seem to be desirous of communication with strangers; and they very early made signs to our gentlemen to return from whence they came. Next morning, however, we were agreeably surprised by the appearance of two Indians, and afterwards of others, upon the side of the hill behind our tents. They approached with much caution, one coming first with poised spear, and making many gestures, accompanied with much vociferous parleying, in which he sometimes seemed to threaten us if we did not be gone, and at others to admit of our stay. On Mr. Purdie, the assistant-surgeon, going up to him unarmed, a communication was brought about, and they received some articles of iron and toys, giving in exchange some of their implements; and after a short stay, left us, apparently on very good terms.

Thursday, 17.-On the '7th one of our former visitors brought two strangers with him; and after this time, they and others came almost every day, and frequently stopped a whole morning at the tents. We always made them presents of such things as seemed to be most agreeable, but they very rarely brought us anything in return; nor was it uncommon to find small mirrors and other things left about the shore, so that at length our presents were discontinued.

Wednesday, 23—I formed a party on the 23rd, consisting of the officers of the ship, the scientific gentlemen, and others, amounting to thirteen, well armed and provided for two days, in order to visit the lakes behind West Cape Howe. We walked along the shore to the north-western extremity of Princess-Royal Harbour, where several small runs of fresh water were found to drain in from peaty swamps. Striking from thence into the country in a western direction, we had not advanced far when a native was seen running before us; and soon afterward an old man, who had been several times at the tents, came up, unarmed as usual. He was very anxious that we should not go further; and acted with a good deal of resolution in first stopping one and then another of those who were foremost. He was not able to prevail; but we accommodated him so far as to make a circuit round the wood, where it seemed probable his family and female friends were placed. The old man followed us, hallooing frequently to give information of our movements; and when a paroquet was shot, he expressed neither fear nor surprise, but received the bird with gladness and attended with some curiosity to the reloading of the gun.

Our course for the lakes led us through swamps and thick brushwoods, in which our new acquaintance followed for some time; but at length, growing tired of people who persevered in keeping a bad road in opposition to his recommendation of a better, which, indeed, had nothing objectionable in it but that it led directly contrary to where our object lay, he fell behind and left us. We afterwards took to the skirts of the sea-coast hills and made better progress; but were obliged to recross the swamps and force our way through a thick brush before reaching the eastern lake.

This piece of water was found to be one mile and a half east and west, and one mile in breadth, and appeared to receive the drainings from the numberous swamps round about. In coasting round the north side, to reach the southwestern lake, we were stopped by a serpentine stream, upon which were two black swans; but they took to flight before we could get near to shoot them. After following the windings of this riverlet some distance to the north-west, without being able to pass over, we struck inland towards the skirt of some rising hills, and crossed the stream early enough to walk a mile to the south-west before sunset, when the convenience of dry ground, with wood and water at hand, induced us to halt for the night.

Thursday, 24.—On Thursday morning we reached the southwestern lake, and found it to be larger than the first. Its water was brackish, which bespoke a communication with the sea; and as there was no certainty that this communication might not be too deep to be passed, it was thought prudent to give up the intention of proceeding to the sea side, and our steps were retraced across the riverlet and round the northern lake. We then struck southward and ascended the hills to the top of the cliffs facing the sea; from whence I had an opportunity of seeing the bight near Cape Howe, and the form of the lakes; but no water communication was visible between them.

Our course homeward was pursued along the sandy ridge at the back of the cliffs, where the want of water was as great as the superabundance had been in the low land going out. Towards sunset, when Princess-Royal Harbour was still some miles distant, the natural-history painter became unable to proceed further, being overcome with the labour of the walk, with the excessive heat, and with thirst. To have detained the whole party in a state of sufferance would have been imprudent; and Mr. Brown and two others having volunteered to stay, we left them the scanty remains of our provision, and pushed forward to the tents, which we reached at eight o'clock. At midnight we had the pleasure to see our friends arrive, and the preparation made for sending to their assistance, at daybreak, became unnecessary.

The country through which we passed in this excursion has but little to recommend it. The stony hills of the sea coast were, indeed, generally covered with shrubs; but there was rarely any depth of vegetable soil, and no wood. The land slopes down gradually behind these hills; and at the bottom water drains out and forms a chain of swamps extending from Princess-Royal Harbour to the lakes. Here the country is covered with grass and brushwood, and in the parts a little elevated there are forest trees; nevertheless the soil is shallow and unfit for cultivation.

Wednesday, 30.—On the 30th, our wooding and the watering of the ship were completed, the rigging was refitted, the sails repaired and bent, and the ship unmoored. Our friends the natives continued to visit us; and the old man with several others being at the tents this morning, I ordered the party of marines on shore to be exercised in their presence. The red coats and white crossed belts were greatly admired, having some resemblance to their own manner of ornamenting themselves; and the drum, but particularly the fife, excited their astonishment; but when they saw these beautiful red-and-white men, with their bright muskets, drawn up in a line, they absolutely screamed with delight; nor were their wild gestures and vociferation to be silenced but by commencing the exercise, to which they paid the most earnest and silent attention. Several of them moved their hands involuntarily, according to the motions; and the old man placed himself at the end of the rank, with a short staff in his hand, which he shouldered, presented, grounded as did the marines their muskets, without, I believe, knowing what he did. Before firing, the Indians were made acquainted with what was going to take place; so that the vollies did not excite much terror.

The tents and observatory were already struck; and everything being sent on board, we took leave of the natives, and embarked with the intention of running into the Sound this evening; but a change in the wind, to south-by-east, prevented it. This wind veered to east and north-east, and for a short time blew strong; so that it was the 3rd of January in the afternoon before we steered out of Princess-Royal Harbour. It was not my intention to proceed immediately to sea; and I therefore took the opportunity of standing backward and forward in the Sound, with the dredge and trawl overboard; and a variety of small fish were brought up. These were of little use as food, but with the shells, sea weeds, and corals they furnished amusement and occupation to the naturalist and draughtsman, and a pretty kind of hippocampus, which was not scarce, was generally admired.

In the evening the anchor was dropped in 7 fathoms, abreast of the second sandy beach near a flat rock on the south side of the Sound, almost in the same spot where captain Vancouver had anchored in 1791. I think the Sound does not afford a more secure place, the sole points of exposition being between Bald Head and Break-sea Island, making an angle of no more than 10° and as both wood and water are procurable here, though neither very good, a ship proposing to stay only a few days is under no necessity of having recourse to the harbours.

Monday, 4.—On the 4th a fresh gale blew from the westward and prevented me from moving the ship. A bottle, containing a parchment to inform future visitors of our arrival and intention to sail on the morrow, was left upon the top of Seal Island; and the wind having moderated next day, and the weather become finer, though still squally, we then made sail out of King George's Sound to prosecute the further examination of the coast.

The refreshments we had procured were fish and oysters. The seine was frequently hauled upon the different beaches; but although it was done in the evening, round fires which had been previously kindled, little success was obtained in this way. With hook and line we were more fortunate, both alongside and from boats stationed off the rocky points. and the whole ship's company had generally a fresh meal once in three or four days. Of oysters, as many were taken from the shoals in both harbours as we chose to spare time for gathering. Our fire wood was procured from the north point of entrance to Princess-Royal Harbour, at the inner end of the long middle beach, but the trees best calculated for sawing into planks were obtained at the easternmost of the two woody projections on the south side of the harbour. A good number of planks and logs were taken on board for making garden boxes to contain the most curious plants collected by the naturalist, and for a variety of other purposes. The fresh water, procured by digging near the tents, was a little discoloured, but good; and it was sufficiently abundant for every purpose: its specific gravity was 1.003 at the temperature of 69°.

Captain Vancouver has described the country in the neighbourhood of King George's Sound, and therefore a few observations upon it will suffice. The basis stone is granite, which frequently shows itself at the surface in the form of smooth, bare rock; but upon the seacoast hills, and the shores on the south sides of the Sound and Princess-Royal Harbour, the granite is generally covered with a crust of calcareous stone; as it is, also, upon Michaelmas Island. Captain Vancouver mentions having found upon the top of Bald Head, branches of coral protruding through the sand, exactly like those seen in the coral beds beneath the surface of the sea, a circumstance which should seem to bespeak this country to have emerged from the ocean at no very distant period of time. This curious fact I was desirous to verify; and his description was proved to be correct. I found, also, two broken columns of stone three or four feet high, formed like stumps of trees and of a thickness superior to the body of a man; but whether they were of coral or of wood now petrified, or whether they might not have been calcareous rocks worn into that particular form by the weather, I cannot determine. Their elevation above the present level of the sea could not have been less than four hundred feet.

But little calcareous matter was found elsewhere than on the southern shores. In Oyster Harbour a rather strongly impregnated ironstone prevails, but mixed with quartz and granite; and in some parts of both harbours a brown argillaceous earth was not uncommon.

The soil of the hills is very barren, though, except near the seacoast, generally covered with wood; and that of the plains at the head of Princess-Royal Harbour has been described as shallow, and incapable of cultivation. In the neighbourhood of Oyster Harbour the land was said to be better, especially near the rivulet which falls into the northern corner; and on the borders of a small lake, at the back of the long beach between the two harbours, the country was represented to be pleasing to the eye and tolerably fertile.

The timber trees of the woods consist principally of different species of that extensive class called gum tree by the colonists at Port Jackson, by botanists eucalyptus. They do not grow very large here, and the wood is heavy and seldom fit for other than common purposes. Amongst the plants collected by Mr. Brown and his associates was a small one of a novel kind which we commonly called the pitcher plant. Around the root leaves are several little vases lined with spiny hairs, and there were generally found to contain a sweetish water, and also a number of dead ants. It cannot be asserted that the ants were attracted by the water, and prevented by the spiny hairs from making their escape; but it seemed not improbable that this was a contrivance of nature to obtain the means necessary either to the nourishment or preservation of the plant.

Amongst the animal productions the kanguroo and cassowary hold the first ranks. The kanguroo appeared to be numerous, and of more than one species; but none were caught. Three of them seen by me bore a resemblance to the large kind which inhabits the forests of Port Jackson; and the cassowary showed nothing distinguishable at a distance from the same animal at that place: both were shy; as were the ducks, swans, and all the birds.

Near Point Possession were found two nests of extraordinary magnitude. They were built upon the ground, from which they rose about two feet; and were of vast circumference and great interior capacity, the branches of trees and other matter, of which each nest was composed, being enough to fill a small cart. Captain Cook found one of these enormous nests upon Eagle Island, on the East Coast; and if the magnitude of the constructor be proportionate to the size of the nest, Terra Australis must be inhabited by a species of bird little inferior to the condor of the Andes.

Amongst the reptiles was a variety of lizards; one of which, of the larger size, was met with by Dampier on the West Coast, and is described by him "as a sort of guano, but differing from others in three remarkable particulars: for these had a larger and uglier head, and had no tail: and at the rump, instead of the tail there, they had a stump of a tail, which appeared like another head; but not really such, being without mouth or eyes. Yet this creature seemed, by this means, to have a head at each end; and, which may be reckoned a fourth difference, the legs, also, seemed all four of them to be fore legs, being all alike in shape and length, and seeming by the joints and bendings to be made as if they were to go indifferently either head or tail foremost. They were speckled black and yellow like toads, and had scales or knobs on their backs like those of crocodiles. They are very slow in motion and when a man comes nigh them they will stand and hiss, not endeavouring to get away. Their livers are also spotted black and yellow; and the body when opened hath a very unsavoury smell. The guano's I have observed to be very good meat, and I have often eaten of them with pleasure; but though I have eaten of snakes, crocodiles, and alligators, and many creatures that look frightfully enough, and there are but few I should have been afraid to eat of, if pressed by hunger, yet I think my stomach would scarce have served to venture upon these New Holland guano's, both the looks and the smell of them being so offensive." The animal is certainly of a singular form; but it is scarcely necessary to say that the merit of Dampier's description does not consist in being strictly accurate.

The fish caught with hook and line were principally small mullet, and an excellent kind of snapper, nearly the same as that called wollamai by the natives of Port Jackson; but these were larger, weighing sometimes as much as twenty pounds.

Our frequent and amicable communication with the natives of this country has been mentioned. The women were, however, kept out of sight with seeming jealousy; and the men appeared to suspect the same conduct in us, after they had satisfied themselves that the most beardless of those they saw at the tents were of the same sex with the rest. The belief that there must be women in the ship induced two of them to comply with our persuasion of getting into the boat, one morning, to go on board; but their courage failing, they desired to be relanded, and made signs that the ship must go on shore to them.

It was with some surprise that I saw the natives of the east coast of New South Wales so nearly pourtrayed in those of the south-western extremity of New Holland. These do not, indeed, extract one of the upper front teeth at the age of puberty, as is generally practised at Port Jackson, nor do they make use of the womerah, or throwing stick; but their colour, the texture of the hair, and personal appearance are the same; their songs run in the same cadence; the manner of painting themselves is similar; their belts and fillets of hair are made in the same way, and worn in the same manner. The short, skin cloak, which is of kanguroo, and worn over the shoulders, leaving the rest of the body naked, is more in the manner of the wood natives living at the back of Port Jackson than of those who inhabit the sea coast; and everything we saw confirmed the supposition of captain Vancouver, that they live more by hunting than fishing. None of the small islands had been visited, no canoes were seen, nor was any tree found in the woods from which the bark had been taken for making one. They were fearful of trusting themselves upon the water; and we could never succeed in making them understand the use of the fish hook, although they were intelligent in comprehending our signs upon other subjects.

The manners of these people are quick and vehement, and their conversation vociferous, like that of most uncivilised people. They seemed to have no idea of any superiority we possessed over them; on the contrary, they left us, after the first interview, with some appearance of contempt for our pusillanimity; which was probably inferred from the desire we showed to be friendly with them. This opinion, however, seemed to be corrected in their future visits.

Notwithstanding the similarity of person and manner to the inhabitants of Port Jackson, the language of these people is very different. We found their pronunciation difficult to be imitated; more so, indeed, than our language was to them. Several English words they pronounced perfectly; whilst of such where an f or an s entered they could make but little: Finger, was pronounced bing-gah, ship, yip; and of King George they make Ken Jag-ger. In the difficulty of pronouncing the f and s they resemble the Port Jackson natives; and the word used by them in calling to a distance, cau-wah! (come here) is nearly similar to cow-ee! The word also to express eye is nearly the same. But in the following table, which contains all the words that, with any certainty, I was able to collect, the most essential differences will be found both from the Port Jackson language and from that of the south end of Van Diemen's Land; and the words collected by Captain Cook at Endeavour River bear no resemblance to any of them.

The following anatomical admeasurement of one of the best proportioned of our visitors was furnished by the surgeon, Mr. Hugh Bell:

No set of tide was perceived on board, either whilst the ship was in the Sound or in Princess-Royal Harbour; nevertheless it was sometimes found to run with considerable strength in the narrow entrances of both harbours. According to lieutenant Flinders' observations on shore during sixteen days there was only one high water in twenty-four hours, which always took place between six and twelve at night; for after, by gradually becoming later, it had been high water at twelve, the next night it took place soon after six o'clock; and then happened later by three-quarters of an hour each night as before. The greatest rise observed was three feet two inches, and the least two feet eight inches. The accumulation was made in this manner: After low water it rose for several hours; then ceased, and became stationary, or perhaps fell back a little. In a few hours it began to rise again; and in about twelve from the first commencement was high water. It was observed by Captain Cook upon the east coast of this country, and since by many others, including myself, that the night tide rose considerably higher than that of the day; which is conformable to our observations in King George's Sound; but with this difference, that in the day we had scarcely any tide at all.

The base line for my survey of the Sound was Of 2.46 geographic miles, measured round the curve of the long beach between the two harbours. The other stations whence bearings were taken with the theodolite were-in the Sound, four; at the entrance of and within Princess-Royal Harbour, three; and in Oyster Harbour, four; at each of which a point with a circle is marked in the plan. The soundings were either taken in the ship, with simultaneous cross bearings, or in boats, generally accompanied with notices of known objects in a line, or the angles between them taken with a sextant.

There are many small but no very essential differences between my plan and that of captain Vancouver. The most important to navigation is that in the soundings going into Oyster Harbour; I could find only thirteen feet over the bar, whereas he marked seventeen; a difference, however, which may not improbably have taken place between 1791 and 1801.

In running along that part of the South Coast which lies to the west of King George's Sound, I had endeavoured to keep so close in with the land that the breaking water on the shore should be visible from the ship's deck; by which means our supposed distance would be little subject to error, and no river or opening could escape being seen. This close proximity could not, however, be obtained in every part, especially where the coast retreated far back; but it was always attempted where practicable and unattended with much danger or loss of time; and when it could not be done, I was commonly at the mast head with a glass. All the bearings were laid down so soon as taken whilst the land was in sight, and before retiring to rest I made it a practice to finish up the rough chart for the day, as also my journals of astronomical observations, of bearings, and of remarks. When we hauled off from the coast at night, every precaution was taken to come in with the same point in the morning, as soon after daylight as practicable; and when the situation of the ship relatively to the land of the preceding evening was ascertained, our route along the coast was resumed. This plan, to see and lay down everything myself, required constant attention and much labour, but was absolutely necessary to obtaining that accuracy of which I was desirous; and now, on recommencing the survey from King George's Sound to the eastward, I persevered in the same system; and it was adhered to, although not particularly mentioned, in all the succeeding part of the voyage.

On the 5th of January, in the morning, we got under way from the Sound, having a fresh wind from the westward and squally weather. I steered between Michaelmas Island and the main, in order to explore better that part of the Sound, and ascertain the extent of a shoal running off from the north-west end of the island. It was found to run out not further than half a mile, at which distance we passed in 5 fathoms water; and at noon, when the east end of Break-sea Island bore S. 30° W., we had 33 fathoms.

Mount Gardner is a high, conic-shaped hill, apparently of granite, very well delineated in captain Vancouver's atlas. It stands upon a projecting cape, round which the shore falls back to the northward, forming a sandy bight where there appeared to be shelter from western winds; indeed, as the coast-line was not distinctly seen round the south-west corner of the bight, it is possible there may be some small inlet in that part.

The south end of an island, called Ile Pelee (Bald Island) by D'Entrecasteaux, opened round the cape of Mount Gardner at N. 69° E. The French navigator having passed without side of this island, I steered within, through a passage of a short mile wide; and had 17 fathoms for the shoalest water, on a sandy bottom. Bald Island is of moderate elevation, and barren, as its name implies; it is about two-and-half miles in length, and the south end lies in 34° 55' south and 118° 29' east. It lies off a rocky projection of the mainland, at which terminates a ridge of mountain extending three leagues along the shore from the bight behind Mount Gardner. There are a number of small peaks upon the top of this ridge which induced me to give it the name Mount Manypeak.

After clearing the passage of Bald Island I found the shore to trend northeastward, and to be low and sandy; but at the distance of eight leagues inland there was a chain of rugged mountains, of which the eastern and highest peak, called Mount Rugged, lies N. 11½° W. from the passage. At six we came up with a steep rock, one mile from the main, and then hauled to the wind, offshore, for the night. This lump, which appeared to be of granite, I called Haul-off Rock; it lies in 31° 43' south and 118° 39' east, and two leagues to the south-west of a cliffy point which bears the name of Cape Riche in the French chart.

Wednesday, 6.—At one in the morning, being seven or eight leagues from the coast and in 45 fathoms, we tacked ship towards the land, having a fresh breeze at west-south-west, with fine weather. Haul-off Rock bore N. 77° W., three or four miles, at six, and we then bore away along the coast. Beyond Cape Riche the shore forms a sandy bight, in which is a small island; and on the north side of another clifly projection, four leagues further, there is a similar falling back of the coast, where it is probable there is also good shelter for boats, if not a small inlet. At noon a projecting head two miles long, which, from the lumps of rock at the top, I called Cape Knob, was three miles distant.

At four o'clock we had passed the Point Hood of Vancouver; and seeing a channel of nearly a mile in width between it and the two outer of his Doubtful Islands, steered through it with soundings from 20 to 24 fathoms. I then hauled up south-westward, along the inner island and point, and sent away the master to sound between them; it being my intention to anchor, if a sufficient depth should be found for the ship to escape in case the wind came to blow from the eastward; it was then light at south-east-by-south. Mr. Thistle found the opening to be very narrow, and no more than 2 fathoms in the shoalest part; we therefore stood out, repassing within a small black islet, upon which were some seals. At eight, tacked to the southward and weathered the Doubtful Islands.

On the north side of the isles and of Point Hood the shore falls back five or six miles to the west-south-west before it curves northward, and affords good shelter against all winds which do not blow strong from between north-east and east. At the time we stood out of the bay the ship was three miles within the outermost islands, and not more than a cable's length from the shore of Point Hood, and we had 7 1/2 fathoms, sandy bottom. The point and islands are steep and rocky, but the western shores of this great bay are mostly sandy beaches. On the north-western and north sides there are some masses of tolerably high land which appeared to be granitic; and for distinction in the survey they are called West, Middle, and East Mount Barren.

Thursday, 7.—The wind was variable between east and north-by-east during the night. At daybreak the three mounts were in sight, and the north end of the Doubtful Isles bore N. 74° W. three leagues. As the wind veered round to the west and southward, we steered more in for the north side of Doubtful Island Bay.

Our course was directed to the northward, with the wind at south-east-by-south; but seeing the appearance of an opening in the north-west corner of the bay, with smokes rising there, we steered north-west for it. In an hour the low land was seen from the mast head to extend across the supposed opening, and we then hauled up east-by-north, to the wind, at the distance of five or six miles from the high, rocky shore between the Middle and East Mount Barren. At seven in the evening the eastern mount bore N. 44° W., three leagues, and the coast, which from thence becomes sandy, was seen as far as N. 76° E. A small reef, one of two before laid down both by Vancouver and D'Entrecasteaux, was then observed three or four miles to seaward. It was important to get sight of this reef before dark, for we should otherwise have been at great uncertainty during the night, more especially as the surf upon it broke only at times.

The wind being at south-by-east, we tacked and stood westward, nearly in our afternoon's track, until midnight; and the breeze having then veered to south-west, we were able to stretch off south-south-east to windward of the breakers. At half-past five in the morning, East Mount Barren was four leagues distant to the northward, and our course was resumed along the shore. The breakers were passed at the distance of two miles, and the mount was set over them, bearing N. 38° W. at seven o'clock. The second small reef lies nearly east-north-east from the first, and was left three miles to the northward.

On the preceding evening a small rocky island had been seen indistinctly from the mast head, and it now again came in sight to the eastward. The French ships had passed without side of this island, and I therefore steered to go between it and the mainland; but breaking water was seen to extend so far to the north that the uncertainty of finding a passage made the attempt too dangerous with the wind right aft. We accordingly hauled up to windward of the island, and had 38 fathoms between it and a small reef lying S. 72° W., between two and three miles from it. The island is low, smooth, and sterile, and is frequented by seals; its latitude is 34° 6' and longitude 120° 28', and it lies eight or nine miles from the mainland.

At noon the rocky island was near ten miles astern, and a cluster of four small islets appeared in the offing at the distance of four leagues. The nearest part of the main land, seven or eight miles distant, was low and sandy, as it had been all the way from East Mount Barren, and continued to be to the furthest extreme visible from the masthead; there were, however, a few scattered sandy hillocks on the shore, but nothing could be seen of the back country.

We passed at nearly an equal distance between the four rocky islets and the mainland, that is to say, at six or eight miles from each; and at five o'clock were abreast of a projecting part of the coast where the sandy hills seemed to form white cliffs. This is called Cap des Basses (Shoal Cape) in the French chart; and we saw, in fact, an islet under the land, surrounded with much broken water, and the soundings decreased from 35 to 25 fathoms soon after passing it at the distance of five or six miles. There was an appearance of small inlets on each side of Shoal Cape, but as admiral D'Entrecasteaux passed within three miles and does not mark any, it was probably a deception, caused by the land being very low between the sand-hills.

Before sunset the westernmost isle of D'Entrecasteaux's Archipel de la Recherche was in sight to the eastward, and at half-past seven our distance from it was about six miles. The French admiral had mostly skirted round the archipelago, a sufficient reason for me to attempt passing through the middle, if the weather did not make the experiment too dangerous. It was fine at this time, and the breeze moderate at south-south-west; and I therefore took measures to be in with the western group as early on the following morning as possible, to have the whole day for getting through.

Saturday, 9.—At a quarter-past five we bore away for the south end of the westernmost island, passed in within a mile and a half at seven, and steered eastward for the clusters rising ahead and on both bows. At noon the number of rocks above water, the patches of breakers, and the islands with which we were surrounded made it necessary to heave to, in order to take the angles of so many objects with some degree of accuracy. This last peak had been visible from daybreak, and appears to be the top of the imperfectly formed Ile de Remarque of D'Entrecasteaux's chart; and from it I measured with a sextant the angles of most of the other objects. The long reef of rocks called La Chaussée (The Causeway) was four or five miles distant to the southward; and a sunken rock, upon which the sea broke at times, was three miles off to the north-east. The islands were more particularly numerous to the east-south-east, where our course lay; but as they were generally high, with bold rocky shores, and we had hitherto found deep water, I bore away for them so soon as all the bearings were obtained.

