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The Voyages which had been made, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by Dutch and by English navigators, had successively brought to light various extensive coasts in the southern hemisphere, which were thought to be united; and to comprise a land, which must be nearly equal in magnitude to the whole of Europe. To this land, though known to be separated from all other great portions of the globe, geographers were disposed to give the appellation of Continent: but doubts still existed, of the continuity of its widely extended shores; and it was urged, that, as our knowledge of some parts was not founded upon well authenticated information, and we were in total ignorance of some others, these coasts might, instead of forming one great land, be no other than parts of different large islands.

The establishment, in 1788, of a British colony on the easternmost, and last discovered, of these new regions, had added that degree of interest to the question of their continuity, which a mother country takes in favour, even, of her outcast children, to know the form, extent, and general nature of the land, where they may be placed. The question had, therefore, ceased to be one in which geography was alone concerned: it claimed the paternal consideration of the father of all his people, and the interests of the national commerce seconded the call for investigation.

​Accordingly, the following voyage was undertaken by command of His Majesty, in the year 1801; in a ship of 334 tons, which received the appropriate name of the Investigator; and, besides the great objects of clearing up the doubt respecting the unity of these southern regions, and of opening therein fresh sources to commerce, and new ports to seamen, it was intended, that the voyage should contribute to the advancement of natural knowledge in various branches; and that some parts of the neighbouring seas should be visited, wherein geography and navigation had still much to desire.

The vast regions to which this voyage was principally directed, comprehend, in the western part, the early discoveries of the Dutch, under the name of New Holland; and in the east, the coasts explored by British navigators, and named New South Wales. It has not, however, been unusual to apply the first appellation to both regions; but to continue this, would be almost as great an injustice to the British nation, whose seamen have had so large a share in the discovery, as it would be to the Dutch, were New South Wales to be so extended. This appears to have been felt by a neighbouring, and even rival, nation; whose writers commonly speak of these countries under the general term of Terres Australes. In fact, the original name, used by the Dutch themselves until some time after Tasman's second voyage, in 1644, was Terra Australis, or Great South Land; and when it was displaced by New Holland, the new term was applied only to the parts lying westward of a meridian line, passing through Arnhem's Land on the north, and near the isles of St. Francis and St. Peter, on the south: all to the eastward, including the shores of the Gulph of Carpentaria, still remained as Terra Australis. This appears from a chart published by Thevenot, in 1663; which, he says, "was originally taken from that done in inlaid work, upon the pavement of the new Stadt-House at Amsterdam."^[1] The same thing is to be inferred from the notes of ​Burgomaster Witsen, in 1705; of which there will be occasion to speak in the sequel.

It is necessary, however, to geographical precision, that so soon as New Holland and New South Wales were known to form one land, there should be a general name applicable to the whole; and this essential point having been ascertained in the present voyage, with a degree of certainty sufficient to authorise the measure, I have, with the concurrence of opinions entitled to deference, ventured upon the re-adoption of the original Terra Australis; and of this term I shall hereafter make use, when speaking of New Holland and New South Wales, in a collective sense; and when using it in the most extensive signification, the adjacent isles, including that of Van Diemen, must be understood to be comprehended.

There is no probability, that any other detached body of land, of nearly equal extent, will ever be found in a more southern latitude; the name Terra Australis will, therefore, remain descriptive of the geographical importance of this country, and of its situation on the globe: it has antiquity to recommend it; and, having no reference to either of the two claiming nations, appears to be less objectionable than any other which could have been selected.^[2]

In dividing New South Wales from New Holland, I have been guided by the British patent to the first governor of the new colony, at Port Jackson. In this patent, a meridian, nearly corresponding to the ancient line of separation, between New Holland and Terra Australis, has been made the western limit of New South Wales; and is fixed at the longitude of 135° east, from the meridian of Greenwich. From hence, the British territory extends eastward, ​to the islands of the Pacific, or Great Ocean: its northern limit is at Cape Tork; and the extremity of the southern Van Diemen's Land, is its opposite boundary.

The various discoveries which had been made upon the coasts of Terra Australis, antecedently to the present voyage, are of dates as widely distant, as are the degrees of confidence to which they are respectively entitled; the accounts, also, lie scattered through various books in different languages; and many are still in manuscript. It has, therefore, been judged, that a succinct history of these discoveries would be acceptable to the public; and would form an appropriate introduction to a voyage, whose principal object was to complete what they had left unfinished. Such a history will not only, it is hoped, be found interesting, but, from the occasions it will furnish to point out what remained to be done at the beginning of, the nineteenth century, will satisfy a question which may be asked: Why it should have been thought necessary to send another expedition to explore the coasts of a country, concerning which it has been said, near thirty years ago,—"It is no longer a doubt, that we have now a full knowledge of the whole circumference of this vast body of land, this fifth part of the world."^[3] An expression, which the learned writer could have intended to apply only to the general extent of the new continent, and not to the particular formation of every part of the coasts; since the chart, which accompanies the voyage of which he was writing the introduction, represents much of the south coast, as being totally unknown.

In tracing a historical sketch of the previous discoveries, I shall not dwell upon such as depend upon conjecture and probability, but come