The chart alone can give any adequate idea of this labyrinth of islands and rocks, or of our track amongst them until half past five in the evening. We were then abreast of the Ile du Mondrain, and the view from the mast head was almost as crowded as before; but with this difference, that the islands were smaller, and the low rocks and patches of breakers more numerous. Seeing no probability of reaching a space of clear water in which to stand off and on during the night, and no prospect of shelter under any of the islands, I found myself under the necessity of adopting a hazardous measure; and with the concurrence of the master's opinion, we steered directly before the wind for the main coast, where the appearance of some beaches, behind other islands, gave a hope of finding anchorage. At seven in the evening we entered a small sandy bay; and finding it sheltered everywhere except to the south-westward, in which direction there were many islands and rocks in the offing to break off the sea, the anchor was dropped in 7 fathoms, sandy bottom. The master sounded round the ship, but nothing was found to injure the cables; and except the water being shallow in the north-west corner of the bay, there was no danger to be apprehended, unless from strong south-west winds. The critical circumstance under which this place was discovered induced me to give it the name of Lucky Bay.

Sunday, 10.—I had intended to pursue our route through the archipelago in the morning; but the scientific gentlemen having expressed a desire for the ship to remain two or three days, to give them an opportunity of examining the productions of the country, it was complied with; and they landed soon after daylight. I went on shore also, to make observations upon the rates of the time-keepers; and afterwards ascended a hill at the back of the bay to take angles with a theodolite. A party of the gentlemen were upon the top, eating a fruit not much unlike green walnuts in external appearance, and invited me to partake; but having breakfasted, and not much liking their flavour, I did but taste them. Mr. Thistle and some others who had eaten liberally were taken sick, and remained unwell all the day afterward. The plant which produced these nuts was a species of zamia (Zamia spiralis of Brown's Prodr. flor. Nov. Holl., 1. 348); a class of plants nearly allied to the third kind of palm found by captain Cook on the East Coast, the fruit of which produced the same deleterious effects on board the Endeavour.

The weather, unfortunately for my bearings, was so hazy that unless objects were eminently conspicuous they could not be distinguished beyond four or five leagues. My list, however, contained forty-five islands and clusters of rocks, independently of many patches of breakers where nothing above water appeared; yet most of those in the western part of the archipelago were invisible, either from their distance or from being hidden by other lands.

In turning from the view of these complicated dangers to that of the interior country the prospect was but little improved. Sand and stone, with the slightest covering of vegetation, every where presented themselves on the lower lands; and the many shining parts of the sides of the hills showed them to be still more bare. The vegetation, indeed, consisted of an abundant variety of shrubs and small plants, and yielded a delightful harvest to the botanists; but to the herdsmen and cultivator it promised nothing: not a blade of grass, nor a square yard of soil from which the seed delivered to it could be expected back, was perceivable by the eye in its course over these and plains.

Upon a rock on the side of the hill I found a large nest, very similar to those seen in King George's Sound. There were in it several masses resembling those which contain the hair and bones of mice, and are disgorged by the owls in England after the flesh is digested. These masses were larger, and consisted of the hair of seals and of land animals, of the scaly feathers of pinguins, and the bones of birds and small quadrupeds. Possibly the constructor of the nest might be an enormous owl; and if so, the cause of the bird being never seen, whilst the nests were not scarce, would be from its not going out until dark; but from the very open and exposed situations in which the nests were found, I should rather judge it to be of the eagle kind, and that its powers are such as to render it heedless of any attempts from the natives upon its young.

Monday, 11.—On the following morning I sent the master to examine a small bay or cove lying two miles to the westward of Lucky Bay. He found it to be capable of receiving one ship, which might be placed in perfect security in the western corner, with anchors out on the off bow and quarter, and hawsers on the other side fast to the shore. She would thus lie in from 3 to 5 fathoms, almost near enough to lay a stage to the beach. There was wood for fuel; and at less than a hundred yards from the shore, a lake of freshwater, one mile in circumference, from which a small stream runs into the cove; but another stream, descending from the hills nearer into the western corner, would better suit the purposes of a ship. This account was from the master, after whom this little but useful discovery was named Thistle's Cove. It seems to be much superior to Lucky Bay, where neither wood nor water can be procured without much time and trouble, nor is the shelter so complete.

Tuesday, 12.-Next day Mr. Thistle was sent to examine the coast and islands to the eastward, when he found the archipelago to be full as dangerous in that direction as to the west. He landed upon an island three leagues distant, and brought me from thence a list of other islands and rocks further on, whose bearings had been taken. Several seals were procured on this and the preceding day, and some fish were caught alongside the ship; but our success was much impeded by three monstrous sharks, in whose presence no other fish dared to appear. After some attempts we succeeded in taking one of them; but to get it on board required as much preparation as for hoisting in the launch. The length of it, however, was no more than twelve feet three inches, but the circumference of the body was eight feet. Amongst the vast quantity of substances contained in the stomach was a tolerably large seal, bitten in two, and swallowed with half of the spear sticking in it with which it had probably been killed by the natives. The stench of this ravenous monster was great even before it was dead; and when the stomach was opened it became intolerable.

On the 13th the wind blew fresh from the eastward; and as we could not sail with the ship, lieutenant Fowler and Mr. Thistle went over to Mondrain Island, the largest we had yet seen in the archipelago. An observation of the latitude and a set of angles were there taken, and they brought back some seals of a reddish fur, and a few small kanguroos of a species different from any I had before seen. The island was covered with brush wood; but some of the party, either from accident or design, set it on fire, and the wind being fresh, there was a general blaze in the evening all over the island.

Very little other stone was seen about Lucky Bay than granite; and all the surrounding hills, as well as the islands visited, were composed of varieties of the same substance; and some specimens from Mondrain Island contained garnets. In many places the surface of the rocks was scaling off in layers, and in the steep parts great lumps had fallen off, and some caverns were formed in the cliffs. This propensity to decomposition was more remarkable in the high peak of Cape Le Grand, about five miles to the westward, to which Mr. Brown made an excursion. He found a perforation at the top forming an arch of great width and height, and above it, at the very summit of the peak, were loose pieces of granite of considerable size.

There did not appear to be any Indians at this time in the neighbourhood of Lucky Bay; but from their fire places, it was judged that they had not quitted it long since. Geese and ducks were found here, and not being very shy, some of them were killed by the shore parties. The goose was also found upon the islands; and is the same bird spoken of in the Introduction as resembling the bernacle goose, and frequenting Furneaux's Islands in Bass Strait.

The rise of tide in Lucky Bay was so trifling that under the circumstances of our stay no attention was paid to it.

In the morning of the 14th, the wind being then light from the northward, we got under way and steered for Mondrain Island. In our route eastward from thence, several low rocks and patches of breakers were left on each side, besides small islands whose bearings had been taken from the hill behind Lucky Bay; the depth of water, however, was between 20 and 30 fathoms. The wind was then moderate from the south-westward, but the weather so hazy that there was much difficulty, and some uncertainty, in recognising the different islands.

At half-past ten we steered more towards the main land, that no opening in it might escape unseen; and at noon, hove to for the purpose of taking bearings. The latitude observed to the north was 34° 2', and longitude 122° 36'. A chain of islands and breakers lay about two miles to the northward; and amongst the cluster to the east were two islands with peaks upon them, which, from their similarity, were named the Twins: the southernmost and nearest bore E. 7° N., three leagues. The nearest part of the main land was a projection with hills upon it which had been set from Lucky Bay, whence it is nearly five leagues distant; the intermediate space being a large bight with a low, sandy coast at the back, and containing many small islands and breakers. To the eastward of the hilly projection the coast seemed again to be sandy; but although our distance from it was not more than six or seven miles, it was scarcely visible through the haze.

After the bearings were obtained we bore away along the south side of the chain of islands and rocks; and at half-past one steered north-east to look for a place of shelter, either amongst the cluster near the Twins or in the opposite main land. The water shoaled amongst the small islands, from 30 to 10 fathoms, and suddenly to 3, when the bottom was distinctly seen under the ship. The next cast was 7 fathoms, and we steered on eastward for two islets three-quarters of a mile asunder, between which the master was sent to sound. On his making the signal we followed through, having 20 fathoms, and afterwards hauled the wind to the south-east, seeing no hope of shelter either amongst the islands or near the main land. The coast stretched eastward with little sinuosity, and was sandy, but not so low as before.

At six o'clock we had some larger, flat islands to windward, and in the east-south-east was one much higher and of greater extent, which proved to be the I. du Milieu (Middle Island) of D'Entrecasteaux. Betwixt this island and his Cap Aride on the main there were many small isles and apparently passages; and we therefore bore away in the hope of finding anchorage against the approaching night. Many patches of breakers were passed; and seeing a small bay in the north side of Middle Island, we stood in for it under shortened sail, and came to an anchor in 7 fathoms, sandy bottom, off the first of three small beaches. The island sheltered us from east-north-east, round by the south to west-by-north; and to the northward there was, besides the main land, a number of reefs and small isles, of which the nearest and largest was a quarter of a mile distant, as Middle Island was on the other side. The master was immediately sent to examine the passage through to the eastward, that we might know whether there were a possibility of escape in case the anchor should not hold; for the wind blew fresh at west-south-west, and threw some swell into the bay; he found 3 fathoms in the shallow part of the opening.

Friday, 15.—The botanists landed in the morning upon Middle Island; for I had determined to stop a day or two, as well for their accommodation as to improve my chart of the archipelago. I went to the northern island, which is one mile long and near half a mile in breadth, and found it to be covered with tufts of wiry grass intermixed with a few shrubs. Some of the little, blue pinguins, like those of Bass Strait, harboured under the bushes; and amongst the grass and upon the shores were a number of the bernacle geese, of which we killed nine, mostly with sticks; and sixteen more were procured in the course of the day.

After taking bearings from the uppermost of the small elevations of Goose Island, as it was now named, I ascended the high north-western hill of Middle Island, which afforded a more extensive view. The furthest visible part of the main land was a projecting cape, with a broad-topped hill upon it bearing N. 58° E., six or seven leagues. This projection not having been seen by D'Entrecasteaux, was named after the late admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, under whom I had the honour of entering the naval service. The shore betwixt Cape Pasley and Cape Arid is low and sandy, and falls back in a large bight, nearly similar to what is formed on the west side of Cape Arid. Behind that cape was a high bank of sand, which stretched from one bight nearly to the other, and had the appearance of having been the sea shore not very long since.

The mount upon which I stood is the highest part of a ridge of almost bare granite, extending along, or rather forming the west side of Middle Island. The other parts of the island are low, and thickly covered with brush wood and some trees, where a small species of kanguroo seemed to be numerous, though none were caught. In the north-eastern part was a small lake of a rose colour, the water of which, as I was informed by Mr. Thistle who visited it, was so satuated with salt that sufficient quantities were crystallised near the shores to load a ship. The specimen he brought on board was of a good quality, and required no other process than drying to be fit for use. This lake is at the back of the easternmost of three small beaches on the north side of the island, and it might be concluded that the salt was formed by the evaporation of the water oozing through the bank which separates it from the sea; but as, in the small drainings from the hills, the water was too salt to be drinkable, this may admit of a doubt.

Saturday, 16.—On Saturday morning a part of the people were employed cutting a boat load of fire wood, and the master was again sent to sound the passage out to the eastward, and amongst the rocks lying beyond it. The shallowest depth he found was 3 fathoms, after which the water deepened to 7 and 10, past the north-east point and out to sea. He landed upon some of the rocky islets, and brought from thence twenty-seven more geese, some of them alive. The botanical gentlemen employed the day in going round Middle Island, but they found very little to reward their labour. A piece of fir plank, with nails in it, which seemed to have been part of a ship's deck, was picked up on the shore; but no trace of the island having been visited, either by Europeans or the natives of the main land, was any where seen.

The basis stone of this, as it appears to be of all the islands as well as of the coast of the archipelago, is granitic; but at the south side of Middle Island there is a thick crust of calcareous rock over it, as there is at the south end of Goose Island. It was also on the south side of King George's Sound that the calcareous rock covered the granite; a coincidence which may perhaps afford some light to the geologist.

Goose-Island Bay may be useful as a place of refreshment, but the geese were not found to be so numerous at a different season of the year: a few hair seals may be procured, probably at all times. The wood is a species of eucalyptus, neither abundant nor large; but two or three ships may be supplied with fuel. Fresh water was not to be obtained upon either of the islands; but upon the opposite Cape Arid, five miles to the north, I judged there might be small streams running down from the hills. The lake of salt will be the greatest inducement for vessels to stop in this bay; they must not, however, come to it in the winter season, as there will be occasion to show hereafter.

On the 17th in the morning the anchor was weighed and we steered out eastward. The shallowest water was seventeen feet, between the south-east point of Goose Island and the opposite west point of the middle beach; after which it deepened; and abreast of the middle rock there was 7 fathoms. Having cleared the islets lying off the north-east point of Middle Island, we steered for Cape Pasley, leaving the South-East Isles of the archipelago far distant on the starbord hand. A low islet and some rocks lie three miles to the south of the Cape, and the soundings we had in passing between them were 28 and 34 fathoms.

The wind at this time was moderate at south-west, with fine weather. Middle Island and Cape Arid were still visible at noon, and the Eastern Group, which, according to D'Entrecasteaux, terminated the archipelago, was coming in sight.

At half-past one we passed within three miles of the point which had been the furthest extreme at noon; it is low and sandy, and a ledge of rocks extends from it to the north-east. I named it Point Malcolm, in honour of Captain Pultney Malcolm of the navy. The depth diminished from 20 to 10 fathoms, in passing near a sunken rock two miles to the south-east of the point, and upon which the sea breaks only at times. The coast from thence trended rapidly to the northward; and in following its direction at from three to five miles distance, we left eight islands of the Eastern Group on the starbord and two on the larbord hand. These, with the exception of the southernmost, which has a hill at each end and some vegetation, are little better than low sterile rocks.

From Cape Pasley to the northern extreme the coast is sandy and low, presenting, with trifling exceptions, a continued beach. On the north side of Point Malcolm it stretches north, and then eastward, forming a bight five miles within the land; after which the general trending is north-north-east, with very little sinuosity, Four or five miles behind the shore, and running parallel with it, is a bank of moderately high and level land, over which the tops of some barren-looking mountains were occasionally seen. The most remarkable of these is Mount Ragged, lying N. 8° N. nine or ten leagues from Cape Pasley.

We had now altogether lost sight of the Archipelago of the Recherche. The chart which I have constructed of this extensive mass of dangers is much more full, and in many parts should be more accurate than that of D'Entrecasteaux; but I dare by no means assert that the very great number of islands, rocks, and reefs therein contained are the whole that exist; nor that every individual one is correctly placed, although the greatest care was taken to obtain correctness. All the islands seem to be more or less frequented by seals; but I think not in numbers sufficient to make a speculation from Europe advisable on their account; certainly not for the China market, the seals being mostly of the hair kind, and the fur of such others as were seen was red and coarse. There is, besides, a risk of being caught in the archipelago with strong south or western winds, in which case destruction would be almost inevitable, for I know of no place where a ship might take refuge in a gale. The shelter in Thistle's Cove is, indeed, complete, when a vessel is once placed; but the cove is too small to be entered except under favourable circumstances, and the shelter in the western corner could not be attained with winds blowing strong out of it. The archipelago should not, therefore, be entered without the assurance of carrying fine weather to the proposed anchorage.

During the night of the 17th there was no current or set of tide past the ship. Every thing was kept prepared for getting under way at a moment's notice; but the wind blew gently off the land, and the people of the watch occupied themselves successfully in catching dog-fish. At daybreak we made all sail to the northeastward, along the same low and, if possible, more sandy coast. The wind was light, and at nine it fell calm. This was succeeded by a sea breeze at east-south-east, and we trimmed close to it, keeping on our former course until four in the afternoon; when the land being one mile and a half distant, we tacked in 12 fathoms, and stretched to the southward.

The shore curved round here, and took a more eastern direction; and the bank of level land, which continued to run along behind it, approached very near to the water side. Three leagues further on it formed cliffs upon the coast; and a projecting part of them, which I called Point Culver, bore N. 77° E. four leagues: this was the furthest land in sight.

This afternoon we passed a number of pale red medusas, such as I had usually seen on the East Coast at the entrances of rivers, and which, on being touched, produced a sensation like the stinging of a nettle. There was also a red scum on the water, and some of it was taken up to be examined by Mr. Brown in a microscope. It consisted of minute particles not more than half aline in length, and each appeared to be composed of several cohering fibres which were jointed; the joints being of an uniform thickness, and nearly as broad as long. These fibres were generally of unequal length, and the extremities of the compound particle thence appeared somewhat torn. The particles exhibited no motion when in salt water; and the sole effect produced by immersing them in spirit of wine was the separation of each into its component fibres.

Until daybreak next morning the wind was unfavourable; but it then veered round to the south, and enabled us to pass Point Culver. Our course along the shore was so favoured by the wind that at seven in the evening we had passed another projecting part of the cliffs, named Point Dover, distant from Point Culver fifty miles; and the extreme in sight ahead was twenty miles further, and still cliffy. The nearest part was two for three leagues distant; and the wind being still at south, we hauled up to it, and at nine o'clock stood back to the westward.

The elevation of these cliffs appeared to be about five hundred feet, and nothing of the back country was seen above them. In the upper part they are brown, in the lower part nearly white, and the two strata, as also the small layers of which each is composed, are nearly horizontal. They were judged to be calcareous, as was the white, grey, and brown sand which the lead brought up when the bottom was not of coral.

A surveyor finds almost no object here whose bearing can be set a second time. Each small projection presents the appearance of a steep cape as it opens out in sailing along; but before the ship arrives abreast of it, it is lost in the general uniformity of the coast, and the latitude, longitude, and distance of the nearest cliffs are all the documents that remain for the construction of a chart. Point Culver and Point Dover are exceptions to the general uniformity; but it requires a ship to be near the land before even these are distinguishable. The latter point was somewhat whiter than the cliffs on each side, which probably arose from the front having lately fallen off into the water.

In the night of the 19th the wind shifted round to the eastward, and continued there for three days; and during this time we beat to windward without making much progress. Several observations were taken here for the variation of the compass: with the ship's head east-by-north, azimuths gave 7° 15' west, and at south, 4° 26'; five leagues further eastward they gave 6° 13' with the head north-east, and eight leagues further, an amplitude 4° 18' at south-by-east. These being corrected would be 4° 13', 4° 26', 4° 2', and 3° 42' west; so that the variation had now reassumed a tolerably regular course of diminution. The mean of the whole is 4° 6' west variation in the longitude of 125° 51' east.

Friday, 22.—At the end of three days beating our latitude in the evening of the 22nd was 32° 22', and longitude 126° 23', the depth in that situation was 7 fathoms at two miles from the land, and the furthest extremes visible through the haze bore west-half-north and east, the latter being distant four or five miles. The bank which before formed the cliffs had retired to a little distance from the coast, and left a front screed of low, sandy shore. Several smokes arose from behind the bank, and were the first seen after quitting the archipelago.

The barometer had kept up nearly to 30 inches during the east and south-east winds, but it now fell to 29.65; and we stretched off for the night in the expectation of a change of wind, and probably of blowing weather. At ten the sails were taken aback by a breeze from the westward; but at daylight it had veered to south-by-west, and the mercury was rising. We then bore away for the land; and having reached in with the low, sandy point which had borne east in the evening, steered along the coast at three or four miles distance in from 7 to 11 fathoms water. The latitude at noon from very indifferent observations was 32° 22½', and longitude 127° 2'; the coast, four miles distant to the northward, was low and sandy; but rose quickly to the level bank, upon which there were some shrubs and small trees. Nothing of the interior country could be seen above the bank; but this might possibly have been owing to the haze, which was so thick that no extremes of the land could be defined. The wind was fresh at south-south-west, and by seven in the evening our longitude was augmented 55'; the land was then distant six or seven miles, trending east-north-eastward; and we hauled to the wind, which had increased in strength though the barometer was fast rising.

Having stood to the south-east till midnight, we then tacked to the westward; and at five next morning bore away north for the land, the wind being then at south-by-east, and the barometer announcing by its elevation a return of foul winds. At six we steered eastward, along the same kind of shore as seen on the preceding day; but the wind coming more unfavourable, and depth diminishing to 5 fathoms soon after eight o'clock, made it necessary to stretch off to sea. The coast in latitude 32° 1' and longitude 128° 12' was three miles distant to the north. A league further on it took a more northern direction, but without much changing its aspect; it continued to be the same sandy beach, with a bank behind it of level land topped with small trees and shrubs as before described.

The rest of the day and the whole of the 25th were taken up in beating fruitlessly against an eastern wind. Azimuths observed when the ship's head was east-by-north gave variation 6° 4'; and ten miles to the south a little eastward they gave 3° 8' west, at south-by-east; corrected 3° 2' and 2° 32', and the mean 2° 47' for the true variation, showing a decrease since the last of 1° 19' for 2° 11' of longitude.

At ten in the evening our situation was less advanced than on the morning of the 24th, when we tacked off shore; but the mercury was again descending, and during the night the wind veered to north-east, to north, and at eight in the morning to west-by-north, when we steered in for the land. At ten the shore was eight or nine miles distant, and our course was north-east, nearly as it trended. The latitude at noon, from observations to the north and south, was 31° 51' 34", and longitude by timekeepers 128° 41'; the beach was distant three or four miles in the north-north-west, and the bank behind it lay two or three miles inland and was somewhat higher, but had less wood upon it than further westward. The wind was fresh at south-west, and the mercury was rising; but the haziness of the weather was such that no extremes of the land could be set.

Our course from noon was nearly east at the distance of five or six miles from the shore; and we ran at the rate of between seven and eight knots, under double-reefed top-sails and foresail. Abreast of our situation at half-past two the level bank again closed in upon the shore, and formed cliffs very similar to those along which we had before run thirty leagues. Their elevation appeared to be from four to six hundred feet, the upper part was brown, and the lower two-thirds white; but as we advanced, the upper brown stratum was observed to augment in proportional quantity. We could not distinguish, as before, the smaller layers in the two strata; and from the number of excavations in the white part, apparently from pieces having fallen down, I was led to think the lower portion of these cliffs to be grit stone rather than calcareous rock. The bank was not covered with shrubs, as before it came to the water side, but was nearly destitute of vegetation, and almost as level as the horizon of the sea.

Wednesday, 27.—At dusk we hauled up south-east-by-south to the wind, at one in the morning tacked to the westward, and at four bore away north for the land. Having reached within six miles of the cliffs, we steered eastward again, with a fair breeze; and at noon were in latitude 31° 40' 52" and longitude 130° 59'; the cliffs were then distant seven miles to the northward, and at N. 9° E. was their termination.

The length of these cliffs, from their second commencement, is thirty-three leagues; and that of the level bank, from near Cape Pasley where it was first seen from the sea, is no less than one hundred and forty-five leagues. The height of this extraordinary bank is nearly the same throughout, being no where less, by estimation, than four hundred, nor any where more than six hundred feet. In the first twenty leagues the ragged tops of some inland mountains were visible over it; but during the remainder of its long course the bank was the limit of our view.

This equality of elevation for so great an extent, and the evidently calcareous nature of the bank, at least in the upper two hundred feet, would bespeak it to have been the exterior line of a vast coral reef, which is always more elevated than the interior parts, and commonly level with high-water mark. From the gradual subsiding of the sea, or perhaps by a sudden convulsion of nature, this bank may have attained its present height above the surface; and however extraordinary such a change may appear, yet, when it is recollected that branches of coral still exist upon Bald Head, at the elevation of four hundred or more feet, this supposition assumes a great degree of probability; and it would further seem that the subsiding of the waters has not been at a period very remote, since these frail branches have yet neither been all beaten down nor mouldered away by the wind and weather.

If this supposition be well founded, it may, with the fact of no hill or other object having been perceived above the bank in the greater part of its course, assist in forming some conjecture of what may be within it; which cannot, as I judge in such case, be other than flat, sandy plains, or water. The bank may even be a narrow barrier between an interior and the exterior sea, and much do I regret the not having formed an idea of this probability at the time; for notwithstanding the great difficulty and risk, I should certainly have attempted a landing upon some part of the coast to ascertain a fact of so much importance.

At the termination of the bank and of the second range of cliffs the coast became sandy, and trended north-eastward about three leagues; after which it turned south-east-by-east, and formed the head of the Great Australian Bight, whose latitude I make to be 31° 29' south, and longitude 131° 10' east. In the chart of admiral D'Entrecasteaux the head of the Great Bight is placed in 31° 36' and 131° 27'; but I think there is an error at least in the latitude, for the admiral says, "At daybreak I steered to get in with the land; and the wind having returned to south-east, we hauled our starbord tacks on board, being then four or five leagues from the coast. At eleven o'clock the land was seen ahead and we veered ship in 32 fathoms, fine sand." The latitude observed at noon, as appears by the route table, was 31° 38' 58"; and if we suppose the ship, lying up south-southwest, to have made 2' of southing in the hour, as marked in the chart, she must have been in 31° 37' at eleven o'clock; which is within one mile of the latitude assigned to the head of the bight, where the shore curves to the south-east-by-east. This does not accord with the land being only then seen ahead, since the weather appears to have admitted the sight of it at the distance of four or five leagues. If we suppose the admiral, when he veered, to have been eight, instead of one mile from the head of the Great Bight, and the account strongly favours the supposition, it will then agree with my latitude. I had only 27 fathoms in crossing the head. and although it is possible there may be 30 closer in, yet in such a place as this the probability is, that the ship having the greatest depth of water was the furthest from the land.

After steering east-north-east, east, and east-south-east, and having seen the beach all round the head of the Great Bight, we hauled up parallel to the new direction of the coast, at the distance of six miles; and at five o'clock were abreast of the furthest part seen by the French admiral when he quitted the examination. The coast is a sandy beach in front, but the land rises gradually from thence, and at three or four miles back is of moderate elevation, but still sandy and barren. According to the chart of Nuyts, an extensive reef lay a little beyond this part. It was not seen by D'Entrecasteaux, but we were anxiously looking out for it when, at six o'clock, breakers were seen from the mast head bearing S. 43° E. some distance open from the land. We kept on our course for them, with the wind at south-south-west, until eight o'clock, and then tacked to the westward in 27 fathoms; and the ship's way being stopped by a head swell, we did not veer towards the land until three in the morning, at which time it fell calm.

Thursday, 28.—On a light breeze springing up from the northward we steered in for the coast. The breakers lie five or six miles from the land, and did not appear to have any connection with it, nor with two other sets of small reefs which came in sight to the east and east-south-east, soon afterward. At two o'clock our situation was betwixt these last reefs. The southernmost patches are two or three miles in length, and there are large rocks upon them, standing above water; the northern patches extend eight miles along the coast, from which they are distant three miles, and on the eastern parts there are also some rocks above water, but there were none upon the western reef first seen. It may be doubted whether the western reef were known to Nuyts, but there can be no doubt concerning these last; and I call the whole Nuyts' Reefs.

The aspect of the shore to the northward was nearly the same as that seen the preceding afternoon, but behind the second reefs it began to assume a more rocky appearance. A high cliffy cape is formed a little further eastward; it has a pyramidal rock near it, and the coast there takes a direction somewhat on the north side of east. This remarkable projection, being within a few leagues of the furthest part of the main coast discovered by the Dutch, I have called Cape Nuyts: its latitude is 32° 2' south, and longitude 132° 18' east.

After clearing Nuyts' Reefs we steered east-north-east, past the cape, to look for anchorage in two bights, but there were rocks in both, and they were open to the southward. Beyond them was a low, cliffy point, lying E. 3° N. seven or eight miles from Cape Nuyts; and seeing a bay behind it which promised shelter from south-west and south winds, we hauled round the point at half-past five. The water shoaled gradually from 11 to 3 fathoms, on which I hove the sails aback and sent the master ahead to sound; and as he did not make the signal for deeper water, as we were already in tolerable shelter, the anchor was dropped in 3¼ fathoms, sandy bottom.

Being arrived at the extremity of that part of the south coast of Terra Australis which had been previously explored, it may be useful, before entering on the unknown part, to compare my examination of it with what was contained in former charts. It will thence appear that the employment of fifteen days in running along the coast, more than would probably have been required had I kept at a distance, was not without some advantage to geography and navigation.

At Cape Leeuwin, the largest Ile St. Alouarn of D'Entrecasteaux was seen to be joined to the main, and to form the south-western extremity of Leeuwin's Land, and of Terra Australis. The coast from thence to King George's Sound was more accurately investigated than the French admiral had an opportunity of doing and his omission of soundings supplied. Captain Vancouver's chart is superior to that of the French from Cape Chatham to the Sound; but that officer's distance from some parts prevented him from seeing them correctly. In the Sound, no particular advantage will be derived from the new survey, the plan given by Vancouver being sufficiently correct for nautical purposes, with the exception of the bar to Oyster Harbour, over which he had marked seventeen feet, but where thirteen now appeared to be the greatest depth. From King George's Sound to Point Hood the coast had been very indistinctly, and sometimes not at all seen by Vancouver; but I found it, speaking generally, to be laid down by D'Entrecasteaux with accuracy, though the bights in the land are marked somewhat too deep, from his distance not allowing the low beaches to be always distinguished. These trifling inaccuracies were remedied, the passages between Bald and Doubtful Islands and the main land opposite to them ascertained to be safe, and the omission of soundings along the coast remedied.

In Doubtful Island Bay the French chart does not give the north-western part sufficiently deep; but the coast from thence to the Archipelago of the Recherche, as also the reefs and rocks, were well distinguished, better perhaps than by me; but the usual want of soundings, with the exception of some distant ones by Vancouver, still continued. D'Entrecasteaux's chart appeared to be excellent in the western part of the archipelago, and good in the positions of the islands on the outskirts; so that I have, in some cases, borrowed from it. With respect to the inner islands and the main coast, it was necessarily defective, from the French ships having sailed round the archipelago, and not through the middle of it as I did in the Investigator. Here, my survey, though far from complete in the details, will aff ord much new information and useful also, since it has brought to light a well-sheltered cove affording wood and water, and two other tolerable anchorages at which some refreshments may be procured, and at one, quantities of salt in the summer season.

From the archipelago eastward the examination of the coast was prosecuted by D'Entrecasteaux with much care, and with some trifling exceptions very closely; but as far as the 127th degree of longitude from Greenwich no soundings were given. These have been supplied, and a more minute description given of the coast. At the 129th degree the French ships seem to have been closer in with the land than was the Investigator; and it would appear by the track that they were also closer at the '30th, and at the head of the Great Bight, but these last are not corroborated by the soundings. From thence to the bay in which we anchored on the 28th, the Dutch chart of 1627 was the sole authority; and making allowances for the state of navigation at that time, it is as correct in form as could reasonably have been expected.

The latitudes and longitudes of the points and islands along the coast have been either verified or corrected, for there are commonly some differences between any longitudes and those of Vancouver and D'Entrecasteaux. The observations by which certain places, taken as fixed points, are settled in longitude, are mentioned at those places, as also are the corrections applied to the time-keepers for laying down the intermediate parts.

Monsieur Beautemps Beaupré, geographical engineer on board La Recherche, was the constructor of the French charts; and they must be allowed to do him great credit. Perhaps no chart of a coast so little known as this was will bear a comparison with its original better than those of M. Beaupre. That the Plates II and III [# Plates omitted.] are offered as being more full and somewhat more correct, does neither arise from a wish to depreciate those of my predecessor in the investigation, nor from an assumption of superior merit; there is, indeed, very little due to any superiority they may be found to possess; but there would be room for reproach if, after having followed with an outline of his chart in my hand, improvements should not have been made in all or some of those parts where circumstances had not before admitted a close examination.

The bay in which we anchored on the evening of January 28, 1802, at the extremity of the before known south coast of Terra Australis, was named Fowler's Bay, after my first lieutenant; and the low, cliffy point which shelters it from southern winds and, not improbably, is the furthest point (marked B) in the Dutch chart, was called Point Fowler. The botanical gentlemen landed early on the following morning to examine the productions of the country, and I went on shore to take observations and bearings, and to search for fresh water.

The cliffs and rocks of Point Fowler are calcareous, and connected with the main land by a low, sandy isthmus of half a mile broad. Many traces of inhabitants were found, and amongst others, some decayed spears; but no huts were seen, nor anything to indicate that men had been here lately. Upon the beach were the foot marks of dogs, and some of the emu or cassowary. I found in a hole of the low cliffs one of those large nests which have before been mentioned, but it contained nothing, and had been long abandoned.

No fresh water was discovered round the shores of the bay, nor was there any wood large enough for fuel nearer than the brow of a hill two or three miles off. Two teal were shot on the beach, whence it seemed probable that some lake or pond of fresh water was not far distant; a sea-pie and a gull were also shot, and a few small fish caught alongside. These constituted everything like refreshment obtained here, and the botanists found the scantiness of plants equal to that of the other productions; so that there was no inducement to remain longer.

Fowler's Bay, however, may be useful to a ship in want of a place of shelter. It is open to the three points of the compass between south-east-by-south and east-south-east; and it was evident, from plants growing close to the water side, that a swell capable of injuring a vessel at anchor was seldom if ever thrown into it.

The wind was at south-east-by-south at one in the afternoon, when the anchor was weighed to beat out of the bay. At half past five we were three miles from a cliffy head which had been taken for an island at the anchorage, and set at N 77° E. The shore forms a small bight on the east side of this head, and then stretches south-south-eastward in a sandy beach, with a ridge of barren land behind. At sunset we passed to windward of Point Fowler, and stood off to sea for the night.

Saturday, 30.—Cape Nuyts bore north, two or three leagues, soon after daylight, and the wind was then at east; but as the day advanced it veered to the south-east, and permitted us to make a stretch toward the furthest land. At five in the evening we tacked near some low, whitish cliffs, which had been seen from the mast head when in Fowler's Bay; they were two or three miles off, and the furthest land visible from the deck bore S. 63° E. at no great distance. The coast here is broken into sandy beaches and small, cliffy points, and the same ridge of barren land runs behind it, but the elevation is not great.

Sunday, 31.—At three in the afternoon of the 31st we reached in again with the coast, about four leagues beyond our situation on the preceding day. The depth at two miles off shore was 7 fathoms on a coral bottom; the northern extreme bore N. 58° W., and a low point on the other side, named Point Bell, S. 45° E., seven miles. To seaward a flat rock bore W. 3° S., one mile and a half; it is the largest of four which were called Sinclair's Rocks, and lie scattered at the distance of two or three miles off the coast. We stood off at this time; but so little could be gained upon the south-east winds that when we came in next morning it was almost exactly in the same spot, and Point Bell was not passed until late in the afternoon; the weather, also, was adverse to the examination, being so hazy that the highest land could not be seen beyond three or four leagues.

At half-past six in the evening, when we tacked to stand off for the night, Point Bell bore N. 68° W. four miles. It lies in 32° 16½' south and 133° 5' east; and there is a broad, flat rock, surrounded with breakers, one mile to the westward. The main coast beyond the point forms some bights, and is divided betwixt sand and rock, as before described: its general trending is nearly east. A small island, somewhat elevated, lies six miles to the south-east of Point Bell, and has a ledge of rocks and islets extending from it a league to the north-eastward, and a separate islet one or two miles to the east: these obtained the name of Purdie's Isles. After we had tacked in 9 fathoms, a wave was perceived to break upon a sunken rock within less than half a mile of the ship; and I think it would be dangerous to pass between Point Bell and Purdie's Isles.

At noon of the 2nd February no land was in sight. The weather was still hazy, and the wind at south-east; but in the afternoon it favoured us two points, and we got sight of a higher and larger island than any before seen on this part of the coast. At half-past four, being then near a smaller isle and several rocks, we tacked towards the large island which was six or seven miles to the southward; and soon after eight in the evening got to an anchor in a little sandy bay on its north side. The depth was 6 fathoms in passing the north-west point of the bay, but 10 within side, on a fine sandy bottom, where the anchor was dropped. At daylight we found ourselves hall a mile from the shore, and the extremes bearing from N. 32° W., round by the west and south, to S. 77° E.; and at the distance of two miles we were sheltered by four small islands, extending from N. 41° to 88° E. The master was sent to sound in the bay; but the bottom was everywhere good, and nothing found to injure the cables. The scientific gentlemen landed upon their respective pursuits; and I followed them to take angles for my survey, and see what could be procured for the ship's company.

The island is nearly three miles long, north-west and southeast, and is moderately high and cliffy at the ends; the middle part is a sandy isthmus, not more than half a mile broad, but the breadth of the higher ends is from one-and-half to two miles. This island is the central one of a group; f or besides the four small isles to the north-east, there are two close to the west end, and two others, something larger, lying off to the southward. I call these the Isles of St. Francis; in the persuasion that the central one is that named St. Francis by Nuyts. Independently of the eight isles and a rock, surrounding this Isle St. Francis, I set from the north-east point three other islands. The first, named Lacy's Isle, bore N. 28° E., seven miles; and two miles from it to the north-west there is an islet and a separate rock above water surrounded with breakers, the same near which we had tacked at half-past four on the preceding evening. The second was called Evans' Isle, and bore N. 49° E. eleven miles; and the third to which the name of Franklin was given, bore N. 81° E. sixteen miles. All these are much inferior in magnitude to the central island of St. Francis.

For several days before anchoring here we had observed large flocks of sooty petrels; and I found the surface of the island, where it was sandy and produced small shrubs, to be full of their burrows. Pinguins, similar to those of Furneaux's Islands, had their burrows nearer to the water-side. A small species of kanguroo, was also found, and at some preceding season the island had been frequented by geese; but at this time, the vegetation being almost burnt up, they seemed to have quitted it from want of food. The heat was, indeed, such as to make walking a great fatigue; and this was augmented by frequently sinking into the bird holes and falling upon the sand. The thermometer stood at 98° in the shade, whilst it was at 78° on board the ship.

Where the surface is not of sand it consists of calcareous rock, mostly in loose pieces; but the stone which forms the basis of the island is heavy and of a close grain, and was judged to be porphyry. In the crevices of a low calcareous cliff, at the south-east side of the bay, I found some thin cakes of good salt, incrusted upon a stone containing laminae of quartz.

A party was sent on shore at dusk to collect petrels, and in less than two hours returned with sufficient to give four birds to every man in the ship. Early in the morning the boats were again sent upon the same errand, and to haul the seine; but the birds were gone off to sea for the day, and no fish were caught. A small kanguroo was brought off, as also a yellow snake, which was the second killed on this island. The great heat deterred the naturalists from going on shore this morning, for the very little variety in the vegetable productions presented no inducement to a repetition of their fatigue. I landed to see what further could be discovered of the neighbouring islands; and we then prepared to get under way so soon as the breeze set in from the southeastward, which it usually did about noon, after a few hours of calm or of light airs.

The small bay in the Isle St. Francis, which I call Petrel Bay, affords excellent shelter for two or three ships; but no fresh water, not even to rince our mouths, could be found at this time; and a few scattered bushes were the nearest approach to wood upon the island. Petrels, pinguins, and a few hair seals may be procured, and probably some geese in the wet season.

I had hitherto observed upon this coast that the south-east and east winds produced the same effect upon the barometer as at the Cape of Good I-lope, in keeping the mercury high, commonly at or above 30 inches and the more fresh was the wind, the higher it stood; but within the last few days the barometer was much lower with the same winds, and at this time was at 29.74. The dense haze which prevailed might possibly have caused the change, but I suspected another reason for it. Winds coming off the land, I had remarked, had a tendency to depress the mercury, and sea winds to make it rise, though no change took place in the weather; and it therefore seemed probable, as the trending of the coast beyond these islands was unknown, that the south-east and east winds came off the land, and not from the sea, as before; in which case the unknown coast would be found trending to the southward, a conjecture which, it will be seen, was verified. That there was no entrance to a strait, nor any large inlet near these islands, was almost demonstrated by the insignificance of the tides; for neither in Fowler's Bay nor at this Isle St. Francis could any set be perceived; nor was there any rise by the shore worthy of notice.

At half-past one we left Petrel Bay; and having passed between the small isles to the north-east, steered for Evans' Island, and toward the Isles of St. Peter, which were expected to lie beyond it. At five o'clock, we passed between Evans' Island and some rocks above water, with breakers round them, lying three miles to the eastward. An island, equally high with that of St. Francis, was then seen to the north, and low land extended from it to N. 45° E., which had some appearance of being part of the main. We steered for these lands; and seeing an opening between them at sunset, I attempted it in the hope of getting anchorage for the night; but the water shoaled suddenly, from 4 fathoms to sixteen feet upon rocks, and obliged me to veer on the instant. We then stood back to the southward till eight o'clock, and nothing being perceived in the way of the ship's drift, hove to for the night.

Friday, 5.—The wind was north-east in the morning; and at half-past four o'clock we filled the sails and steered eastward until eight, when the central island of St. Francis bore N. 71° W., and Franklin's Isles, for there are two, besides rocks, were distant four leagues, the small opening between them bearing N. 28° W. To the south-eastward of these islands, at the distance of eleven miles, is a low projection of the main land, to which the name of Point Brown was given, in compliment to the naturalist; and four leagues further, in the same line, was a cliffy head, called Cape Bauer after the painter of natural history. Between these projections there was a wide space where no land was visible, and for which we accordingly steered on the wind veering more to the northward. The atmosphere was still hazy, more especially about the horizon, and no observations worthy of confidence could be taken for either latitude or longitude. No land was yet visible ahead; and there being much refuse from the shore, as well as seaweed floating about, some hopes of finding a river were entertained. At half-past two, however, low, sandy land was seen from the mast head, nearly all round, the depth had diminished from 19 to 7 fathoms, and the water was much discoloured in streaks at less than a mile from the ship. Smokes Were rising in three different places; but as the wind was unfavourable, and there was no prospect of any opening sufficiently large to admit the Investigator, I gave up the further examination of this place, and called it Streaky Bay.

There remained nearly forty miles of space between Point Bell and Point Brown, in which the main coast had not been seen. This it was necessary to explore; but the wind being then at north-north-east, I steered to the southward, to gain some further knowledge of the coast in that direction before dark.

West of Cape Bauer, and distant four miles, there is a low island, extensively surrounded with rocks and breakers, which I called Olive's Island. We passed between it and the cape, and observed the cliffs of the latter to be stratified, and apparently calcareous. Another cliffy and somewhat higher projection opened from it at S. 1° W., distant seven miles, the intermediate low land forming a bight four or five miles deep, which is mostly skirted by a sandy beach. This projection I named Point Westall, in compliment to the landscape painter; and at six in the evening, when it bore north-east-by-east two or three miles, we veered round to the northward. Beyond Point Westall the coast takes a more eastern direction, the first land which opened out from it being at S. 43° E.: this was a third cliffy projection, terminating another sandy bight in the coast. No hill nor anything behind the shore could be perceived, but it does not certainly follow that there are no hills in the back country, for the haze was too thick to admit of the sight extending beyond four or five leagues.

All sail was made to fetch between Franklin's Isles and Point Brown, in order to follow the course of the main land and as close as possible; but finding, after several tacks, the impossibility of weathering the isles, we bore away; and at noon hauled up north-north-east round them. The wind was light at east, and the weather fine over head; but there was so dense a haze below that, the true horizon could not be distinguished from several false ones, and we had six or seven different latitudes from as many observers: those taken by me to the north and south differed 19 minutes. This dense haze, from its great refractive power, altered the appearance of objects in a surprising manner: a sandy beach seemed to be a chalky cliff, and the lowest islands to have steep shores. The thermometer stood, at this time, at 82° and the barometer at 29.60 inches.

On the north side of Point Brown the shore formed a large open bay, into which we hauled up as much as the wind would permit, passing near to a reef of rocks and breakers, two miles to the north-north-east of Franklin's Isles. At half-past two the water had shoaled to 5 fathoms; and not being able to distinguish any inlet, we then bore away westward along the land. The number of smokes rising from the shores of this wide, open place induced me to give it the name of Smoky Bay.

At four o'clock we passed the small opening which had been unsuccessfully attempted in the evening of the 4th, and hauled up northward under the lee of the island forming its western side. The mainland then came in sight ahead; but between it and the islands was a space five or six miles wide, which had the appearance of being the entrance to a river. No land was visible to the north-east; and besides quantities of grass and branches of trees or bushes floating in the water, there was a number of long, gauze-winged insects topping about the surface, such as frequent fresh-water lakes and swamps. In order to form a judgment of how much fresh was mixed with the salt water, or whether any, I had some taken up for the purpose of ascertaining its specific gravity; but before the experiment could be made, the depth diminished to 3 fathoms, and low land was distinguished nearly all round. We then veered ship; and at seven o'clock came to an anchor in 6 fathoms, off a small beach on the north side of the western and smallest island, being sheltered at all points except between S. 58° and N. 80° W.

The specific gravity of the water taken up proved to be 1.034, or .008 greater than the water of the Southern Indian Ocean, westward of the Island Amsterdam, although the temperature in which it was weighed was higher by 14°. This circumstance, with the shallowness of the inlet and the land having been seen to close round so nearly, made me give up the intention of attempting to proceed any higher up, since no river of importance was to be expected.

Great flocks of sooty petrels were observed coming in from sea to the island, and at the first dawn next morning a boat was sent to collect a quantity of them, and to kill seals; but the birds were already moving off, and no more than four seals, of the hair kind, were procured. The botanists preferred going on shore to the more eastern land, which, though low, was much more extensive than the island nearer to the ship; and in fact it was not yet ascertained whether it were not a part of the main. I went to the higher island with a theodolite to take bearings; and as the survey had shown that no dependence was to be placed in any observations taken on board the ship during the last five days, I took with me the necessary instruments for determining the latitude and longitude.

Granite was found to compose the rocks of the shore, and seemed to be the basis of the island; but it was covered with a crust of calcareous stone, in some places fifty feet thick. The soil at the top was little better than sand, but was overspread with shrubs, mostly of one kind, a whitish velvety plant (artriplex reniformis of Brown), nearly similar to what is called at Port Jackson, Botany Bay greens. Amongst these the petrels had everywhere undermined; and from the excessive heat of the sun, the reflexion from the sand, and frequently stepping up to the mid-leg in the burrows, my strength was scarcely equal to reaching the highest hill near the middle of the island. I had no thermometer, but judged the temperature could scarcely be less than 120°; and there was not a breath of air stirring. My fatigue was, however, rewarded by an extensive set of bearings, and I overlooked the lower and larger island to the eastward, and saw the water behind it communicating with Smoky Bay. That low land and the island upon which I stood, being the northeasternmost of this archipelago, must, I conceive, be the Isles of St. Peter in Nuyts' chart, notwithstanding their relatively small distance from those of St. Francis. The bay to the northward, between these islands and the mainland, I named Denial Bay, as well in allusion to St. Peter as to the deceptive hope we had formed of penetrating by it some distance into the interior country.

On returning to the shore to complete my observations, a flock of teal presented themselves, and four were shot. There were also pied shags, and gulls of three species; and in the island were seen many crows, a green paroquet, and two smaller birds. A black snake, of the common size, was killed, but its form did not bespeak it to be venemous. After observing the sun's altitude at noon, I returned on board with the intention of getting the ship under way, to examine more closely a bight in the coast near Point Bell; and then of returning to Petrel Bay in the Isle St. Francis) in order to obtain better observations for a base to my chart of this archipelago. At two o'clock, Mr. Brown and his party returned from the eastern island, bringing four kanguroos, of a different species to any before seen. Their size was not superior to that of a hare, and they were miserably thin, and infested with insects. No other than calcareous rock was seen upon the eastern island. It seemed to afford neither wood nor water, nor were there any marks of its having been visited by the natives of the continent; in which respect it resembled the western island, as it also did in its vegetation, and in being frequented by the sooty petrel. Mr. Brown's pocket thermometer stood at 125° when placed on the sand, and 89° in the shade; whilst on board the ship the height was only 83°.

The sun was too high at noon for its altitude to be taken from an artificial horizon with a sextant; but by laying down upon the beach I obtained it from the sea horizon tolerably free from the refractive errors caused by the haze. The latitude of the north side of the western Isle of St. Peter, thus observed, was 32° 21¼' south, and the longitude by time-keepers, corrected as usual, 133° 29' east. There was no set of tide past the ship; but from eight o'clock to noon the water had risen about a foot by the shore.

The anchor was weighed on the return of the botanists, and we steered westward past the small island named Lound's, and as far as Purdie's Isles. when, having seen the whole line of the coast behind them, we hauled to the southward at six o'clock for Petrel Bay; and at one in the morning came to, in 13 fathoms, near our former anchorage.

It was here confirmed by satisfactory observations on shore that our former latitudes and longitudes taken on board the ship were erroneous; and the consequent necessity of reconstructing my chart of these islands induced me to remain at anchor the rest of the day. A boat was sent to fish with hook and line, and had some success; and at dusk a sufficient number of sooty petrels were taken from the burrows to give nine to every man, making, with those before caught, more than twelve hundred birds. These were inferior to the teal shot at the western Isle of St. Peter, and by most persons would not be thought eatable on account of their fishy taste, but they made a very acceptable supply to men who had been many months confined to an allowance of salt meat.

The latitude of our anchorage in Petrel Bay proved to be 32° 33 1/3' south, and corrected longitude, by time-keepers, 133° 15½' east. The variation of the compass on the binnacle, with the ship's head south-eastwardly, but the exact point not noted, was 2° 23' west. Other azimuths, taken five leagues to the northwestward, with the head south-half-west, gave 0° 19' east; and six leagues to the eastward, the head being north half-west, we had 0° 16' east. All these observations, being corrected, and supposing the ship's head in the first case to have been southeast-half-east, as is probable, would agree in showing that the true and magnetic meridians exactly coincided at the Isles of St. Francis in 1802.

Being about to quit this archipelago, it may be expected that I should make some general remarks upon it. The basis stone of the islands where we landed, and that of the others, as also of the projecting parts of the main, appeared to be similar, was either porphyry or granite; but this was generally covered with a stratum, more or less thick, of calcareous rock. The and sterility of the two largest islands has been already mentioned; and yet they appeared superior to any of the smaller isles, where there was no probability that the small kanguroos could exist in the dry season. The surface of the continent seemed to be almost equally destitute of vegetable soil to cover the sand and rock; and from the hot winds off the land, which we felt in Streaky and Smoky Bays, it would seem that this aridity prevails to a considerable distance in the interior. There are, however, some grounds to believe that a lake or run of fresh water exists not far from Denial Bay: the flock of teal seen upon the western Isle of St. Peter, and the number of winged, fresh-water insects skimming the surface of that bay, are the grounds to which I allude.

My examination of this group of islands was tolerably minute to be done wholly in a ship; but much still remained, which boats would best accomplish, to make the survey complete, especially in the bays of the main land. No more than a general examination was prescribed by my instructions at this time, and I therefore left the minute parts for a second visit, when the ship would be accompanied by the Lady Nelson tender.

Upon the identity of the particular islands composing this group, as compared with the chart of Nuyts' discovery, there may possibly be some difference of opinion, but there can be no doubt that the group generally is the same with that laid down by the Dutch navigator; and I therefore distinguish it from others upon this coast by the title of Nuyts' Archipelago. Besides the nine Isles of St. Francis and two of St. Peter, and several distinct rocks and patches of reef, it contains Sinclair's four Rocks, Purdie's Isles, Lound's Isle, Lacy's and Evans' Islands, Franklin's Isles, and Olive's Island; all of which are named after young officers of the Investigator. The state of navigation in 1627 does not permit the expectation of any exact coincidence between the islands laid down by the Dutch and those in my chart.

At daybreak in the morning of February 9, 1802, when the anchor was weighed from Petrel Bay to prosecute the examination of the unknown coast, we were unexpectedly favoured with a refreshing breeze from the westward; and our course was directed for Cape Bauer. At noon, the latitude from mean of observations to the north and south, which differed only 1', was 32° 43' 17"; but although our distance from the land could not be more than three leagues, no part of it was distinguishable; the haze was very thick, but it was of a different nature, and had none of that extraordinary refractive power which the atmosphere possessed during the prevalence of the eastern winds. At one o'clock, Olive's Island was indistinctly perceived; and at two we came in with Point Westall, and then steered south-south-eastward along the coast at the distance of four or five miles. At six, a bold cliffy head, which I named Cape Radstock, in honour of Admiral Lord Radstock, bore N. 75° E., six or seven miles; and the land seemed there to take another direction, for nothing beyond it could be perceived. The wind was at west-south-west; and we kept on the starboard tack till eight o'clock, and then stood off for the night.

At five in the morning we steered for the land; and soon afterward Cape Radstock was in sight, bearing N. 57° E., five leagues. The latitude of this cape is 33° 12' south, and longitude 134° 15' east. Other cliffy heads came in sight as we advanced eastward; and at seven, the appearance of an opening induced me to steer close in; but it proved to be a bight full of rocks, with low land behind. The line of the projecting parts of the coast is nearly east from Cape Radstock for four leagues; and at the end of them is a cliffy point which received the name of Point Weyland. Round this point an opening was seen of so promising an appearance that I bore away north and north-east for it, although land was in sight as far as east-south-east. Before noon the greater part of the open space was found to be occupied by low land; and no more of the opening remained than a small inlet through the beach, leading, apparently, into a lagoon, the water of which was distinguished from the mast head. This inlet was fit only to receive boats; and therefore we hauled the wind to the southward, when the sandy shore near it was distant two-and-half miles on one side, and Point Weyland one mile and a half on the other. The latitude of this point is 33° 14' south, and longitude 134' 32' east. As the day advanced the wind veered to south-west, and there being a swell from the same quarter, we could do no more than make a south-east-by-south course, parallel with the shore. At three o'clock the mainland was seen to extend out beyond what the ship could fetch; there were besides two islands lying still further out, and a third was perceived in the offing, almost directly to windward. The two first received the name of Waldegrave's Isles, and the latter with some rocks near it were called Top-gallant Isles. Our distance from the sandy shore was then barely a league; and coming into 7 fathoms water soon afterward, we tacked, hoping to weather Cape Radstock; but finding this to be impossible, were constrained to pass the night in working to windward in the bay. The weather was squally with rain, but our situation made it necessary to carry all possible sail; and we had the satisfaction, at daylight, to find the ship had gained considerably. It then blew a strong breeze at south-west-by-south, and we stretched in under Waldegrave's Isles; and finding the water become smooth, the anchor was let go in 7 fathoms, on a bottom of calcareous sand, at half a mile from the north-east end of the inner and largest island. We were here sheltered from the present wind, but exposed from west-by-south to north-north-west; the master was therefore immediately sent to sound the opening of one mile wide between the island and the main, by which alone we could hope to escape, should the wind shift to the north-westward and blow strong; but the opening proved to be full of rocks and breakers.

The press of sail carried in the night had so much stretched the rigging that it required to be set up, fore and aft. Whilst this was doing on board, the naturalists landed upon the island; where I also went to take bearings with a theodolite, and observations for the latitude and longitude. The island is about two miles long, and connected by rocks with the small outer isle; and they extend four or five miles from a projecting part of the main, in a west direction. These islands form the southern boundary, as Cape Radstock does the north point of a great open bay, which, from the night we passed in it, obtained the name of Anxious Bay.

I found the island to bear a great resemblance to the western Isle of St. Peter, in its cliffy shores, granitic basis and super-stratum of calcareous stone; in its vegetable productions, and in its surface being much excavated by the burrows of the sooty petrels. It had also been frequented by geese at some preceding season of the year, and there were marks of its having been a breeding place for them; but at this time the vegetation was too much dried up to afford any subsistence. Crows of a shining black colour were numerous; and in two which I shot the bill was surrounded at the base with small feathers, extending one-fourth of the length towards the extremity. There were no appearances of the island having been before visited either by Europeans or Indians, and a single rat was the sole quadruped seen; but a few hair seals were killed upon the shore. Mr. Brown remarked that this was the first island where not a single novelty in natural history had presented itself to his observation.

There were strong squalls during the night, with rain, but the wind being off the land, the ship rode easy with a whole cable. At daylight the weather was more moderate, and we stretched out for the distant piece of land in the offing. At noon it was seven miles to windward, and seen to be an island of about five miles in length; and being near enough at dusk to observe that it afforded shelter, and that there were no apparent dangers, we continued to beat up, and got to anchor at half-past nine, in 7 fathoms, fine sand; the nearest beach being distant half a mile, and the island extending from S. 85° E. to 67° W.

Saturday, 13.-In the morning we were surprised to see breaking water about one mile from the ship, and as much from the shore. It was not far from the place where the last tack had been made in the evening, and the master found no more than six feet water close to it; so that we were fortunate in having escaped. The botanical gentlemen landed early; and I followed them to make the usual observations for the survey.

From my first station, at the north-east end of the island, the largest of the Top-gallant Isles bore S. 67° E., four or five miles. It is of little extent, but high and cliffy; and there are three rocks on its south side resembling ships under sail, from which circumstance this small cluster obtained its present name. To the south-west I distinguished several small islands, of which the northernmost and largest is remarkable from two high and sharp-pointed peaks upon it, lying in latitude 33° 57' and longitude 134° 13'. This cluster, as it appeared to be, received the name of Pearson's Isles; but it is possible that what seemed at a distance to be divided into several may form two or three larger islands, or even be one connected land. Another island, about one mile long and of moderate height, was discovered bearing S. 72° W., about four leagues. It was surrounded with high breakers, as was a smaller isle near it; and the two were called Ward's Isles. These three small clusters, with Waldegrave's Isles, and this larger island, which was named Flinders, after the second lieutenant, form a group distinct from Nuyts' Archipelago; and I gave it the name of the Investigator's Group.

The form of Flinders' Island is nearly a square, of which each side is from three to five miles in length. Bights are formed in the four sides; but that to the north seems alone to afford good anchorage. In its composition this island is nearly the same as that of Waldegrave's largest isle; but between the granitic basis and the calcareous top there is a stratum of sand stone, in some places twenty feet thick. The vegetation differed from that of other islands before visited, in that the lower lands were covered with large bushes; and there was very little either of the white, velvety shrub (atriplex) or of the tufted, wiry grass. A small species of kanguroo, not bigger than a cat, was rather numerous. I shot five of them, and some others were killed by the botanists and their attendants, and found to be in tolerably good condition. We were now beginning to want a supply of water, and the northern part of the island was sought over carefully for it; but the nearest approach to success was in finding dried-up swamps in which the growing plants were tinged red, as if the water had been brackish. No other trees than a few small casuarinas, at a distance from the anchorage, were seen upon the island; but wood for fuel might with some difficulty be picked out from the larger bushes growing near the shore. The beaches were frequented by seals of the hair kind. A family of them consisting of a male, four or five females, and as many cubs was lying asleep at every two or three hundred yards. Their security was such that I approached several of these families very closely; and retired without disturbing their domestic tranquillity or being perceived by them.

At six o'clock, a very projecting point of calcareous cliffs, distant five miles, was the southernmost visible extreme. It was named Point Drummond, in compliment to captain Adam Drummond of the navy; and lies in 34° 10' south and 135° 13' east.

The coast from Waldegrave's Isles to Point Drummond runs waving in a south-eastern direction, and forms bights and broad, cliffy heads. It appeared to be of moderate elevation, and barren; but the further parts of it could not be well distinguished on account of the haze.

Tuesday, 16.—At daylight, Point Drummond was seven miles distant to the north-by-east. The shore, after falling back four or five miles from it, trended northward; but there was other land further out, and we steered for the opening between them, passing a rocky islet five miles from Point Drummond and nearly as much from the eastern shore. At eight o'clock we found ourselves in a bay whose width, from the outer western point of entrance, named Point Sir Isaac, to the shore on the east side, was near three leagues. It extended also far into the south-south-east but the depth diminished, in less than half an hour, to 4 fathoms, although the head of the bay was still six or seven miles distant. We were then two miles from the eastern shore, with Point Sir Isaac bearing N. 67° W.; and hoping to find deeper water in that direction, hauled to the westward; but coming into 3 fathoms, were obliged to tack, and the wind veering round from the sea, we worked to windward in the entrance of the bay.

The situation of Point Sir Isaac is 34° 27' south, and from observations of the moon with stars on each side, in 135° 13' east; but by the time-keepers corrected, which I prefer, the longitude is 135° 10 east. The basis of the point seemed to be granitic, with an upper stratum of calcareous rock, much similar to the neighbouring isles of the Investigator's Group. Its elevation is inconsiderable, and the surface is sandy and barren, as is all the land near it on the same side. The large piece of water which it shelters from western winds I named Coffin's Bay, in compliment to the present vice-admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, Bart.; who, when resident commissioner at Sheerness, had taken so zealous a part in the outfit of the Investigator. Coffin's Bay extends four or five leagues to the south-eastward from Point Sir Isaac; but I do not think that any stream more considerable than perhaps a small rill from the back land falls into it, since sandy cliffs and beach were seen nearly all round. On the east side of the entrance the shore rises quickly from the beach to hills of considerable height, well covered with wood. The highest of these hills I call Mount Greenly; its elevation is between six and eight hundred feet, and it stands very near the water-side.

Many smokes were seen round Coffin's Bay, and also two parties of natives, one on each side; these shores were therefore better inhabited than the more western parts of the South Coast; indeed it has usually been found in this country that the borders of shallow bays and lagoons, and at the entrances of rivers, are by far the most numerously peopled. These natives were black and naked, differing in nothing that we could perceive from those of King George's Sound before described.

In the evening the wind veered to the southward; and at sunset we passed Point Sir Isaac at the distance of half a mile. Our course was then directed to the south-west, towards two high pieces of land which appeared in the offing, and obtained the name of Greenly's Isles. The ship was hove to at midnight; but on seeing the islands to leeward at two in the morning, we filled; and at three, tacked towards the main land. At daylight a rocky point which lies ten or eleven miles to the south-south-west of Point Sir Isaac, and is called Point Whidbey, was distant two miles; and the peak upon the southernmost of Greenly's Isles bore S. 66° W., four or five leagues. At S. 18° E., seven or eight miles from Point Whidbey, lies an island one mile in length, the middlemost and largest of seven, which I named Whidbey's Isles, after my worthy friend the former master-attendant at Sheerness. The basis of these isles appeared to be granitic, but the more elevated are covered with a thick crust of calcareous rock; and in the middlemost this upper stratum is perforated, admitting the light through the island.

The two easternmost of Whidbey's Isles are close to a low projection of the main land which was named Point Avoid. It lies eleven or twelve miles to the east-south-east of Point Whidbey; and the shore between them forms so deep a bight that the peninsula between it and Coffin's Bay seems to be there not more than two or three miles broad. At the head of this bight is a low, rocky island, and there are rocks and breakers on each side of the entrance; on which account, and from its being exposed to the dangerous southern winds, I named it Avoid Bay.

At dusk in the evening, having weathered Whidbey's Isles, we tacked near Point Avoid and stretched off to sea; but on coming in with the land at daylight of the 18th, it appeared that nothing was gained, our situation being then in the same bight to the eastward of the point.

The shore of the bight is sandy and low, and trends from Point Avoid about five miles to the east; after which it takes a more southern direction and becomes higher, and the projecting parts of the waving coast-line are cliffy. Behind the shore the land rises to a moderate height, is destitute of vegetation, and of a yellow colour, but whether from the surface being of bare rock, or of sand, could not be distinguished.

In stretching off again, with the wind at east-south-east, we passed near to a small circular reef, lying nine miles from Point Avoid and six from the nearest shore. Azimuths taken at this time with three compasses on the binnacle, and the ship's head at south (magnetic), gave the mean variation 1° 12'east;but with the surveying compass alone it was 1° 39' east, which is what I allowed in the survey. On the preceding day the two guns upon the quarter-deck, nearest to the binnacle, had been struck down into the after-hold, from a persuasion that the differences so often found in the variations and bearings when on different tacks must arise from some iron placed too near the compasses. Strict search had been repeatedly made for 'sail needles, marline-spikes, or other implements of iron which might have been left in or about the binnacle, but I could fix on nothing unless it were the guns; for it is to be observed that, notwithstanding the constancy of the differences, the idea of any regularly acting cause to derange the needle had not yet fixed itself in my mind. The perfection to which naval science had arrived did not allow me to suppose, that if a constant and unavoidable attraction existed in ships, it would not have been found out, and its laws ascertained; yet no longer than three days before, differences had been observed sufficient, one would think, to have convinced any man that they were produced by some regular cause. Off Point Drummond, about fifteen leagues to the north of where the variation 1° 39' east was observed with the ship's head at south, both azimuths and an amplitude had been taken with the same compass. The first gave 1° 33' west, the head being south-east-by-east; and after we had tacked, and the head was south-west-by-west, the amplitude gave 3° 56' east! I did not yet see that as the ship's head was as much on the east side of the magnetic meridian in one case as it was to the west in the other, so was the variation as much too far west then as it was too far east afterward. Differences like this, of 5½°, which had frequently occurred, seemed to make accuracy in my survey unattainable from not knowing what variation to allow on the several bearings. The guns were removed in the hope to do away the differences, but they still continued to exist, nearly in the same proportion as before; and almost in despair, I at length set about a close examination of all the circumstances connected with them, in order to ascertain the cause, and if possible to apply a remedy; but it was long, and not without an accumulation of facts, before I could arrive at conclusions.

In the afternoon of the 19th when the wind had returned to the south, we passed to windward of Liguanea Island, and saw it surrounded with many breakers on its south and west sides. The sloping low point was also visible; and three miles further eastward there was a steep head, with two high rocks and one lower near it, of which Mr. Westall made a sketch. This projection I named Cape Wiles, after a worthy friend at Liguanea, in Jamaica; it lies in latitude 34° 57' south and longitude 135° 38½' east. Before dark we got sight of a hill situate upon a projecting cape, thirteen miles to the east-south-east of Cape Wiles, and observed the intermediate coast to form a large bight or bay, which I proposed to examine in the morning; and for that purpose we stood off and on during the night, with the wind from the southward.

At daylight of the 20th the hill on the east side of the bight bore N. 68° E. five or six miles, and an island, named Isle Williams, was seen to lie two miles from it to the south-east. We steered north-west soon afterward, up the bight; but in an hour were able to see the land all round, and that this place, which. I called Sleaford Bay, was dangerous with the wind at south-east, as it was then blowing. We therefore braced up, to work out.

In the afternoon the wind favoured us by veering to south-by-west, and the passage between the projection of the hill and Isle Williams seeming to be clear, we steered through it with good soundings, the least being 12 fathoms, upon rippling water. Three miles further the main land formed a point, and took the uncommon direction of N. 15' W.; but to the eastward, there was a large piece of land, whether island or main we could not tell, and several small islands lay between. The opening was four miles wide; and we steered into it, passing through ripplings of tide with irregular soundings: No land could be seen to the north-east, but the night was coming on; and as the eastern land sheltered us from the present wind, we ran within half a mile of the shore and anchored in 31 fathoms. The master was sent to sound about the ship; and finding we had not a sufficient depth for swinging toward the shore, the anchor was tripped and let go further out, in 7 fathoms, on a sandy bottom. No part of the eastern land was visible beyond the bearing Of N. 76° E., distant one mile and a half; and the furthest extreme of what we could be certain was main land bore N. 17° W.

A tide from the north-eastward, apparently the ebb, ran more than one mile an hour; which was the more remarkable from no set of tide, worthy to be noticed, having hitherto been observed upon this coast. No land could be seen in the direction from whence it came; and these circumstances, with the trending of the coast to the north, did not fail to excite many conjectures. Large rivers, deep inlets, inland seas, and passages into the Gulph of Carpentaria, were terms frequently used in our conversations of this evening; and the prospect of making an interesting discovery seemed to have infused new life and vigour into every man in the ship.

Early in the morning I went on shore to the eastern land, anxious to ascertain its connexion with or separation from the main. There were seals upon the beach, and further on, numberless traces of the kanguroo. Signs of extinguished fire existed everywhere; but they bespoke a conflagration of the woods, of remote date, rather than the habitual presence of men, and might have arisen from lightning, or from the friction of two trees in a strong wind. Upon the whole I satisfied myself of the insularity of this land; and gave to it, shortly after, the name of Thistle's Island, from the master who accompanied me. In our way up the hills, to take a commanding station for the survey, a speckled, yellow snake lay asleep before us. By pressing the buttend of a musket upon his neck I kept him down whilst Mr. Thistle, with a sail needle and twine, sewed up his mouth; and he was taken on board alive for the naturalist to examine; but two others of the same species had already been killed, and one of them was seven feet nine inches in length. We were proceeding onward with our prize when a white eagle, with fierce aspect and outspread wing, was seen bounding towards us; but stopping short at twenty yards off, he flew up into a tree. Another bird of the same kind discovered himself by making a motion to pounce down upon us as we passed underneath; and it seemed evident that they took us for kanguroos, having probably never seen an upright animal in the island of any other species. These birds sit watching in the trees, and should a kanguroo come out to feed in the day-time, it is seized and torn to pieces by these voracious creatures. This accounted for why so few kanguroos were seen, when traces of them were met with at every step; and for their keeping so much under thick bushes that it was impossible to shoot them. Their size was superior to any of those found upon the more western islands, but much inferior to the forest kanguroo of the continent.

From a clear spot upon the north-western head of the island I traced the main coast to a cape bearing N. 18° W., where it was lost, but reappeared at a further distance, and extended to N. 2½° W. More to the right were three small islands, which I named Sibsey, Stickney, and Spilsby Islands, but no other land in a northeast, and none in an eastern direction. On the opposite side, six leagues out at sea, there was a small cluster of low islands, and some rocks and breakers at a less distance; these were called Neptune's Isles, for they seemed to be inaccessible to men. In the opening between Thistle's Island and the main are several small isles; and the two southernmost so much contract the entrance of the passage that one mile and a half of its breadth, between the main land and western isle, are alone safe for ships; I gave to this the name of Thorny Passage.

Thistle's Island is about twelve miles long, and from one to two or three in breadth, and in the middle part is high enough to be seen ten or twelve leagues from a ship's deck. The stone of the north-east end was found to be calcareous; but at the top of the north-west head, not less than two hundred feet high, there were many small pieces of granite, rounded to all appearance by attrition in the water, Some of the cliffs on the western side are white, as if composed of chalk, and the soil in general seemed to be sandy; yet the island was pretty well covered with wood, principally eucalyptus and casuarina. No water could be found; and as the ship's hold was becoming very empty, I returned on board, after observing the latitude, with the intention of running over to the main in search of it. But on comparing the longitude observed by lieutenant Flinders with that resulting from my bearings, a difference was found which made it necessary to repeat the observation on shore; and as this would prolong the time too near dusk for moving the ship, Mr. Thistle was sent over with a cutter to the mainland in search of an anchoring place where water might be procured.

The latitude of a small beach on the north end of Thistle's Island was found to be 34° 56'; and longitude, by the time-keepers corrected, 136° 3½', agreeing with thirty sets of lunar observations reduced to a place connected with this by land bearings. The strongest tides set past the ship at the rate of two miles an hour, from the north-north-east and south-south-west; the latter, which appeared to be the flood, ceasing to run at the time of the moon's passage over the meridian. It rose seven feet and a half by the lead line in the night of the 20th; and there were two tides in the twenty-four hours.

At dusk in the evening the cutter was seen under sail, returning from the main land; but not arriving in half an hour, and the sight of it having been lost rather suddenly, a light was shown and lieutenant Fowler went in a boat, with a lanthorn, to see what might have happened. Two hours passed without receiving any tidings. A gun was then fired, and Mr. Fowler returned soon afterward, but alone. Near the situation where the cutter had been last seen he met with so strong a rippling of tide that he himself narrowly escaped being upset; and there was reason to fear that it had actually happened to Mr. Thistle. Had there been daylight, it is probable that some or all of the people might have been picked up; but it was too dark to see anything, and no answer could be heard to the hallooing or to the firing of muskets. The tide was setting to the southward and ran an hour and a half after the missing boat had been last seen, so that it would be carried to seaward in the first instance; and no more than two out of the eight people being at all expert in swimming, it was much to be feared that most of them would be lost.

Monday, 22.—At daybreak I got the ship under way and steered across Thorny Passage, over to the main land, in the direction where the cutter had been seen; keeping an officer at the masthead, with a glass, to look out for her. There were many strong ripplings, and some uncommonly smooth places where a boat, which was sent to sound, had 12 fathoms. We passed to the northward of all these; and seeing a small cove with a sandy beach, steered in and anchored in 10 fathoms, sandy bottom; the main land extending from north-half-west, round by the west and south to east-south-east, and the open space being partly sheltered by the northern islands of the passage.

A boat was despatched in search of the lost cutter, and presently returned towing in the wreck, bottom upward; it was stove in every part, having to all appearance been dashed against the rocks. One of the oars was afterwards found, but nothing could be seen of our unfortunate shipmates. The boat was again sent away in search; and a midshipman was stationed upon a headland, without-side of the cove, to observe everything which might drift past with the tide. Mr. Brown and a party landed to walk along the shore to the northward, whilst I proceeded to the southern extremity of the mainland, which was now named Cape Catastrophe. On landing at the head of the cove I found several footmarks of our people, made on the preceding afternoon when looking for water; and in my way up the valley I prosecuted the same research, but ineffectually, although there were many huts and other signs that natives had resided there lately.

From the heights near the extremity of Cape Catastrophe I examined with a glass the islands lying off, and all the neighbouring shores, for any appearance of our people, but in vain; I therefore took a set of angles for the survey and returned on board; and on comparing notes with the different parties, it appeared that no further information had been obtained of our unfortunate companions.

Next morning I went in a boat ten miles along the shore to the northward, in the double view of continuing the search and carrying on the survey. All the little sinuosities of the coast were followed, and in one place I picked up a small keg which had belonged to Mr. Thistle, and also some broken pieces of the boat but these were all that could be discovered. After taking angles at three stations on the main land, I crossed over to the northernmost and largest of the six small islands lying within Thorny passage. It is a mile and a half long, with a small islet off the north and another off its south end. These I called Taylor's Isles, in memory of the young gentleman who was in the cutter with Mr. Thistle. They lie near two miles from the main, and the depth between is from 7 to 10 fathoms, on a sandy bottom. A ship might anchor and be sheltered here, off a small beach at the north end of the largest island; but I did not find any fresh water, either there or on the opposite parts of the main land.

On returning to the ship I learned from some of the gentlemen who had been at the top of the highest hills at the back of the cove, that they had seen an inlet, going in westward, a little beyond where my excursion had terminated. Next day I went up with instruments; and having climbed upon a high lump of granite, saw the water extending 40° behind the coast, and forming, apparently, an extensive port. The view taken from near the same spot by Mr. Westall shows what was visible of this fine piece of water, and the appearance of the neighbouring land. In addition to this interesting discovery, I obtained bearings of Cape Wiles, of the furthest extremity of Thistle's Island, and of a group of four islands and two rocks, five leagues beyond it to the east-south-east. The largest of these was named Wedge Island, from its shape, and the group Gambier's Isles, in honour of the worthy admiral (now lord Gambier) who had a scat at the Admiralty board when the Investigator was ordered to be fitted. This morning lieutenant Fowler had been sent to search the southern islands in Thorny Passage for any remains of our people; but he was not able to land, nor in rowing round them to see any indication of the objects of his pursuit. The recovery of their bodies was now the furthest to which our hopes extended; but the number of sharks seen in the cove and at the last anchorage rendered even this prospect of melancholy satisfaction extremely doubtful; and our want of water becoming every day more pressing, we prepared to depart for the examination of the new opening to the northward. I caused an inscription to be engraven upon a sheet of copper, and set up on a stout post at the head of the cove, which I named Memory Cove; and further to commemorate our loss, I gave to each of the six islands nearest to Cape Catastrophe the name of one of the seamen: Thistle's and Taylor's Islands have been already mentioned.

The reader will pardon me the observation that Mr. Thistle was truly a valuable man, as a seaman, an officer, and a good member of society. I had known him, and we had mostly served together, from the year 1794. He had been with Mr. Bass in his perilous expedition in the whale-boat, and with me in the voyage round Van Diemen's Land, and in the succeeding expedition to Glass-house and Hervey's Bays. From his merit and prudent conduct he was promoted from before the mast to be a midshipman, and afterwards a master in his Majesty's service. His zeal for discovery had induced him to join the Investigator when at Spithead and ready to sail, although he had returned to England only three weeks before, after an absence of six years. Besides performing assiduously the duties of his situation, Mr. Thistle had made himself well acquainted with the practice of nautical astronomy, and began to be very useful in the surveying department. His loss was severely felt by me; and he was lamented by all on board, more especially by his messmates, who knew more intimately the goodness and stability of his disposition.

Mr. William Taylor, the midshipman of the boat, was a young officer who promised fair to become an ornament to the service, as he was to society by the amiability of his manners and temper. The six seamen had all volunteered for the voyage. They were active and useful young men; and in a small and incomplete ship's company, which had so many duties to° perform, this diminution of our force was heavily felt.

The soil of the land round Memory Cove, and of Cape Catastrophe in general, is barren; though the vallies and eastern sides of the hills are covered with brushwood, and in the least barren parts there are small trees of the genus eucalyptus. The basis stone is granite, mostly covered with calcareous rock, sometimes lying in loose pieces; but the highest tops of the hills are huge blocks of granite. Four kanguroos, not larger than those of Thistle's Island, were seen amongst the brushwood; and traces of natives were found so recent, that although none of the inhabitants were seen, they must have been there not longer than a day before. Water does consequently exist somewhere in the neighbourhood, but all our researches could not discover it.

Before quitting Memory Cove a boat was sent to haul a seine upon the beach, which was done with such success that every man had two meals of fish and some to spare for salting. In the morning we sailed for the new discovered inlet, and at two o'clock passed round the projection which had been set at N. 18° W. from Thistle's Island. It formed the south side of the entrance to the new opening, and is named Cape Donington. Our soundings in passing it were from 7 to 9 fathoms, and in steering south-westward we left an island four miles long, named Boston Island, on the starboard hand, and passed two islets on the other side, called Bicker Isles, which lie off Surfleet Point. On the depth of water diminishing to 5 fathoms we tacked, and presently came to an anchor on the west side of this point in 41 fathoms, soft grey sand. We were then three miles within the entrance, and the nearest shore was a beach half a mile distant, lying under a hill which had been seen from Thistle's Island. This is a ridge of moderately high land about two miles long, but when seen to the north or south it assumes a conical form. I named it Stamford Hill; and there being a good deal of wood scattered over it, a hope was given of procuring water by digging at the foot. A boat was sent to make the experiment this evening, at the back of the beach; but the water which flowed into the pit was quite salt; and notwithstanding the many natives huts about, no fresh water could be found.

Boston Island at the entrance of the port being also woody and of some elevation, the boat was sent next morning to search there for water; and in the mean time I landed with the botanists, and ascended Stamford Hill to ascertain the nature of this inlet and take angles. The port was seen to terminate seven or eight miles to the west-south-west; but there was a piece of water beyond it, apparently a lake or mere, from which we, might hope to obtain a supply, if no more convenient watering place could be found. Betwixt Cape Donington at the entrance, and Surfleet Point, was a large cove with a sandy beach at the head, capable of sheltering a fleet of ships, if the depth should be sufficient, as it appeared to be, to receive them; this was named Spalding Cove, Wood was not wanting there, but no stream of water could be distinguished. On the north side of the port, higher up, was a projecting piece of land, with an island lying off it nearly one mile in length. This island, which was named Grantham Island, contracts the width of that part to one mile and three-quarters, whereas above and below it the width is from two to three miles.

The eastern entrance to the port, between Boston Island and Cape Donington, is one mile and a half wide; the western entrance, betwixt the island and what was called Kirton Point, is larger, and appeared to be as deep as the first, in which we had from 7 to 9 fathoms. From Kirton Point, northward, the shore curves back to the west, and makes a semicircular sweep round the island, forming an outer bay which was named Boston Bay. It is terminated by Point Boston, a low point one mile and a half from the north end of the island; but whether the water between them be deep was not ascertained. From Point Boston the shore takes another sweep to the west and northward, and comes out again three or four leagues to the north-east, at a low but somewhat cliffy projection, to which I gave the name of Point Bolingbroke. The large bight within received the appellation of Louth Bay; and two low islands in it, of which the largest is more than a mile in length, were called Louth Isles. At Point Bolingbroke the land appeared to trend north or westward, and could no further be perceived from Stamford Hill.

Three small isles had been seen from Thistle's Island and their bearings set, and the discovery of them was now augmented by several others, forming a cluster to the eastward of Point Bolingbroke. This was called Sir Joseph Banks' Group, in compliment to the Right Honourable president of the Royal Society, to whose exertion and favour the voyage was so much indebted.

The port which formed the most interesting part of these discoveries I named Port Lincoln, in honour of my native province; and having gained a general knowledge of it and finished the bearings, we descended the hill and got on board at ten o'clock. The boat had returned from Boston Island, unsuccessful in her search for water; and we therefore proceeded upward, steering different courses to find the greatest depth. Soon after one o'clock we anchored in 4 fathoms, soft bottom, one mile from the beach at the furthest head of the port, and something less from the southern shore.

Fresh water being at this time the most pressing of our wants, I set off the same afternoon, with a party, to examine the lake or mere discovered from Stamford Hill. The way to it was over low land covered with loose pieces of calcareous rock; the soil was moist in some places, and, though generally barren, was overspread with grass and shrubs, interspersed with a few clumps of small trees. After walking two miles we reached the lake, but to our mortification the water was brackish and not drinkable; the distance, besides, from Port Lincoln was too great to roll casks over a stony road. This piece of water was named Sleaford Mere. It is one mile broad, and appeared to be three or four in length. The shore was a whitish, hardened clay, covered at this time with a thin crust, in which salt was a component part. The sun being too near the horizon to admit of going round the mere, our way was bent towards the ship; and finding a moist place within a hundred yards of the head of the port, I caused a hole to be dug there. A stratum of whitish clay was found at three feet below the surface, and on penetrating this, water drained in, which was perfectly sweet though discoloured; and we had the satisfaction to return on board with the certainty of being able to procure water, although it would probably require some time to fill all our empty casks.

Saturday, 27.—Early in the morning a party of men was sent with spades to dig pits; and the time-keepers and astronomical instruments, with two tents, followed under the charge of Mr. Flinders. I went to attend the digging, leaving orders with Mr. Fowler to moor the ship and send on shore empty casks. The water flowed in pretty freely, and though of a whitish colour, and at first somewhat thick, it was well tasted. Before the evening the observations for the rates of the time-keepers were commenced; and the gunner was installed in the command of a watering party, and furnished with axes to cut wood at such times as the pits might require to be left for replenishing.

The necessary duties being all set forward under the superintendance of proper officers, I employed the following days in surveying and sounding. The direction of the port was too remote from the meridian to obtain a base line from differences of latitude, which, when observed in an artificial horizon, and at stations wide apart, I consider to be the best; nor was there any convenient beach or open place where a base line could be measured. It was therefore attempted in the following manner:—Having left orders on board the ship to fire three guns at given times, I went to the south-east end of Boston Island with a pendulum made to swing half-seconds. It was a musket ball slung with twine, and measured 9.8 inches from the fixed end of the twine to the centre of the ball. From the instant that the flash of the first gun was perceived to the time of hearing the report I counted eighty-five vibrations of the pendulum, and the same with two succeeding guns; whence the length of the base was deduced to be 8.01 geographic miles. A principal station in the survey of Port Lincoln was a hill on the north side called Northside Hill, which afforded a view extending to Sleaford Mere and Bay and as far as Cape Wiles on one side, and to the hills at the beak of Coffin's Bay on the other. A great part of the bearings taken from hence crossed those from Stamford Hill very advantageously.

Amongst the various excursions made by the scientific gentlemen, one was directed to Sleaford Mere, of which they made the circuit. The two southern branches were found to terminate within a hundred yards of the head of Sleaford Bay, with which the mere had been suspected to have a communication from its water being not quite fresh; but they are separated by a stony bank too high for the surf ever to pass over it. At the head of the bay a boat's sail and yard were seen floating, and no doubt had belonged to our unfortunate cutter: after being set out to sea by the tide 3 it had been driven up there by the late south-east winds.

The refitment of the ship being nearly completed on the 3rd of March, lieutenant Fowler was sent round to Memory Cove in a boat, to make a final search along the shores and round the islands in Thorny Passage for the bodies of our late shipmates, which the sea might have thrown up. On the 4th the last turn of water was received, and completed our stock up to sixty tons; and the removal of our establishment from the shore waited only for the observation of a solar eclipse, announced in the nautical ephemeris for this day. The morning was cloudy, with rain; but towards noon the weather cleared up, and I had the satisfaction to observe the eclipse with a refracting telescope of forty-six inches focus, and a power of about two hundred. The beginning took place at 1h 12' 37".8 of apparent time, and the end at 3h 36' 11".8. So soon as the observation was concluded, the tents and astronomical instruments were carried on board, the launch was hoisted in, and everything prepared for going down the port on the following morning.

Many straggling bark huts, similar to those on other parts of the coast were seen upon the shores of Port Lincoln, and the paths near our tents had been long and deeply trodden; but neither in my excursions nor in those of the botanists had any of the natives been discovered. This morning, however, three or four were heard calling to a boat, as was supposed, which had just landed; but they presently walked away, or perhaps retired into the wood to observe our movements. No attempt was made to follow them, for I had always found the natives of this country to avoid those who seemed anxious for communication; whereas, when left entirely alone, they would usually come down after having watched us for a few days. Nor does this conduct seem to be unnatural; for what, in such case, would be the conduct of any people, ourselves for instance, were we living in a state of nature, frequently at war with our neighbours, and ignorant of the existence of any other nation? On the arrival of strangers, so different in complexion and appearance to ourselves, having power to transport themselves over, and even living upon an element which to us was impassable, the first sensation would probably be terror, and the first movement flight. We should watch these extraordinary people from our retreats in the woods and rocks, and if we found ourselves sought and pursued by them, should conclude their designs to be inimical; but if, on the contrary, we saw them quietly employed in occupations which had no reference to us, curiosity would get the better of fear; and after observing them more closely, we should ourselves seek a communication. Such seemed to have been the conduct of these Australians; and I am persuaded that their appearance on the morning when the tents were struck was a prelude to their coming down, and that had we remained a few days longer, a friendly communication would have ensued. The way was, however, prepared for the next ship which may enter this port, as it was to us in King George's Sound by captain Vancouver and the ship Elligood, to whose previous visits and peaceable conduct we were most probably indebted for our early intercourse with the inhabitants of that place. So far as could be perceived with a glass, the natives of this port were the same in personal appearance as those of King George's Sound and Port Jackson. In the hope of conciliating their good will to succeeding visitors, some hatchets and various other articles were left in their paths, or fastened to stumps of the trees which had been cut down near our watering pits.

In expressing an opinion that these people have no means of passing the water, it must be understood to be a deduction from our having met with no canoe, or the remains of any about the port; nor with any tree in the woods from which a sufficient size of bark had been taken to make one. Upon Boston Island, however, there were abundant marks of fire; but they had the appearance, as at Thistle's Island, of having been caused by some conflagration of the woods several years before, rather than of being the small fire-places of the natives.

There are kanguroos on the main land but none were caught; our efforts, both in hunting and fishing, were indeed very confined, and almost wholly unsuccessful. What has been said of the neck of land between the head of the port and Sleaford Mere may be taken as a description of the country in general; it is rocky and barren, but has a sufficient covering of grass, bushes, and small trees not to look desolate. The basis stone is granitic, with a super-stratum of calcareous rock, generally in loose pieces; but in some parts, as at Boston Island, the granite is found at the surface or immediately under the soil. Behind the beach, near our watering pits, the calcareous stone was so imperfectly formed that small shells and bits of coral might be picked out of it. This fact, with the saltness of Sleaford Mere and of a small lake on the south side of the port, accords with the coral found upon Bald Head and various other indications before mentioned to show that this part, at least, of Terra Australis cannot have emerged very many centuries from the sea, the salt imbibed by the rocks having not yet been all washed away by the rains. In the mountains behind Port Jackson, on the East Coast, at a vastly superior elevation, salt is formed in some places by the exhalation of the water which drips from the grit-stone cliffs.

Port Lincoln is certainly a fine harbour; and it is much to be regretted that it possesses no constant run of fresh water, unless it should be in Spalding Cove, which we did not examine. Our pits at the head of the port will, however, supply ships at all times; and though discoloured by whitish clay, the water has no pernicious quality, nor is it ill tasted. This and wood, which was easily procured, were all that we found of use to ships; and for the establishment of a colony, which the excellence of the port might seem to invite, the little fertility of the soil offers no inducement. The wood consists principally of the eucalyptus and casuarina.

Of the climate we had no reason to speak but in praise; nor were we incommoded by noxious insects. The range of the thermometer on board the ship was from 66° to 78° and that of the barometer from 29.4 to 30.20 inches. The weather was generally clouded, the winds light, coming from the eastward in the mornings and southward after noon. On shore the average height of the thermometer at noon was 76°.

On the 5th of March in the morning we ran down the harbour, and anchored under Cape Donington at the entrance of Spalding Cove in 7 fathoms, soft mud; the north-western extremity of the point bearing N. 16° E., one mile, and partly hiding Point Bolingbroke. In the evening, lieutenant Fowler returned from his search. He had rowed and walked along the shore as far as Memory Cove, revisited Thistle's Island, and examined the shores of the isles in Thorny Passage, but could find neither any traces of our lost people nor fragments of the wreck. He had killed two or three kanguroos upon Thistle's Island.

Saturday, 6.—On the following morning I landed at Cape Donington to take some further bearings, and Mr. Evans, the acting master, was sent to sound across the entrance of Spalding Cove, and between Bicker Isles and Surfleet Point, where a small ship-passage was found. The boat was afterwards hoisted up; and our operations in Port Lincoln being completed, we prepared to follow the unknown coast to the northward, or as it might be found to trend.

At ten in the morning of March 6 we sailed out of Port Lincoln, and skirted along the east side of Boston Island and the entrance of Louth Bay, In the afternoon we passed within two miles of Point Bolingbroke, and at six in the evening came to an anchor in 10 fathoms, off the north side of Kirkby Island, which is the nearest to the point of any of Sir Joseph Banks' Group, and had been seen from Stamford Hill. A boat was lowered down to sound about the ship, and I went on shore to take bearings of the different islands; but they proved to be so numerous that the whole could not be completed before dark.

Sunday, 7—1 landed again in the morning with the botanical gentlemen, taking Arnold's watch and the necessary instruments for ascertaining the latitude and longitude. Twelve other isles of the group were counted, and three rocks above water; and it is possible that some others may exist to the eastward, beyond the boundary of my horizon, for it was not extensive. The largest island seen is four or five miles long, and is low and sandy, except at the north-east and south ends; it was called Reevesby Island, and names were applied in the chart to each of the other isles composing this group. The main coast extended northward from Point Bolingbroke, but the furthest part visible from the top of Kirkby Island was not more than four or five leagues distant.

Granite forms the basis of Kirkby Island, as it does of the neighbouring parts of the continent before examined; and it is in the same manner covered with a stratum of calcareous rock. The island was destitute of wood, and almost of shrubs; and although there were marks of its having been frequented by geese, none of the birds were seen, nor any other species of animal except a few hair seals upon the shore. This description, unfavourable as it is, seemed applicable to all the group, with the exception of Reevesby and Spilsby Islands, which are higher and of greater extent, and probably somewhat more productive.

The latitude of the north side of Kirkby Island, observed from an artificial horizon, was 34° 33' 1" south, and longitude by timekeepers, 136° 10' 8" east. The variation from azimuths taken on board the ship at anchor, with the head south-by-west (magnetic as usual), was 2° 40' east; which corrected to the meridian would be 2° 2' east, the same nearly as was observed in Memory Cove and at the entrance of Port Lincoln; but an amplitude taken on shore with the surveying theodolite gave 3° 57' east. This seemed extraordinary when, except at Point Donington, no local attraction of importance had been found in the shores of Port Lincoln, where the stone is the same. It was, however, corroborated by the bearings; for that of Stamford Hill, with 3° 57' allowed, differed only 2' from the back bearing with the allowance of 1° 39'; which is a nearer coincidence than I have generally been able to obtain.

At two in the afternoon the anchor was weighed, and leaving most of Sir Joseph Banks' Group to the right, we steered northward, following the direction of the main land. The coast is very low and commonly sandy, from Boston Bay to the furthest extreme seen from Kirkby Island; but a ridge of hills, commencing at North-side Hill in Port Lincoln, runs a few miles behind it. In latitude 34° 20' this ridge approaches the water side, and in its course northward keeps nearly parallel at the distance of two or three miles. It is moderately elevated, level, destitute of vegetation, and appeared to be granitic. At half-past six, when we hauled off for the night, the shore was five or six miles distant; the furthest part bore N.N.E. ½ E., and a bluff inland mountain was set at N. 71° W., over the top of the front ridge.

The wind was moderate from the south-eastward; and at seven on the following morning, when the bluff inland mountain was bearing W. 2° N., we resumed our north-eastern course along the shore; which was distant seven miles, and had not changed its appearance. Towards noon the water shoaled to 6 fathoms at three miles from a sandy beach; a lagoon was visible from the mast head, over the beach, and a small inlet, apparently connected with it, was perceived soon afterward. A few miles short of this the ridge of hills turns suddenly from the shore, and sweeps round at the back of the lagoon, into which the waters running off the ridge appeared to be received. The corner hill, where the direction of the ridge is changed, was called Elbow Hill; and since losing sight of the bluff inland mount, it was the first distinguishable mark which had presented itself for the survey; it lies in latitude 33° 43' and longitude 136° 42'. The coast there trends nearly east-by-north, and obliged us to haul close to the wind, in soundings Of 7 to 9 fathoms.

We had then advanced more than twenty-five leagues to the north-north-east from Cape Catastrope; but although nothing had been seen to destroy the hopes formed from the tides and direction of the coast near that cape, they were yet considerably damped by the want of boldness in the shores and the shallowness of the water; neither of which seemed to belong to a channel capable of leading us into the Gulph of Carpentaria, nor yet to any very great distance inland.

At two o'clock the shore again took a northern direction, but it was still very low in front, and the depth did not materially increase. Land was presently distinguished on the starbord bow and beam; and before four, an elevated part, called Barn Hill from the form of its top, bore E. 4° N. We continued to follow the line of the western shore, steering north-north-east and north; and the wind being at south, we hauled north-westward at six o'clock, intending to anchor under the shelter of the land. From 7 fathoms the depth diminished to 5. and quickly to seventeen feet; upon which we veered round, ran back into 5 fathoms, and came to an anchor three or four miles off the shore on a sandy bottom. The wind blew fresh, with rainy squalls; but a whole cable being veered out, we rode smoothly all night. The furthest land visible to the northward consisted of detached hummocks of which the highest was called Mount Young in honour of the admiral. Abreast of the ship the land rose gradually from the beach to the ridge of hills which still continued to run behind it; but at this place some back hills were visible over the ridge; and the highest of several hummocks upon the top, which served as a mark in the survey, was named Middle Mount.

Our prospect of a channel or strait, cutting off some considerable portion of Terra Australis, was lost, for it now appeared that the ship was entered into a gulph; but the width of the opening round Point Lowly left us a consolatory hope that it would terminate in a river of some importance. In steering for the point we came into 4 fathoms, but on hauling to the eastward found 8, although a dry sand-bank, was seen in that direction. The depth afterwards diminished to 6, on which the course for Point Lowly was resumed; and we passed it at the distance of a mile and a half, in 9 fathoms water. Here the gulph was found to take a river-like form, but the eastern half of it was occupied by a dry, sandy spit and shoal water. We continued to steer upwards, before the wind; but as the width contracted rapidly, and there was much shoal water, it was under very easy sail, and with an anchor ready to be let go. At four o'clock, in attempting to steer close over to the western side, we came suddenly into 212 fathoms; the ship was instantly veered to the eastward, and on the water deepening to 7, we let go the anchor and veered out a whole cable; for the wind blew a fresh gale right up the gulph, and between S. 4° W. and 30° E. there was no shelter from the land. At sunset a second anchor was dropped under foot.

We had reached near five leagues above Point Lowly, at the entrance of the narrow part of the gulph; but the shores were low on both sides, and abreast of the ship not so much as four miles asunder. At the back of the eastern shore was the ridge of mountains before mentioned, of which Mr. Westall made the sketch given in the Atlas; and the highest peak toward their northern extremity, afterwards called Mount Brown, bore N. 32° E. On the western side, upwards, there was moderately high, flat-topped land, whose eastern bluff bore N. 36° W., about three leagues, and there the head of the gulph had the appearance of terminating; but as the tide ran one mile an hour past the ship, we still flattered ourselves with the prospect of a longer course, and that it would end in a fresh-water river.

Wednesday, 10.—Early on the following morning, Messrs. Brown, Bauer and Westall, with attendants, set off upon an excursion to the eastern mountains, intending, if possible, to ascend to the top of Mount Brown; and I went away in a cutter, accompanied by the surgeon, to explore the head of the gulph, taking with me Arnold's pocket time-keeper. After crossing the middle shoal, upon which we had 2½ fathoms in the ship, the water deepened to 10, but afterwards diminished to 2, on approaching the mangroves of the western side. Keeping then upwards, I had from 7 to 10 fathoms in the mid-channel, but found shoal water extending a mile, and sometimes more, from the shore and no possibility of landing until we came near the broad, flat-topped hill. From the eastern bluff of this hill, Mount Brown bore N. 62° 20' E., and Mount Arden, a peak nearly at the furthest extreme of the ridge, N. 18' 40' E.; and the inlet was seen to run in a serpentine form to the northward, between low banks covered with mangroves. After taking the bearings we returned to the boat and pursued our course upward along the western shore, having from 4 to 7 fathoms past the bluff; but the inlet was there less than two miles wide, and a league further on it was contracted to one mile, half of which, besides, was occupied by mud flats. These banks were frequented by ducks and other water fowl; and some time being occupied in chasing them, our distance above the ship was not so much as five leagues in a straight line, when the setting sun reminded us of looking out for a place of rest. A landing was effected with some difficulty amongst the mangroves on the eastern shore; and from a small eminence of red earth I set the ship's mast heads at S. 14° E., and Mount Brown N. 85° E.

Thursday, 11.—Next morning we continued the examination upwards, carrying 4, 3, and 2 fathoms in mid-channel; but at ten o'clock our oars touched the mud on each side, and it was not possible to proceed further. I then landed and took observations in an artificial horizon for the time-keeper, which gave 4' 34" of longitude to the west of the ship, or only two seconds more than was deduced from the bearings. Mount Brown bore S. 72° E., Mount Arden N. 26° E., and my last station on the eminence of red earth S. 6° E. The inlet wholly terminated at one mile and a half to the N. 16° W.

It seemed remarkable, and was very mortifying, to find the water at the head of the gulph as salt nearly as at the ship; nevertheless it was evident that much fresh water was thrown into it in wet seasons, especially from the eastern mountains. The summits of the ridge lie from three to four leagues back from the water-side, but the greater part of that space seemed to be low, marshy land. To the northward no hill was visible, and to the westward but one small elevation of flat-topped land; all else in those directions was mangroves and salt swamps, and they seemed to be very extensive.

Two miles below the place where the observations for the time-keeper were taken was a small cliff of reddish clay on the western shore; and being near it on our return, when the sun was approaching the meridian, I landed to observe the latitude. It was 32° 27' 56" south, so that the termination of the gulph may be called in 32° 24½' without making a greater error than half a mile. Mount Brown bore from thence S. 80½° E., and its latitude will therefore be 32° 30¼' south; the longitude deduced from bearings and the time-keepers on board is 138° 0¾' east.

Our return to the ship was a good deal retarded by going after the black swans and ducks amongst the flats. The swans were all able to fly, and would not allow themselves to be approached; but some ducks of two or three different species were shot, and also several sea-pies or red-bills. Another set of bearings was taken on the western shore, and at ten in the evening we reached the ship, where Mr. Brown and his party had not been long arrived. The ascent of Mount Brown had proved to be very difficult, besides having to walk fifteen miles on a winding course before reaching the foot; by perseverance, however, they gained the top at five on the first evening, but were reduced to passing the night without water; nor was any found until they had descended some distance on the following day. The view from the top of Mount Brown was very extensive, its elevation being not less than three thousand feet; but neither rivers nor lakes could be perceived, nor anything of the sea to the south-eastward. In almost every direction the eye traversed over an uninterruptedly flat, woody country; the sole exceptions being the ridge of mountains extending north and south, and the water of the gulph to the south-westward.

Mr. Brown found the stone of this ridge of craggy mountains to be argillaceous, similar to that of the flat-topped land where I had taken bearings on the west side of the inlet. It is reddish, smooth, close-grained, and rather heavy. Bushes and some small trees grown in the hollows of the rising hills; and between their feet and the mangrove swamps near the water there was some tolerably good though shallow soil.

We had seen fires upon the eastern shore opposite to Point Lowly on first entering the head of the gulph, and wherever I had landed there were traces of natives; Mr. Brown found them even to a considerable height up the side of the mountain; and it should therefore seem that the country here is as well inhabited as most parts of Terra Australis, but we had not the good fortune to meet with any of the people.

We had two flood tides in the day setting past the ship, and they ran at the strongest one mile and a half per hour; the rise appeared to be from six to eight feet, and high water to take place at two hours and a half after the moon passed the meridian. Except in the time of high water, which is considerably later than at Thorny Passage, the tides at the head have a near affinity to those at the entrance of the gulph; whence the great differences at Port Lincoln, intermediately situate, become so much the more extraordinary.

Saturday, 13.—Nothing of particular interest having presented itself to detain us at the head of the gulph, we got under way in the morning of the 13th, having a light breeze from the northwestward. The western shore had been followed in going up, and for that reason I proposed to keep close to the east side in returning; but before eight o'clock the water shoaled suddenly from 4 to 2 fathoms, and the ship hung upon a mud bank covered with grass, two or three miles from the shore. A kedge anchor was carried out astern; and in half an hour we again made sail downward in soundings from 5 to 10 fathoms near the edge of the shoal.

Sunday, 14.—In the morning we followed the line of the great eastern shoal, and its direction permitted us to approach nearer to the land, with soundings between 8 and 4 fathoms. A little before noon, after running half an hour in less than 4 fathoms and getting within about six miles of the land, we were obliged to tack and stretch off, the wind having veered to the south-west. We beat to windward all the afternoon, and at sunset anchored in 3½ fathoms near the edge of the great bank and seven or eight miles from the land. The shore was low and sandy, but there was a ridge of hills behind it nearly similar to that on the west side of the gulph. Barn Hill lies at the back of this ridge and about twelve miles from the water; and towards the southern end of the ridge was another hill, also some distance inland, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. A middle mount on the west side of the gulph, higher and further back than the one before set, was in sight from this anchorage.

Monday, 15.—On the morning of the 15th the wind had shifted to south-east; and the great bank then trending south-westward, we followed it with variable soundings between 3 and 10 fathoms. At ten o'clock the water had deepened to 15; and being then nearer to the west than to the east side of the gulph, and the wind having come more ahead, we tacked to the east-south-east; but in fifty minutes were obliged to steer westward again, having fallen into 3 fathoms on the edge of the bank. This is the narrowest part of the gulph below Point Lowly, the two shores being scarcely more than twenty miles asunder; and of this space, the great eastern bank, if the part where we last had 3 fathoms be connected with it, occupies about eleven, and the shallow water of the west side one or two miles. The soundings we had in stretching westward across the deep channel were, from the shoal, 3. 5, 7, 10, 12; 12, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 7, 6, 5 fathoms, at nearly equal distances asunder, and the last at six miles from the western land.

After sounding across the channel we stood back, lying up south-east, and reached within five miles of the eastern shore, where the anchor was dropped in 4½ fathoms; Barn Hill bearing N. 69° E., and a cliffy projection, named Point Riley after the gentleman of that name in the Admiralty, S. 14° W., two or three leagues. This point was the furthest visible part of the eastern shore; and so low and uniform had the coast been from the head of the gulph, that this was the first mark I had found upon it for the survey. The great eastern bank, which we had already followed about sixty miles, seemed to terminate at Point Riley; and from thence southward the gulph greatly enlarges its breadth. The situation of the point is about 33° 53' south and 137° 30' E.

We got under way at six in the morning, and the wind being from the south-eastward made a good stretch along the coast until noon. A patch of breakers then lay five miles to the southeast; but the land was ten miles distant, and some white sandy cliffs, four or five leagues from Point Riley, bore S. 52° E. The intermediate coast, as also that which extends several leagues to the north of the point, is low and sandy; but at a few miles back it rises to a level land of moderate elevation, and is not ill clothed with small trees. In the afternoon we had to beat against a southern wind; and the coast In that part being too open for anchorage, this was continued all night and the next morning; but with so little profit that the same land was still in sight at noon. At six in the evening the reddish cliffs were brought to bear N. 44° E., and a long point, or an island lying off a point, bore S. 43° W. two leagues. Our distance from a cliffy islet, close under the shore, was two or three miles, but the breakers from it were only half a mile off, and the depth was 4 fathoms.

On the 18th, in the morning, we fetched to windward of the island-like point, to which I gave the name of Point Pearce, in compliment to Mr. Pearce of the Admiralty. Its latitude is 34° 28½' south and longitude 137° 21' east. On the south side of this point or island, for I could not fully ascertain its connection, the shore falls back seven or eight miles to the east, and then trends southward. It is low and very sandy, but rises gradually to a level country of the same description as that near Point Riley. At sunset the land was seen as far as south-west-by-south; and the wind favouring us a little, we made a stretch for it. A fire upon the shore served as a mark to steer by; and on approaching it at ten o'clock, the anchor was let go in 6 fathoms, upon a bottom of coarse sand and small stones, the weather being fine, and wind moderate off the land.

The howling of dogs was heard during the night, and at daylight the shore was found to be distant two or three miles, and was woody, rising land, but not of much elevation. A remarkable point, which I named Corny Point, bearing S 73° W. three miles, was the furthest land visible to the westward; its latitude, from meridian observations of Jupiter and the moon, is 34° 52' South, and longitude from the time-keepers 137° 6½' east. Between this point and Point Pearce, twenty-eight miles to the north-north-east, is a large bay, well sheltered from all southern winds, and none others seem to blow with much strength here. The land trends eastward about seven leagues, from Corny Point to the head of the bay; but what the depth of water may be there, or whether any fresh stream fall into it, I am not able to state; the land, however, was better wooded, and had a more fertile appearance than any before seen in the neighbourhood. I called this Hardwicke Bay, in honour of the noble earl of that title.

Although the continuation of the main coast was not to be distinguished beyond the cape, yet there was land in sight at the distance of seven or eight leagues, from about south to S. 18½° W. Whether this land were an island or a part of the continent, and the wide opening to the eastward a strait or a new inlet, was uncertain; but in either case, the investigation of the gulph was terminated; and in honour of the respectable nobleman who presided at the Board of Admiralty when the voyage was planned and ship put into commission, I named it Spencer's Gulph. The cliffy-pointed cape which forms the east side of the entrance, and lies in 35° 18' south and 136° 55' east, was named Cape Spencer; and the three isles lying off it, with their rocks, Althorp Isles.

A line drawn from the nearest part of Cape Catastrophe to Cape Spencer will be forty-eight miles long, and so much is the entrance of the gulph in width. Gambier's Isles lie not far from the middle of the line; and if we measure upward from them, the gulph will be found, without regard to the small windings, to extend one hundred and eighty-five miles into the interior of the country. For the general exactness of its form in the chart I can answer with tolerable confidence, having seen all that is laid down, and, as usual, taken every angle which enters into the construction. Throughout the whole extent of the shores the water line was almost every where distinguished; the only exceptions being small portions at the head of Hardwicke and Louth Bays, of a bight near Point Lowly, and of the low land at the back of the great Eastern Shoal.

At noon, when off Cape Spencer, the wind became variable and light, with very hazy, cloudy weather; and the mercury in my marine barometer had fallen two-tenths of an inch. At six in the evening a breeze sprung up at west-north-west; and as I expected a gale would come on, and that as usual it would veer to the south-west, we ceased to follow the coast beyond Cape Spencer, and steered for the land seen in the southern quarter. The Althorp Isles were passed at eight o'clock, at the distance of eight or nine miles; and the wind being fresh at west, we made short trips during the night between the two lands, not knowing what might be in the space to leeward. At daylight the ship was nearly in mid-channel, between the southern land and Cape Spencer, and nothing was seen to the eastward. It then blew a fresh gale at south-west, with much sea running; we stretched south-west under close-reefed top-sails, to get under the lee of the southern land; and at eight o'clock, when the largest Althorp Isle bore N. 32° W., it was distant six or seven miles to the south, and extended from S. 61° W. to 79° E. as far as the eye could reach. It was rather high and cliffy; but there was nothing by which to judge of its connection with the main.

At ten o'clock we were close under the land; and finding the water tolerably smooth, had shortened sail with the intention of anchoring near a small, sandy beach; but the situation proving to be too much exposed, we steered eastward along the shore under two close-reefed topsails and fore-sail, the wind blowing strong in squalls from the south-west. The furthest land seen ahead at noon was a projecting point, lower than the other cliffs; it bore E. 7° S., four leagues, and lies in 35° 33' south and 137° 41' east. It was named Point Marsden, in compliment to the second secretary of the Admiralty; and beyond it the coast was found to trend southward into a large bay containing three coves, any one of which promised good shelter from the gale. This was called Nepean Bay, in compliment to the first secretary (now sir Evan Nepean, Bart.), and we hauled up for it; but the strength of the wind was such that a head land forming the east side of the bay was fetched with difficulty. At six in the evening we came to anchor in 9 fathoms, sandy bottom, within a mile of the shore; the east extreme bearing S. 76° E., and the land near Point Marsden, on the west side of Nepean Bay, N. 61' W., six leagues. A piece of high land, seemingly unconnected, bore from N. 45° to 78° E.; but no land could be distinguished to the northward.

Neither smokes nor other marks of inhabitants had as yet been perceived upon the southern land, although we had passed along seventy miles of its coast. It was too late to go on shore this evening; but every glass in the ship was pointed there, to see what could be discovered. Several black lumps, like rocks, were pretended to have been seen in motion by some of the young gentlemen, which caused the force of their imaginations to be much admired; next morning, however, on going toward the shore, a number of dark-brown kanguroos were seen feeding upon a grass-plat by the side of the wood and our landing gave them no disturbance. I had with me a double-barrelled gun, fitted with a bayonet, and the gentlemen my companions had muskets. It would be difficult to guess how many kanguroos were seen; but I killed ten, and the rest of the party made up the number to thirty-one, taken on board in the course of the day; the least of them weighing sixty-nine, and the largest one hundred and twenty-five pounds. These kanguroos had much resemblance to the large species found in the forest lands of New South Wales, except that their colour was darker, and they were not wholly destitute of fat.

After this butchery, for the poor animals suffered themselves to be shot in the eyes with small shot, and in some cases to be knocked on the head with sticks, I scrambled with difficulty through the brushwood, and over fallen trees, to reach the higher land with the surveying instruments; but the thickness and height of the wood prevented anything else from being distinguished. There was little doubt, however, that this extensive piece of land was separated from the continent; for the extraordinary tameness of the kanguroos and the presence of seals upon the shore concurred with the absence of all traces of men to show that it was not inhabited.

The whole ship's company was employed this afternoon in skinning and cleaning the kanguroos; and a delightful regale they afforded, after four months' privation from almost any fresh provisions. Half a hundred weight of heads, forequarters and tails were stewed down into soup for dinner on this and the succeeding days; and as much steaks given, moreover, to both officers and men as they could consume by day and by night. In gratitude for so seasonable a supply I named this southern land Kanguroo Island.

Tuesday, 23.—Next day was employed in shifting the topmasts on account of some rents found in the heels. The scientific gentlemen landed again to examine the natural productions of the island, and in the evening eleven more kanguroos were brought on board; but most of these were smaller, and seemed to be of a different species to those of the preceding day. Some of the party saw several large running birds; which, according to their description, seemed to have been the emu or cassowary.

Not being able to obtain a distinct view from any elevated situation, I took a set of angles from a small projection near the ship, named Kanguroo Head; but nothing could be seen to the north, and the sole bearing of importance, more than had been taken on board, was that of a high hill at the extremity of the apparently unconnected land to the eastward: it bore N. 39° 10' E., and was named Mount Lofty. The nearest part of that land was a low point bearing N. 60° E. nine or ten miles; but the land immediately at the back was high, and its northern and southern extremes were cliffy. I named it Cape Jervis, and it was afterwards sketched by Mr. Westall.

All the cliffs of Kanguroo Island seen to the west of the anchorage had the appearance of being calcareous, and the loose stones scattered over the surface of Kanguroo Head and the vicinity were of that substance; but the basis in this part seemed to be a brown slate, lying in strata nearly horizontal, and laminae of quartz were sometimes seen in the interstices. In some places the slate was split into pieces of a foot long, or more, like iron bars, and had a shining, ore-like appearance; and the strata were then further from the horizontal line than I observed them to be elsewhere.

A thick wood covered almost all that part of the island visible from the ship; but the trees in a vegetating state were not equal in size to the generality of those lying on the ground, nor to the dead trees standing upright. Those on the ground were so abundant that in ascending the higher land a considerable part of the walk was made upon them. They lay in all directions, and were nearly of the same size and in the same progress towards decay; from whence it would seem that they had not fallen from age, nor yet been thrown down in a gale of wind. Some general conflagration, and there were marks apparently of fire on many of them, is perhaps the sole cause which can be reasonably assigned; but whence came the woods on fire? That there were no inhabitants upon the island, and that the natives of the continent did not visit it, was demonstrated, if not by the want of all signs of such visit, yet by the tameness of the kanguroo, an animal which, on the continent, resembles the wild deer in timidity. Perhaps lightning might have been the cause, or possibly the friction of two dead trees in a strong wind; but it would be somewhat extraordinary that the same thing should have happened at Thistle's Island, Boston Island and at this place, and apparently about the same time. Can this part of Terra Australis have been visited before, unknown to the world? The French navigator, La Pérouse, was ordered to explore it, but there seems little probability that he ever passed Torres' Strait.

Some judgment may be formed of the epoch when these conflagrations happened from the magnitude of the growing trees; for they must have sprung up since that period. They were a species of eucalyptus, and being less than the fallen trees, had most probably not arrived at maturity; but the wood is hard and solid, and it may thence be supposed to grow slowly. With these considerations I should be inclined to fix the period at not less than ten, nor more than twenty years before our arrival. This brings us back to La Perouse. He was in Botany Bay in the beginning of 1788; and if he did pass through Torres' Strait, and come round to this coast, as was his intention, it would probably be about the middle or latter end of that year, or between thirteen and fourteen years before the Investigator. My opinion is not favourable to this conjecture; but I have furnished all the data to enable the reader to form his own judgment upon the cause which might have prostrated the woods of these islands.

The soil of that part of Kanguroo Island examined by us was judged to be much superior to any before seen, either upon the south coast of the continent or upon the islands near it, with the exception of some portions behind the harbours of King George's Sound. The depth of the soil was not particularly ascertained; but from the thickness of the wood it cannot be very shallow. Some sand is mixed with the vegetable earth, but not in any great proportion; and I thought the soil superior to some of the land cultivated at Port Jackson, and to much of that in our stony counties in England.

Never perhaps had the dominion possessed here by the kanguroo been invaded before this time. The seal shared with it upon the shores, but they seemed to dwell amicably together. It not unfrequently happened that the report of a gun fired at a kanguroo near the beach brought out two or three bellowing seals from under bushes considerably further from the water-side. The seal, indeed, seemed to be much the most discerning animal of the two; for its actions bespoke a knowledge of our not being kanguroos, whereas the kanguroo not unfrequently appeared to consider us to be seals.

March 24, in the morning, we got under way from Kanguroo Island in order to take up the examination of the main coast at Cape Spencer, where it had been quitted in the evening of the 20th, when the late gale commenced. The wind had continued to blow fresh from the southward, but had now moderated, and was at south-west. We steered north-westward from ten o'clock till six in the evening, and then had sight of land extending from N. 62° W. to a low part terminating at N. 17° E. distant three leagues. A hummock upon this low part was named Troubridge Hill, and at first it makes like an island. Nothing was visible to the eastward of the low land; whence I judged there to be another inlet or a strait between it and Cape Jervis. Soon after dusk the wind veered to south-by-east, on which we steered south-westward, and continued the same course until four in the morning; when the largest Althorp Isle being seen to the north-west, the ship was hove to, with her head eastward.

The wind fixed itself at south-east, and it took us two days to work back against it as far as Troubridge Hill. The shore is generally low and sandy; but with the exception of one very low point, it may be approached within two miles. Many tacks were made in these two days from the northern land across to Kanguroo Island, and gave opportunities of sounding the intermediate strait. From 45 fathoms, in the middle of the western entrance, the depth diminished quickly to 25, then more slowly to 20 after which it is irregular between 12 and 20 fathoms as far as the mouth of the second inlet. Of the two sides, that of Kanguroo Island is much the deepest; but there is no danger in any part to prevent a ship passing through the strait with perfect confidence, and the average width is twenty-three miles. It was named Investigator's Strait, after the ship. The bottom is mostly broken shells, mixed with sand, gravel or coral, and appeared to hold well.

Monday, 29.—In the morning, land was seen to the westward, and also a hummocky mountain, capped with clouds, apparently near the head of the inlet. There being almost no wind in the morning, we remained at anchor until nine o'clock, to set up afresh the rigging of the new topmasts; and I took a boat to sound upon a rippling near the ship, but found the same depth Of 5 fathoms. Very little progress was made until noon, at which time shoal water obliged us to steer westward. At three the soundings had increased from 3½ to 10 fathoms, which was the deepest water to be found; for it became shallower on approaching the western shore. After steering various northwardly courses, we anchored at sunset in 5 fathoms, sand, shells and broken coral; the shores then appeared to close round at the distance of seven or eight miles; and the absence of tide gave no prospect of finding any river at the head of the inlet.

Tuesday, 30.—Early in the morning I went in a boat, accompanied by the naturalist, to examine more closely the head of the gulph. We carried from 4 to 3 fathoms water four miles above the ship, when it shoaled to fifteen and eight feet, which brought us to mud flats, nearly dry; but by means of a small channel amongst them we got within half a mile of the shore, and walked to it upon a bank of mud and sand.

It was then ten o'clock, and the tide was out; so that I judged the time of high water to be about seven hours after the moon's passage, or three hours later than at Kanguroo Island; and the ordinary rise appeared A to be six or eight feet. An observation of the sun's meridian altitude from the artificial horizon showed the landing-place to be in latitude 34° 8' 52", and the uppermost water might be 30" less; whence the extent of this inlet, from Cape Jervis on the east side of the entrance, is 1° 30' of latitude.

Microscopic shells of various kinds, not larger than grains of wheat, were heaped up in ridges at high-water mark; further back the shore was sandy, but soon rose, in an undulating manner, to hills covered with grass; and several clumps of trees scattered over them gave the land a pleasing appearance from the water side. We set off in the afternoon for the Hummock Mount, which stands upon a northern prolongation of the hills on the west side of the inlet, and about eight miles from the water; but finding it could not be reached in time to admit of returning on board the same evening, I ascended a nearer part of the range to inspect the head of the inlet. It was almost wholly occupied by flats, which seemed to be sandy in the eastern part and muddy to the westward. These flats abounded with rays; and had we been provided with a harpoon, a boat load might have been caught. One black swan and several shags and gulls were seen.

I found the grass upon these pleasant-looking hills to be thinly set, the trees small, and the land poor in vegetable soil. The mountainous ridge on the east side of the inlet passes within a few miles of Hummock Mount, and appeared to be more sandy; but the wood upon it was abundant, and of a larger growth. Between the two ranges is a broad valley, swampy at the bottom; and into it the water runs down from both sides in rainy weather, and is discharged into the gulph, which may be considered as the lower and wider part of the valley.

This eastern ridge is the same which rises at Cape Jervis; from whence it extends northward towards Barn Hill and the ridge of mountains on the east side of Spencer's Gulph. If it joins that ridge, as I strongly suspect, its length, taking it only from Cape Jervis to Mount Arden, will be more than seventy leagues in a straight line. There are some considerable elevations on the southern part; Mount Lofty is one of them, and its height appeared nearly equal to that of Mount Brown to the north, or about three thousand feet. Another lies six or seven miles to the north-by-east of the Hummock Mount, near the head of this inlet, and seems to have been the hill set from Spencer's Gulph, at the anchorage of March 14, in the evening, when it was distant ten or eleven leagues and appeared above the lower range in front of Barn Hill.

From my station on the western hills of the new inlet, across to Spencer's Gulph, the distance was not more than thirty miles; but as I did not ascend the highest part of the range, the water to the westward could not be seen. Had the Hummock Mount been within my reach, its elevation of near fifteen hundred feet would probably have afforded an extensive view, both across the peninsula and of the country to the northward.

In honour of the noble admiral who presided at the Board of Admiralty when I sailed from England, and had continued to the voyage that countenance and protection of which Earl Spencer had set the example, I named this new inlet the Gulph of St. Vincent. To the peninsula which separates it from Spencer's Gulph I have affixed the name of Yorke's Peninsula, in honour of the Right Honourable Charles Philip Yorke, who followed the steps of his above-mentioned predecessors at the Admiralty.

On the 31st at daylight we got under way to proceed down the gulph, and having followed the eastern shore in going up, I wished to trace the coast of the peninsula in returning; but the wind being nearly at south, it could only be done partially. At two in the af ternoon we tacked in 3 fathoms from the eastern shoals, and at sunset in the same depth one mile from the western side; our distance from the head of the gulph being then about ten leagues, and the furthest land of the peninsula bearing S. 3° E. The western hills come down nearly to the water-side here, and have the same pleasant appearance as at the head of the gulph, being grassy, with clumps of wood scattered over them; the coast-line is somewhat cliffy, and not so low as the eastern shore.

April 1.—During the night the wind veered round to east, and at three in the morning to north-east; and a fire being seen on the eastern shore, the fore top sail was laid to the mast. At daybreak we made sail west for the land of the peninsula; and at half-past nine it was less than five miles distant, being very low and sandy. The northern extreme then in sight appeared to be the same land set in the evening at S. 3° E.; the other extreme was not far from Troubridge Hill, on the west side of the entrance to the gulph; and near it was an extensive bank, part of it dry, which I called Troubridge Shoal.

Our examination of the gulph of St. Vincent was now finished; and the country round it had appeared to be generally superior to that on the borders of Spencer's Gulph. Yorke's Peninsula between them is singular in its form, bearing some resemblance to a very ill-shaped leg and foot. The length of the southern part, from Cape Spencer to the sandy point near Troubridge Shoal, is about forty-five miles; and from thence northward, to where the peninsula joins the main land, about sixty miles. Its least breadth is from the head of Hardwicke Bay to the Investigator's Strait, where it appears to be not more than three leagues.

Having now made myself acquainted with the shores of the continent up to Cape Jervis, it remained to pursue the discovery further eastward; but I wished to ascertain previously whether any error had crept into the time-keepers' rates since leaving Kanguroo Island, and also to procure there a few more fresh meals for my ship's company. Our course was in consequence directed for the island, which was visible from aloft; but the winds being very feeble, we did not pass Kanguroo Head until eleven at night. I purposed to have run up into the eastern cove of Nepean Bay, but finding the water to shoal from 12 to 7 fathoms, did not think it safe to go further in the dark, and therefore dropped the anchor about three-quarters of a mile from the shore, and two miles to the south-west-by-west of our former anchorage.

Friday, 2.—Early on the following morning a party was sent to shoot kanguroos, another to cut wood, and the naturalists went to pursue their researches. The observations taken by lieutenant Flinders, compared with those of March 24th, showed the timekeepers to have erred 2' 10" of longitude to the west in the nine days we had been absent; and they had not, consequently, lost quite so much upon a medium as the Port Lincoln rates supposed. This small error, which principally affected the Gulph of St. Vincent, has been corrected in the longitudes there specified and in the chart by an equal proportion.

The kanguroos were found to be less numerous than at the first anchoring place, and they had become shy, so that very few were killed. Those few being brought off, with a boat load of wood, we got under way at daylight next morning to prosecute the examination of the coast beyond Cape Jervis; but the timekeepers had stopped, from having been neglected to be wound up on the preceding day. We therefore came to an anchor again; and as some time would be required to fix new rates, the ship was moored so soon as the flood tide made. I landed immediately, to commence the necessary observations, and a party was established on shore, abreast of the ship, to cut more wood for the holds. Lieutenant Fowler was sent in the launch to the eastward, with a shooting party and such of the scientific gentlemen as chose to accompany him; and there being skins wanted for the service of the rigging, he was directed to kill some seals.

On the 4th I was accompanied by the naturalist in a boat expedition to the head of the large eastern cove of Nepean Bay, intending if possible to ascend a sandy eminence behind it, from which alone there was any hope of obtaining a view into the interior of the island, all the other hills being thickly covered with wood. On approaching the south-west corner of the cove, a small opening was found leading into a considerable piece of water; and by one of its branches we reached within little more than a mile of the desired sandy eminence. After I had observed the latitude 35° 50' 2" from an artificial horizon, we got through the wood without much difficulty, and at one o'clock reached the top of the eminence, to which was given the name of Prospect Hill. Instead of a view into the interior of the island, I was surprised to find the sea at not more than one and half or two miles to the southward. Two points of the coast towards the east end of the island bore S. 77° E., and the furthest part on the other side, a low point with breakers round it, bore S. 33° W., at the supposed distance of four or five leagues. Between these extremes a large bight in the south coast was formed; but it is entirely exposed to southern winds, and the shores are mostly cliffy. Mount Lofty, on the east side of the Gulph of St. Vincent, was visible from Prospect Hill at the distance of sixty-nine miles, and bore N. 40° 40' E.

The entrance of the piece of water at the head of Nepean Bay is less than half a mile in width, and mostly shallow; but there is a channel sufficiently deep for all boats near the western shore. After turning two low islets near the east point the water opens out, becomes deeper, and divides into two branches, each of two or three miles long. Boats can go to the head of the southern branch only at high water; the east branch appeared to be accessible at all times, but as a lead and line were neglected to be put into the boat, I had no opportunity of sounding. There are four small islands in the eastern branch; one of them is moderately high and woody, the others are grassy and lower; and upon two of these we found many young pelicans, unable to fly. Flocks of the old birds were sitting upon the beaches of the lagoon, and it appeared that the islands were their breeding-places; not only so, but from the number of skeletons and bones there scattered, it should seem that they had for ages been selected for the closing scene of their existence. Certainly none more likely to be free from disturbance of every kind could have been chosen than these islets in a hidden lagoon of an uninhabited island, situate upon an unknown coast near the antipodes of Europe; nor can anything be more consonant to the feelings, if pelicans have any, than quietly to resign their breath whilst surrounded by their progeny, and in the same spot where they first drew it. Alas for the pelicans! Their golden age is past; but it has much exceeded in duration that of man.

I named this piece of water Pelican Lagoon. It is also frequented by flocks of the pied shag, and by some ducks and gulls; and the shoals supplied us with a few oysters. The surrounding country is almost everywhere thickly covered with brushwood; and the soil appeared to be generally of a good quality, though not deep. Prospect Hill and the parts around it are more sandy; and there seemed to be swamps at the head of both branches of the lagoon. The isthmus which separates the southern branch from the sea is low, but rises gradually up the cliffs of the coast.

Not being able to return on board the same night, we slept near the entrance of the lagoon. It was high water by the shore, on the morning of the 5th, at six o'clock; but on comparing this with the swinging of the ship, it appeared that the tide had then been running more than an hour from the westward. The rise in the lagoon seemed to be from four to eight feet.

A few kanguroos had been obtained during my absence, as also some seal skins; but one of the sailors having attacked a large seal incautiously, received a very severe bite in the leg and was laid up. After all the researches now made in the island, it appeared that the kanguroos were much more numerous at our first landing-place, near Kanguroo Head, than elsewhere in the neighbourhood. That part of the island was clearer of wood than most others; and there were some small grass-plats which seemed to be particularly attractive and were kept very bare. Not less than thirty emus or cassowaries were seen at different times; but it so happened that they were fired at only once, and that ineffectually. They were most commonly found near the longest of the small beaches to the eastward of Kanguroo Head, where some little drainings of water oozed from the rocks. It is possible that with much time and labour employed in digging, water might be procured there to supply a ship; and I am sorry to say that it was the sole place found by us where the hope of procuring fresh water could be entertained.

Having received on board a good stock of wood, the launch was hoisted in and every thing prepared for going to sea. Next morning, so soon as the sun was sufficiently elevated to be observed in the artificial horizon, I landed to take the last set of observations for the time-keepers; after which the anchor was weighed, and we steered out of Nepean Bay with a light breeze from the southwest. Towards noon it fell calm, and finding by the land that the ship was set westward, an anchor was dropped nearly in our first place off Kanguroo Head.

The approach of the winter season, and an apprehension that the discovery of the remaining unknown part of the South Coast might not be completed before a want of provisions would make it necessary to run for Port Jackson, prevented me from stopping a day longer at Kanguroo Island than was necessary to obtaining rates for the time-keepers, and consequently from examining the south and west parts of that island. The direction of the main coast and the inlets it might form were the most important points to be now ascertained; and the details of particular parts, which it would interfere too much with those objects to examine, were best referred to the second visit, directed by my instructions to be made to this coast. When, therefore, the rising of a breeze made it advisable to get under way from Kanguroo Head, which was not until two in the afternoon, we proceeded for the eastern outlet of the Investigator's Strait, in order to prosecute the discovery beyond Cape Jervis.

This part of the Investigator's Strait is not more, in the narrowest part, than seven miles across. It forms a private entrance, as it were, to the two gulphs; and I named it Back-stairs Passage. The small bay where we had anchored is called the Ante-chamber; and the cape which forms the eastern head of the bay and of Kanguroo Island, and lies in 35° 48' south and 138° 13' east, received the appellation of Cape Willoughby. Without side of the passage, and almost equidistant from both shores, there are three small, rocky islets near together, called the Pages, whose situation is in latitude 35° 46½' and longitude 138° 21' east; these are the sole dangers in Backstairs Passage, and two of them are conspicuous. Our soundings in beating through were from 8 to 23 fathoms; and in a strong rippling of tide like breakers there was from 10 to 12, upon a bottom of stones and shells.

At eight in the evening we tacked from Cape Willoughby; and having passed to windward of the Pages, stretched on east and north-eastward until four in the morning. Land was then seen under the lee, and a tack made off shore till daylight, when we stood in with the wind at east-south-east. At nine the land was distant five miles, and of a very different aspect to that of Cape Jervis. As far as six leagues from the cliffy southern extremity of the Cape the land is high, rocky and much cut by gullies or ravines; a short, scrubby brush-wood covers the seaward side, and the stone appeared to be slaty, like the opposite cliffs of Kanguroo Island. But here the hills fall back from the sea, and the shore becomes very low with some hummocks of sand upon it; and the same description of coast prevailed as far as could be seen to the eastward.

Before two in the afternoon we stretched eastward again, and at four a white rock was reported from aloft to be seen ahead. On approaching nearer it proved to be a ship standing towards us, and we cleared for action, in case of being attacked. The stranger was a heavy-looking ship, without any top-gallant masts up; and our colours being hoisted, she showed a French ensign, and afterwards an English jack forward, as we did a white flag. At half-past five, the land being then five miles distant to the north-eastward, I hove to, and learned, as the stranger passed to leeward with a free wind, that it was the French national ship Le Géographe, under the command of captain Nicolas Baudin. We veered round as Le Géographe was passing, so as to keep our broadside to her, lest the flag of truce should be a deception; and having come to the wind on the other tack, a boat was hoisted out, and I went on board the French ship, which had also hove to.

As I did not understand French, Mr. Brown, the naturalist, went with me in the boat. We were received by an officer who pointed out the commander, and by him were conducted into the cabin. I requested captain Baudin to show me his passport from the Admiralty; and when it was found and I had perused it, offered mine from the French marine minister, but he put it back without inspection. He then informed me that he had spent some time in examining the south and east parts of Van Diemen's Land, where his geographical engineer, with the largest boat and a boat's crew, had been left, and probably lost. In Bass Strait captain Baudin had encountered a heavy gale, the same we had experienced in a less degree on March 21 in the Investigator's Strait. He was then separated from his consort, Le Naturaliste; but having since had fair winds and fine weather, he had explored the South Coast from Western Port to the place of our meeting without finding any river, inlet or other shelter which afforded anchorage. I inquired concerning a large island said to lie in the western entrance of Bass Strait; but he had not seen it, and seemed to doubt much of its existence.

Captain Baudin was communicative of his discoveries about Van Diemen's land; as also of his criticisms upon an English chart of Bass Strait published in 1800 He found great fault with the north side of the strait, but commended the form given to the south side and to the islands near it. On my pointing out a note upon the chart, explaining that the north side of the strait was seen only in an open boat by Mr. Bass, who had no good means of fixing either latitude or longitude de, he appeared surprised, not having before paid attention to it. I told him that some other and more particular charts of the Strait and its neighbourhood had been since published; and that if he would keep company until next morning, I would bring him a copy, with a small memoir belonging to them. This was agreed to, and I returned with Mr. Brown to the Investigator.

It somewhat surprised me that captain Baudin made no enquiries concerning my business upon this unknown coast, but as he seemed more desirous of communicating information, I was happy to receive it; next morning, however, he had become inquisitive, some of his officers having learned from my boat's crew that our object was also discovery. I then told him, generally, what our operations had been, particularly in the two gulphs, and the latitude to which I had ascended in the largest; explained the situation of Port Lincoln, where fresh water might be procured; showed him Cape Jervis, which was still in sight; and as a proof of the refreshments to be obtained at the large island opposite to it, pointed out the kanguroo-skin caps worn by my boat's crew, and told him the name I had affixed to the island in consequence. At parting the captain requested me to take care of his boat and people in case of meeting with them; and to say to Le Naturaliste that he should go to Port Jackson so soon as the bad weather set in. On my asking the name of the captain of Le Naturaliste, he bethought himself to ask mine; and finding it to be the same as the author of the chart which he had been criticising, expressed not a little surprise, but had the politeness to congratulate himself on meeting me.

The situation of the Investigator, when I hove to for the purpose of speaking captain Baudin, was 35° 40' south and 138° 58' east. No person was present at our conversations except Mr Brown; and they were mostly carried on in English, which the captain spoke so as to be understood. He gave me, besides what is related above, some information of his losses in men, separations from his consort, and of the improper season at which he was directed to explore this coast; as also a memorandum of some rocks he had met with, lying two leagues from the shore, in latitude 37° 1', and he spoke of them as being very dangerous.

I have been the more particular in detailing all that passed at this interview from a circumstance which it seems proper to explain and discuss in this place.

At the above situation Of 35° 40' south and 138° 58' east, the discoveries made by captain Baudin upon the South Coast have their termination to the west; as mine in the Investigator have to the eastward. Yet Mons. Peron, naturalist in the French expedition, has laid a claim for his nation to the discovery of all the parts between Western Port in Bass Strait, and Nuyts' Archipelago; and this part of New South Wales is called Terre Napoleon: My Kanguroo Island, a name which they openly adopted in the expedition, has been converted at Paris into L'Isle Decres; Spencer's Gulph is named Golfe Bonaparte; the Gulph of St. Vincent, Golfe Josephine; and so on along the whole coast to Cape Nuyts, not even the smallest island being left without some similar stamp of French discovery. It is said by M. Peron, and upon my authority too, that the Investigator had not been able to penetrate behind the Isles of St. Peter and St. Francis; and though he doth not say directly that no part of the before unknown coast was discovered by me, yet the whole tenor of his Chap. XV induces the reader to believe that I had done nothing which could interfere with the prior claim of the French.

Yet M. Peron was present afterwards at Port Jackson when I showed one of my charts of this coast to captain Baudin, and pointed out the limits of his discovery; and so far from any prior title being set up at that time to Kanguroo Island and the parts westward, the officers of the Geographe always spoke of them as belonging to the Investigator. The first lieutenant, Mons. Freycinet, even made use of the following odd expression, addressing himself to me in the house of governor King, and in the presence of one of his companions, I think Mons. Bonnefoy: "Captain, if we had not been kept so long picking up shells and catching butterflies at Van Diemen's Land, you would not have discovered the South Coast before us."

The English officers and respectable inhabitants then at Port Jackson can say if the prior discovery of these parts were not generally acknowledged; nay, I appeal to the French officers themselves, generally and individually, if such were not the case. How then came M. Peron to advance what was so contrary to truth? Was he a man destitute of all principle? My answer is, that I believe his candour to have been equal to his acknowledged abilities; and that what he wrote was from over-ruling authority, and smote him to the heart; he did not live to finish the second volume.

The motive for this aggression I do not pretend to explain. It may have originated in the desire to rival the British nation in the honour of completing the discovery of the globe; or be intended as the forerunner of a claim to the possession of the countries so said to have been first discovered by French navigators. Whatever may have been the object in view, the question, so far as I am concerned, must be left to the judgment of the world; and if succeeding French writers can see and admit the claims of other navigators as clearly and readily as a late most able man of that nation has pointed out their own in some other instances, I shall not fear to leave it even to their decision.

I returned with Mr. Brown on board the Investigator at half-past eight in the morning, and we then separated from Le Géographe; captain Baudin's course being directed to the northwest, and ours to the south-ward. We had lost ground during the night, and the wind was very feeble at east, so that the French ship was in sight at noon.

At the place where we tacked from the shore on the morning of the 8th, the high land of Cape Jervis had retreated from the waterside, the coast was become low and sandy, and its trending was north-east; but after running four or five leagues in that direction it curved round to the south-eastward, and thus formed a large bight or bay. The head of this bay was probably seen by captain Baudin in the afternoon; and in consequence of our meeting here, I distinguished it by the name of Encounter Bay. The succeeding part of the coast having been first discovered by the French navigator, I shall make use of the names in describing it which he or his country men have thought proper to apply; that is, so far as the volume published enables me to make them out; but this volume being unaccompanied with charts, and containing few latitudes and longitudes by which the capes and bays can be identified, I must be excused should any errors be committed in the nomenclature.

There was no wind from noon to two o'clock; and it appeared by the lead that the ship was drifted to the west-north-west, probably by a flood tide. On a breeze springing up from the southward we stretched in for the shore; and at six in the evening it was four miles distant, being sandy and generally very low; but there were several hillocks upon it high enough to be seen four or five leagues from a ship's deck, and one of them, more bluff than the rest, and nearly destitute of vegetation, bore N. 17° E. Next day at noon our situation was within three miles of the land, but very little advanced beyond that of the preceding day, our latitude being 35° 49 1/3', and the bluff hummock in sight bearing N. 22° W.

At one o'clock we bore away along the coast with a light breeze from the north-eastward; and having run five leagues, tacked to seaward soon after dark. Next morning we again followed the coast at the distance of from five to three miles; and at noon a somewhat projecting part, which appears to be the Cape Bernouilli of the French navigators, was three or four miles distant to the east. Its latitude is 36° 33' and longitude 139° 51'; and about six miles to the south-south-east there are two low, black rocks lying close under the shore.

From Encounter Bay to this slight projection the coast is little else than a bank of sand, with a few hummocks on the top, partially covered with small vegetation; nor could anything in the interior country be distinguished above the bank. The shore runs waving between east-south-east and south-south-east; but to form what is called Cape Bernouilli it trends south, and then curves back south-eastward into a bight. The land then becomes better clothed with bushes and small trees; and it also differs from the more northern part in that some little risings of back land were visible.

During the night we worked up successfully against a south-south-east wind, for at six in the morning the low, outer extreme of Cape Jaffa bore N. 15° E., six or seven miles. The shore is sandy, but rises from the beach to a moderate elevation, and is then well clothed with small wood. About three leagues to the south of the cape is a cluster of low rocks, apparently the same of which captain Baudin had given me information; they do not, however, lie exactly in the situation expressed in his memorandum, and are not more than two miles from the land. We called them Baudin's Rocks.

Four miles beyond the rocks is a point of moderate elevation; sandy, but mostly overspread with bushes. This is their Cape Lannes; and on its north side is a small bay, called the Baye de Rivoli, with a sandy shore and open to west winds.

Wednesday, 14.—For the last two days there had been a little current in our favour, and notwithstanding that the winds had been mostly adverse, we made some progress along the coast; but on opening out the land beyond Cape Lannes, the current took a northern direction, and at noon of this day we were no further advanced than to have that cape bearing N. 86° E. at the distance of nine or ten miles. In the evening we got sight of a projecting and somewhat elevated part which lies ten leagues to the south-eastward of Cape Lannes, and appears to be the Cape Buffon of the French navigators. The intermediate coast is similar to that between Encounter Bay and Cape Bernouilli, with the sole difference that the hummocks upon the sandy bank are somewhat higher: nothing inland appeared above them.

The wind was again favourable in the night for making a long stretch to the southward; and it was prolonged to the next day at noon, when our distance from the coast was judged to be ten leagues; but no part of it was in sight, and we had then got out of soundings, there being no bottom at 200 fathoms.

The eastern wind died away at noon of the 16th, and the ship scarcely had steerage way until after midnight; a breeze then sprung up from the north-westward, and we steered north-east to make the land near Cape Buffon. At half-past seven the cape bore N. 1° W. seven miles, and was ascertained to be in nearly 37° 36' south and 140° 10' east. There is a bight in the coast on its north side where the land was not distinctly seen all round, owing probably to its being a low beach. At nine o'clock we bore away southward, keeping at the distance of two or three miles from the shore. It was the same kind of hummock-topped bank as before described; but a ridge of moderately high hills, terminated to the southward by a bluff, was visible over it, three or four leagues inland; and there was a reef of rocks lying in front of the shore. At noon, two larger rocks were seen at the southern end of the reef, and are those called by the French the Carpenters. They lie one or two miles from a sandy projection named by them Cape Boufflers; and here a prior title to discovery interferes.

On arriving at Port Jackson I learned, and so did captain Baudin, that this coast had been before visited. Lieutenant (now captain) James Grant, commander of His Majesty's brig Lady Nelson, saw the above projection, which he named Cape Banks, on Dec. 3, 1800; and followed the coast from thence through Bass Strait. The same principle upon which I had adopted the names applied by the French navigators to the parts discovered by them will now guide me in making use of the appellations bestowed by captain Grant.

The termination to the west of that part of the South Coast discovered by captain Baudin in Le Géographe has been pointed out; and it seems proper to specify its commencement to the east, that the extent of his Terre Napoleon may be properly defined. The beginning of the land which, of all Europeans, was first seen by him, so far as is known, cannot be placed further to the southeast than Cape Buffon; for the land is laid down to the northward of it in captain Grant's chart, though indistinctly. The Terre Napoleon is therefore comprised between the latitudes 37° 36' and 35° 40' south, and the longitudes 140° 10' and 138° 58' east of Greenwich; making, with the windings, about fifty leagues of coast, in which, as captain Baudin truly observed, there is neither river, inlet nor place of shelter, nor does even the worst parts of Nuyts' Land exceed it in sterility.

In the afternoon the wind veered to the southward, and we tacked from the shore, not being able to weather the Carpenters at the south end of the reef. A long swell rolled in at this time, and seemed to announce a gale from the southward, yet the wind died away in the night, and at daybreak a light breeze sprung up at north-west, and enabled us to close in with the land. We passed the Carpenters at the distance of four miles; but at two in the afternoon the wind again died away. A cliffy point, which proved to be the Cape Northumberland of captain Grant, was then in sight, as also were two inland mountains lying to the northeast; the nearest is his Mount Schanck, of a flat, table-like form; the further one, Mount Gambier, is peaked.

The long swell from the southward still prevailed, and the barometer was fast falling; but at seven in the evening a breeze sprung up once more from the north-west, and after stretching a little off from the shore, we laid to for the greater part of the night.

Close to Cape Northumberland are two pointed rocks resembling the back fins of sharks; and on its eastern side were heavy breakers, extending more than a mile from the shore. The situation of the cape, as near as it could be ascertained, is in 38° 2' south and 140° 37½' east.

Beyond Cape Northumberland the coast was found to trend east-by-north, but curved afterwards to east-by-south; it was higher than we had lately seen and not so barren; nevertheless, the shrubs and small trees did not more than half cover the sandy surface. We pursued the round of the coast at the distance of four or five miles, having three reefs in the top-sails on account of the squally weather. At ten o'clock, in a clear interval, land was seen bearing S. 51° E.; and a thick squall with rain coming on, in which the wind shifted suddenly from north-north-west to south-west, we were forced to haul close up and let out the third reefs in order to weather the coast. A constant succession of rainy squalls prevented us from knowing how the land lay for some time, nor could an observation for the latitude be obtained; but at half-past noon our anxiety was relieved by distinguishing the furthest extreme, a bold, cliffy, cape, bearing S. 72½° E., broad on the lee bow.

This high projection was the Cape Bridgewater of captain Grant. A hill upon it slopes to the edge of the cliffs in which the cape is begirt toward the sea; and on the land side it descends so low that the connection of the hill with the main could not be clearly discerned. To the northward, and nearly in a line with the first, are two other hills almost equal to it in elevation. As we passed Cape Bridgewater, a second cliffy head opened at S. 73½° E., and a further round the last at N. 83° E. These are the Capes Nelson and Sir W. Grant, though differing considerably in relative position from what they are laid down in captain Grant's chart.

At two o'clock, the weather having become somewhat finer, I ventured to bear away along the coast; and presently a small island with two hummocks on it and a rock nearer to the shore were visible: these are Lawrence's Isles.

It was seldom that the weather would allow of any thing being distinguished beyond two miles; and when the night came on we were quite uncertain of the trending of the coast. At eight o'clock, by favour of moon light and a short cessation of rain, land was perceived on the lee beam; it seemed to be a head of considerable elevation, and was judged to be from three to six miles off. The fore and mizen top-sails and reefed main-sail were immediately set, notwithstanding the danger to the masts; and there being much sea running, the ship was kept one point from the wind to make her go through the water. We had no chance of clearing the land on the other tack, and therefore our sole hope was that the coast might not trend any further to the southward.

Wednesday, 21-At two in the morning the strength of the gale obliged us to take in the fore and mizen top sails and main sail; and we had soundings in 45 fathoms, small stones. Our anxiety was great until daylight, when it was dissipated by not finding any land near us, and in the course of the morning the wind moderated, the barometer began to ascend, and the weather became even fine. Our latitude at noon was 39° 10½' and longitude 144° 22'; the last being 22' more than given by the log. High land was then visible astern, extending from about N. 50° to 17° W., at the supposed distance of twelve or fifteen leagues.

We were now entered into Bass Strait; and the subsiding of the sea made me suspect that the large island, concerning which I had made inquiry of captain Baudin, was to windward. The south part of this island was discovered by Mr. Reid in a sealing expedition from Port Jackson; and before quitting New South Wales in 1799, I had received an account of its lying to the northwest of Hunter's Isles. It afterwards appeared that the northern part was seen in January 1801 by Mr. John Black, commander of the brig Harbinger, who gave to it the name of King's Island. Of this I was ignorant at the time; but since it was so very dangerous to explore the main coast with the present south-west wind, I was desirous of ascertaining the position of this island before going to Port Jackson, more especially as it had escaped the observation of captain Baudin.

We tacked to the south-south-east at three o'clock, working up for King's Island, which was distant about five or six leagues directly to windward. In the night we lay up south, parallel with the east side of the island; but the soundings having diminished to 16 fathoms, I feared we might be approaching a reef of rocks lying off the south-east end, of which Afr. Reid had spoken. We therefore tacked to the northward at eleven o'clock; and after beating until three in the following afternoon, got to an anchor in 9 fathoms, fine sand, under the north-east end of King's Island; the nearest part of the shore being distant a short half mile, and the extremes bearing S. 37° E. and N. 69° W.

A boat was immediately hoisted out, and I landed with the botanical gentlemen. On stepping out of the boat I shot one of those little bear-like quadrupeds called Womat; and another was afterwards killed. A seal, of a species different to any yet seen by us, was also procured; its phippers behind were double when compared to the common kinds of seal, and those forward were smaller, and placed nearer to the head; the hair was much shorter, and of a blueish, grey colour; the nose flat and broad; and the fat upon the animal was at least treble the usual quantity. I never saw the sea elephant, and possibly this might have been a young female; but there was no appearance of any trunk. A top-mast studding-sail boom, not much injured, was lying near the landing-place; and as I afterwards learned that the wreck of a vessel had been found upon the west side of the island, this boom had probably drifted from thence.

The north-east part of King's Island extends south-east-by-east, three or four leagues. The shore is mostly of sand, and behind the beach it was washed or blown up in great ridges, but partly overspread with a kind of dog grass which kept the sand together. In general the land is low; but some little eminences appeared at a distance, and at the north end of the island there is a short range of hills, moderately high and covered with wood. Granite seemed to be the basis of the shore where we landed. Behind the front ridges of sand was a brush wood, so thick as to be almost impenetrable; but whilst I was occupied in taking bearings, the botanists found some openings in the brush, and picked up so many plants as to make them desirous of a further examination. We returned on board at dusk, with our womats, the seal and a kanguroo; the last being of a middle size between the small species of the lesser islands and the large kind found at Kanguroo Island and on the continent. It appeared indeed, all along the South Coast, that the size of the kanguroo bore some proportion to the extent of land which it inhabited.

Saturday, 24.—In the morning the wind blew fresh from the southward. A boat was sent on shore with Mr. Brown and his party; and at eleven o'clock, when they returned, we got under way.

A small lake of fresh water was found at a little distance behind the sandy ridges in front of the shore. This was surrounded by a good vegetable soil; and the number of plants, collected near it was greater than had before been found upon any one island. The small lake is too far from the sea side for a ship to obtain water from it conveniently; but two little streams which drained from the sand hills made it probable that fresh water might have been obtained anywhere at this time by digging. The water of these rills was tinged red, similar to that obtained at King George's Sound and to the pools I had before seen at Furneaux's Islands; and as the stone in these places is granite, and water so discoloured was not found any where else, it seems very probable that the discolouring arises from the granite and granitic sand.

Two more womats were killed this morning; and a skull was picked up which was thought to be of a small dog, but more probably was that of an opossum.

The time was fast approaching when it would be necessary to proceed to Port Jackson, both on account of the winter season, and from the want of some kinds of provisions. Before this took place I wished to finish as much of the South Coast as possible, and would have recommenced at Cape Bridgewater had the wind been favourable; but it still blew fresh from the southward, and all that part remained a lee shore. I determined, however, to run over to the high land we had seen on the north side of Bass Strait, and to trace as much of the coast from thence eastward as the state of the weather and our remaining provisions could possibly allow.

In steering north-north-west from King's Island, two small isles were seen lying off the north-west side; the first opening from the northern extreme at S. 50°, and the second being clear of it at S. 36° W. These are the same which Mr. Black named New Year's Isles; and his Harbinger's Reefs were seen to extend, in patches, nearly two leagues from the north end of King's Islands; but there is, as I afterwards learned, one or more passages between the reefs, and another between them and the island.

At three in the afternoon the northern land was in sight, and the highest hills of King's Island were sinking below the horizon as seen from the deck. Their distance was twenty-five miles; and consequently the elevation of them is between four and five hundred feet above the level of the sea. At five o'clock a bluff head, the most projecting part of the northern land, was distant three or four leagues; it was Captain Grants' Cape Otway.

We then hauled to the wind and stood off and on; at daylight bore away for the land with a moderate breeze from the southward; and at eight o'clock, when Cape Otway bore N. 69° W. ten miles we steered north-eastward along the shore. On the west side of Cape Otway the coast falls back somewhat to the north, and projects again at the distance of ten or eleven miles, where it is not, as I think, more than three leagues to the east of the headland seen under the lee at eight in the evening of the Both. From Cape Otway, eastward, the shore trends east-north-east about three leagues, to a projection called Cape Patton, and according to Captain Grant a bay is formed between them; but at three leagues off nothing worthy of being called a bay could be perceived. Beyond Cape Patton the coast took a more northern direction to a point with a flat-topped hill upon it, and further than this it was not visible.

The whole of this land is high, the elevation of the uppermost parts being not less than two thousand feet. The rising hills were covered with wood of a deep green foliage, and without any vacant spaces of rock or sand; so that I judged this part of the coast to exceed in fertility all that had yet fallen under observation.

Cape Otway lies very nearly in latitude 38° 51' south and longitude 143° 29' east. The width of the north-west entrance to Bass Strait, between this cape on the north and King's Island to the south is therefore, sixteen leagues; and with the trifling exception of the Harbinger's Reefs, which occupy not quite two leagues of the southern part, the passage is free from danger. In such parts of it as we got soundings the depth was between 38 and 50 fathoms.

Monday, 26.—In the morning we kept close to an east-south-east wind, steering for the land to the north-eastward; and at nine o'clock captain Grant's Cape Schanck, the extreme of the preceding evening, was five leagues distant to the N. 88° E., and a rocky point towards the head of the bight bore N. 12° E. On coming within five miles of the shore at eleven o'clock we found it to be low, and mostly sandy, and that the bluff head which had been taken for the north end of an island was part of a ridge of hills rising at Cape Schanck. We then bore away westward in order to trace the land round the head of the deep bight.

On the west side of the rocky point there was a small opening, with breaking water across it; however, on advancing a little more westward the opening assumed a more interesting aspect, and I bore away to have a nearer view. A large extent of water presently became visible within side; and although the entrance seemed to be very narrow, and there were in it strong ripplings like breakers, I was induced to steer in at half-past one, the ship being close upon a wind and every man ready for tacking at a moment's warning. The soundings were irregular between 6 and 12 fathoms until we got four miles within the entrance, when they shoaled quick to 2¾. We then tacked; and having a strong tide in our favour, worked to the eastward between the shoal and the rocky point, with 12 fathoms for the deepest water. In making the last stretch from the shoal the depth diminished from 10 fathoms quickly to 3, and before the ship could come round, the flood tide set her upon a mud bank and she stuck fast. A boat was lowered down to sound, and finding the deep water lie to the north-west, a kedge anchor was carried out; and having got the ship's head in that direction, the sails were filled and she drew off into 6 and 10 fathoms; and it being then dark, we came to an anchor.

The extensive harbour we had thus unexpectedly found I supposed must be Western Port, although the narrowness of the entrance did by no means correspond with the width given to it by Mr. Bass. It was the information of captain Baudin, who had coasted along from thence with fine weather, and had found no inlet of any kind, which induced this supposition; and the very great extent of the place, agreeing with that of Western Port, was in confirmation of it. This, however, was not Western Port, as we found next morning; and I congratulated myself on having made a new and useful discovery; but here again I was in error. This place, as I afterwards learned at Port Jackson, had been discovered ten weeks before by lieutenant John Murray, who had succeeded captain Grant in the command of the Lady Nelson. He had given it the name of Port Phillip, and to the rocky point on the east side of the entrance that of Point Nepean.

Our situation was found in the morning to be near two miles from the south shore, and the extreme towards Point Nepean bore N. 83° W., two leagues. About three miles to the north-by-west were some dry rocks, with bushes on them, surrounded with mud flats; and they appeared to form a part of the same shoal from which we had three times tacked in 2½ and 3 fathoms. The mud bank where the ship had grounded is distinct from the middle shoal; but I am not certain that it is so from the south shore, from which it is one mile distant. The Bluff Mount (named Arthur's Seat by Mr. Murray, from a supposed resemblance to the hill of that name near Edinburgh) bore S. 76° E.; but from thence the shore trended northward so far that the land at the head of the port could not be seen even from aloft. Before proceeding any higher with the ship I wished to gain some knowledge of the form and extent of this great piece of water; and Arthur's Seat being more than a thousand feet high and near the water-side, presented a favourable station for that purpose.

After breakfast I went away in a boat, accompanied by Mr. Brown and some other gentlemen, for the Seat. It was seven or eight miles from the ship; and in steering nearly a straight course for it we passed over the northern skirt of the shoal where the ship had touched; but afterwards had from 7 to 5 fathoms nearly to the shore. Having observed the latitude there from an artificial horizon, I ascended the hill; and to my surprise found the port so extensive, that even at this elevation its boundary to the northward could not be distinguished. The western shore extended from the entrance ten or eleven miles in a northern direction to the extremity of what, from its appearance, I called Indented Head; beyond it was a wide branch of the port leading to the westward, and I suspected might have a communication with the sea; for it was almost incredible that such a vast piece of water should not have a larger outlet than that through which we had come.

I took an extensive set of bearings from the clearest place to be found on the north-western, bluff part of the hill; and we afterwards walked a little way back upon the ridge. From thence another considerable piece of water was seen, at the distance of three or four leagues; it seemed to be mostly shallow; but as it appeared to have a communication with the sea to the south, I had no doubt of its being Mr. Bass's Western Port.

Arthur's Seat and the hills and vallies in its neighbourhood were generally well covered with wood; and the soil was superior to any upon the borders of the salt water which I have had an opportunity of examining in Terra Australis. There were many marks of natives, such as deserted fire-places and heaps of oyster shells; and upon the peninsula which forms the south side of the port a smoke was rising, but we did not see any of the people. Quantities of fine oysters were lying upon the beaches, between high and low water marks, and appeared to have been washed up by the surf; a circumstance which I do not recollect to have observed in any other part of this country.

Wednesday, 28.—We returned on board at dusk in the evening; and at daylight the anchor was weighed with the intention of coasting round the port with the ship. The wind was at northeast, but the flood tide was in our favour; and having made a stretch toward the middle shoals, we tacked and ran east-south-east along their south side, until past eight, when, the flood having ceased, we came to in 7 fathoms. At slack water in the afternoon we again steered eastward, but were soon obliged to anchor for want of wind; and I found that this slow mode of proceeding was not at all suited to the little time for which we had provisions remaining, besides that there was much probability of getting frequently aground; the plan of examining the port with the ship was therefore abandoned.

Having left orders with Mr. Fowler, the first lieutenant, to take the ship back to the entrance, I went in a boat early next morning with provisions for three days, in order to explore as much of the port as could be done in that time. Round the east end of the middle shoals I carried 6 and 7 fathoms; and keeping north-eastward, had 8 and 9 fathoms at a mile or more from the shore, and 4 close past the second rocky point above Arthur's Seat. The wind being at north-west, I was obliged to land behind some rocks more than two miles short of the third point, but walked to it with my surveying instruments. This was nine miles from the Seat, and the furthest part of the shore seen from thence; further on the shore falls back more eastward, in long sandy beaches, and afterwards curves to the north-west; but it was lost to sight long before joining the land on the west side of the port. After taking angles and observing for the latitude and longtitude, I rowed to windward for Indented Head, five leagues off. At the end of the first mile and a half the depth was 11 fathoms, but afterwards no bottom at 12 until within two miles of the western shore, where it was 9 fathoms. We landed at nine o'clock at night, near the uppermost part which had yet been seen.

Friday, 30.—In the morning a fire was perceived two hundred yards from the tent; and the Indians appeared to have decamped from thence on our landing. Whilst I was taking angles from a low point at the north-easternmost part of Indented Head, a party of the inhabitants showed themselves about a mile from us; and on landing there we found a hut with a fire in it, but the people had disappeared, and carried off their effects. I left some strips of cloth, of their favourite red colour, hanging about the hut, and proceeded westward along the shore to examine the arm of the port running in that direction.

Three natives having made their appearance abreast of the boat, we again landed. They came to us without hesitation, received a shag and some trifling presents with pleasure, and parted with such of their arms as we wished to possess without reluctance. They afterwards followed us along the shore; and when I shot another bird, which hovered over the boat, and held it up to them, they ran down to the water-side and received it without expressing either surprise or distrust. Their knowledge of the effect of fire-arms I then attributed to their having seen me shoot birds when unconscious of being observed; but it had probably been learned from Mr. Murray.

At noon I landed to take an observation of the sun, which gave 38° 7' 6" for the latitude; my position being nearly at the northern extremity of Indented Head. Some bearings were taken from the brow of a hill a little way back; and after a dinner of which the natives partook, we left them on friendly terms to proceed westward in our examination. The water became very shallow abreast of a sandy point, whence the shore trends nearly south-west; and there being no appearance of an opening to the sea this way, I steered across the western arm, as well to ascertain its depth as with the intention of ascending the hills lying behind the northern shore. Two of the peaks upon these hills had been set from the ship's deck at sunset of the 25th, at the distance of thirty-seven miles; and as their elevation must consequently be a thousand feet, or more, I expected to obtain from thence such a view of the upper parts of the port as would render the coasting round it unnecessary.

The width of the western arm was found to be six miles; and the soundings across augmented regularly to 6 fathoms in midchannel, and then decreased in the same way; but there was less than 3 fathoms at two miles from the northern shore. That side is indeed very low and marshy, with mud banks lying along it; and we had difficulty in finding a dry place to pitch the tent, and still more to procure wood wherewith to cook the ducks I had shot upon the banks.

May 1st.—At day dawn I set off with three of the boat's crew for the highest part of the back hills called Station Peak. Our way was over a low plain, where the water appeared frequently to lodge; it was covered with small-bladed grass, but almost destitute of wood, and the soil was clayey and shallow. One or two miles before arriving at the feet of the hills we entered a wood where an emu and a kanguroo were seen at a distance; and the top of the peak was reached at ten o'clock. My position was then 21' of latitude from Point Nepean, in the direction of N. 28° 30' W., and I saw the water of the port as far as N. 75° E., at the distance of seven or eight leagues; so that the whole extent of the port, north and south, is at least thirty miles. The extremity of the western arm bore S. 15° 45' W., which makes the extent, east and west, to be thirty-six miles; but there was no communication with the sea on that side, nor did the western arm appear to be navigable beyond seven miles above where I had crossed it. Towards the interior there was a mountain bearing N. 11° E., eleven leagues distant; and so far the country was low, grassy and very slightly covered with wood, presenting great facility to a traveller of penetrating inland.

I left the ship's name on a scroll of paper, deposited in a small pile of stones upon the top of the peak; and at three in the afternoon reached the tent, much fatigued, having walked more than twenty miles without finding a drop of water. Mr. Lacy, the midshipman of the boat, had observed the latitude at the tent from an artificial horizon to be 38° 2' 22"; and Station Peak bore from thence N. 47° W.

In the evening we rowed back to Indented Head, and landed there soon after dark. Fires had been seen moving along the shore, but the people seemed to have fled; though we found two newly erected huts with fires in them, and utensils, which must have belonged to some of the people before seen, since there was boiled rice in one of the baskets. We took up our quarters here for the night, keeping a good watch; but nothing was seen of the Indians till we pushed off from the shore in the morning, when seven showed themselves upon a bill behind the huts. They ran down to examine their habitations, and finding every thing as they had left it, a little water excepted of which we were in want, they seemed satisfied; and for a short time three of them followed the boat.

Along the north-east and east sides of Indented Head I found the water to be shoal for nearly a mile off; but on approaching the entrance of what Mr. Murray called Swan Harbour, but which I have taken the liberty to converting into Swan Pond, it became somewhat deeper. Seeing swans there, I rowed into it after them, but found the place full of mud banks, and seldom more than three or four feet in depth. Three of the birds were caught; and at the south side of the entrance, upon the sandy peninsula, or island as it is when the tide is in, I shot some delicate teal, and found fresh water in small ponds.

The ship was lying about three miles within the mouth of the port, near to the south shore; and after I had taken bearings at two stations on the sandy peninsula, we steered a straight course for her, sounding all the way. It appeared that there was a passage up the port of a mile wide between the middle banks and the western shore, with a depth in it from 3 to 4½ fathoms. On the western extremity of the banks I had 2½ fathoms, and afterwards 5, 7, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9 to the ship.

Lieutenant Fowler had had a good deal of difficulty in getting back to the entrance of the port; owing in part to the western winds, and partly from the shoals, which do not seem to lie in any regular order. He had touched upon one of these, where there was ten feet on one side of the ship, and on the other 5 fathoms. This seems to have been a more eastern part of the same shoal upon which we had before grounded; but no danger is to be feared from these banks to a flat-floored ship.

I find it very difficult to speak in general terms of Port Phillip. On the one hand it is capable of receiving and sheltering a larger fleet of ships than ever yet went to sea; whilst on the other, the entrance, in its whole width, is scarcely two miles, and nearly half of it is occupied by the rocks lying off Point Nepean, and by shoals on the opposite side. The depth in the remaining part varies from 6 to 12 fathoms; and this irregularity causes the strong tides, especially when running against the wind, to make breakers, in which small vessels should be careful of engaging themselves; and when a ship has passed the entrance, the middle shoals are a great obstacle to a free passage up the port. These shoals are met with at four miles directly from the entrance, and extend about ten miles to the east-south-east, parallel with the south shore; they do not seem, however, to be one connected mass, for I believe there are two or three deep openings in them, though we had not time to make an examination.

No runs of fresh water were seen in any excursions; but Mr. Charles Grimes, surveyor-general of New South Wales, afterwards found several, and in particular a small river falling into the northern head of the port. Mr. Grimes was sent by governor King, in 1803, to walk round, and survey the harbour; and from his plan I have completed my chart of Port Phillip. The parts of the coast left unshaded are borrowed from him, and the soundings written at right angles are those of his companion, lieutenant Robbins.

The country surrounding Port Phillip has a pleasing, and in many parts a fertile appearance; and the sides of some of the hills and several of the vallies are fit for agricultural purposes. It is in great measure a grassy country, and capable of supporting much cattle, though better calculated for sheep. To this general description there are probably several exceptions; and the southern peninsula, which is terminated by Point Nepean, forms one, the surface there being mostly sandy, and the vegetation in many places little better than brush wood. Indented Head, at the northern part of the western peninsula, had an appearance particularly agreeable; the grass had been burned not long before, and had sprung up green and tender; the wood was so thinly scattered that one might see to a considerable distance; and the hills rose one over the other to a moderate elevation, but so gently that a plough might every where be used. The vegetable soil is a little mixed with sand, but good, though probably not deep, as I judged by the small size of the trees.

The most common kinds of wood are the casuarina and eucalyptus, to which Mr. Grimes adds the banksia, mimosa and some others; but the timber is rarely sound, and is not large.

Were a settlement to be made at Port Phillip, as doubtless there will be some time hereafter, the entrance could be easily defended; and it would not be difficult to establish a friendly intercourse with the natives, for they are acquainted with the effect of fire-arms and desirous of possessing many of our conveniences. I thought them more muscular than the men of King George's Sound; but, generally speaking, they differ in no essential particular from the other inhabitants of the South and East Coasts except in language, which is dissimilar, if not altogether different to that of Port Jackson, and seemingly of King George's Sound also. I am not certain whether they have canoes, but none were seen.

In the woods are the kanguroo, the emu or cassowary, paroquets, and a variety of small birds; the mud banks are frequented by ducks and some black swans, and the shores by the usual seafowl common in New South Wales. The range of the thermometer was between 61° and 67°; and the climate appeared to be as good and as agreeable as could well be desired in the month answering to November. In 1803, colonel Collins of the marines was sent out from England to make a new settlement in this country; but he quitted Port Phillip for the south end of Van Diemen's Land, probably from not finding fresh water for a colony sufficiently near to the entrance.

The rise of tide is inconsiderable in the upper parts of the port; near the entrance it is from three to six feet. By the swinging of the ship, which, however, varied at different anchorages, it appeared to be high water two hours and a half after the moon's passage; but at Point Nepean the time of high water by the shore is said by Mr. Grimes to be only one hour after the moon. At Western Port, Mr. Bass found high water to take place half an hour after the moon's passage, and the tide to rise from ten to fourteen feet. This great increase, in a place so near, seems extraordinary; but may perhaps be accounted for by the meeting of the tides from two entrances, whilst Port Phillip has only one, and that every narrow.

On the 3rd of May at daylight the anchor was weighed to go out of Port Phillip with the last half of the ebb; and the wind being from the westward, we backed, filled and tacked occasionally, dropping Out with the tide. When the entrance was cleared, and five miles distant, Mr. Westall took a view of it, which will be an useful assistance in finding this extensive but obscure port; and at eleven o'clock, when we bore away eastward to pass Cape Schanck, he sketched that cape and the ridge of hills terminating at Arthur's Seat. Cape Schanck is a cliffy head, with three rocks lying off, the outermost of which appears at a distance like a ship under sail: the latitude is 38° 29' or 30' south, and longitude 144° 53' east. It will always be desirable for vessels to get sight of this cape before they run far into the great bight for Port Phillip; and if the wind blow strong from the southward it will be unsafe to run without having seen it.

Cape Schanck is also an excellent mark for ships desiring to go into Western Port, of which it forms the west side of the principal entrance; but as there are many breakers and shoals on that side, which extend almost to mid-channel, it will be necessary to give the cape a wide berth by keeping over to Phillip Island on the starboard side.

We steered eastward along the south side of Phillip Island, and passed a needle-like rock lying under the shore. Cape Wollamai is the east end of the island, and forms one side of the small, eastern entrance to the port; and at three o'clock when it bore, N. 14° E., five or six miles, its longitude was ascertained by means of the time-keepers to be 145° 25' east: the latitude deduced from bearings is 38° 33' south. Wollamai is the native name for a fish at Port Jackson, called sometimes by the settlers lighthorseman, from the bones of the head having some resemblance to a helmet; and the form of this cape bearing a likeness to the head of the fish, induced Mr. Bass to give it the name of Wollamai.

We ran south-eastward along the shore, at the rate of six or seven knots, until sunset; when a steep head, supposed to be the Cape Liptrap of captain Grant, was seen through the haze. We soon afterwards hauled to the wind off shore, under treble-reefed top-sails; and the gale increasing, with much swell from the south-westward, the close reefs were taken in. At midnight, tacked to the northward, and stood off and on till daybreak; the wind being strong at west, and weather squally with rain. We then bore away for the land, which was seen to leeward.

Besides Rodondo, which lies about six miles to the south-by-east of the promontory, I distinguished five or six less conspicuous isles, lying along the south and west sides of this remarkable headland; these are called Glennie's Isles. To the N. 88° E. from Rodondo, and distant about two leagues, was a small island which appears to have been one of Moncur's Isles; and in steering south-eastward we got sight of the Devil's Tower, and of the high island and rocks named Sir Roger Curtis' Isles. These names were given by captain Grant in 1800; but he was not the discoverer of the places to which they are applied. They are all laid down upon my chart of 1799, on the authority of Mr. Bass; and when it is considered that this enterprising man saw them from an open boat, in very bad weather, their relative positions to Wilson's Promontory will be thought surprisingly near the truth. Unfortunately the situation of the promontory itself, owing to some injury done to his quadrant, is considerably in error, being twelve or fourteen miles wrong in latitude. A reef is mentioned by captain Grant as lying to the southward between Rodondo and Moncur's Isles; and a rock, level with the water, was seen in the same situation by the ships Gato and Castle of Good Hope, from which last it received the appropriate name of Crocodile Rock. This also was seen by Mr. Bass, and laid down in its relative situation; but in the Investigator I was not sufficiently near to get sight of this important danger.

We continued to steer south-eastward, round all these islands, having a fresh gale at west-south-west with squally weather. Wilson's Promontory was no longer visible.

Not seeing any more islands to the southward from the masthead, we bore away east soon after noon to make Kent's Groups; and before three o'clock they both came in sight, as did an island to the northward, which seems to have been one of the small cluster discovered by Mr. John Black, and named Hogan's Group.

At five in the evening I thought myself fortunate to get a sight of Furneaux's great island through the haze; and also of a small, craggy isle which had been before fixed relatively to the inner Sister. To obtain the positions of these places by our timekeepers was to me an important object; since they were connected with the former survey of Furneaux's Islands and the north-eastern part of Van Diemen's Land.

At daylight of the 5th the course was altered more northward; and at noon land, was seen from the mast head to the north-north-west, probably some of the hills at the back of the Long Beach, and distant not less than twenty leagues: our latitude was 38° 32' south and longitude 149° 35' east. The wind had then moderated and having shifted to north-west we kept close up to make Cape Howe. At four, hove to and sounded, but no bottom could be had with go fathoms; the land extended in patches from west-north-west distant twenty-five or more leagues to near the Ram Head at north; and consequently the hills at the back of the Long Beach must be of considerable elevation, superior to any other land near the sea in the southern, or perhaps any part of New South Wales.

On the wind shifting to the east side of north, next day, I tacked to get in with the land; being desirous of running near to as much of the coast, and correcting its longitude in our way to Port Jackson, as could be done without loss of time; but at noon the wind veered back, and our north-eastern course was resumed. The land could not then be further distant than nine or ten leagues; but no part of it was in sight, nor from the dulness of the weather could any observation be taken.

After a squally night the wind fixed at west-by-north; and at daybreak of the 7th the land was visible from west to north-west, and our course was parallel to it. By four next day the beads of Port Jackson were in sight. At dusk the flag-staff upon the South Head bore west-south-west, and our distance from the shore was seven or eight miles.

I tried to beat up for the port in the night, being sufficiently well acquainted to have run up in the dark, had the wind permitted; but we were still to leeward in the morning, and Mr. Westall made a good sketch of the entrance. At one o'clock, we gained the heads, a pilot came on board, and soon after three the Investigator was anchored in Sydney Cove.

There was not a single individual on board who was not upon deck working the ship into harbour; and it may be averred that the officers and crew were, generally speaking, in better health than on the day we sailed from Spithead, and not in less good spirits. I have said nothing of the regulations observed after we made Cape Leeuwin; they were little different from those adopted in the commencement of the voyage, and of which a strict attention to cleanliness and a free circulation of air in the messing and sleeping-places formed the most essential parts. Several of the inhabitants of Port Jackson expressed themselves never to have been so strongly reminded of England as by the fresh colour of many amongst the Investigator's ship's company.

So soon as the anchor was dropped, I went on shore to wait upon his Excellency Philip Gidley King, Esq., governor of New South Wales, and senior naval officer upon the station; to whom I communicated a general account of our discoveries and examinations upon the South Coast, and delivered the orders from the Admiralty and Secretary of State. These orders directed the governor to place the brig Lady Nelson under my command, and not to employ the Investigator on other service than that which was the object of the voyage; and His Excellency was pleased to assure me that every assistance in the power of the colony to render should be given to forward a service so interesting to his government, and to himself. The Lady Nelson was then lying in Sydney Cove; but her commander, lieutenant Grant, had requested permission to return to England, and had sailed six months before.

Besides the Lady Nelson, there were in the port His Majesty's armed vessel Porpoise, the Speedy, south-whaled, and the Margaret privateer; also the French national ship Le Naturaliste, commanded by captain Hamelin, to whom I communicated captain Baudin's intention of coming to Port Jackson so soon as the bad weather should set in. Le Géographe's boat had been picked up in Bass' Strait by Mr. Campbell of the brig Harrington, and the officers and crew were at this time on board Le Naturaliste.

The duties required to fit the ship for prosecuting the voyage with success being various and extensive, Cattle Point, on the east side of Sydney Cove, was assigned to us by the governor for carrying on some of our employments, whilst others were in progress on board the ship and in the dockyard. On the morning after our arrival we warped to a convenient situation near the point, and sent on shore the tents, the sailmakers and sails, and the cooper with all the empty casks. Next day the observatory was set up, and the time-keepers and other astronomical instruments placed there under the care of lieutenant Flinders, who, with Mr. Franklin, his assistant, was to make the necessary observations and superintend the various duties carrying on at the same place; and a small detachment of marines was landed for the protection of the tents.

This site is full of FREE ebooks - Project Gutenberg Australia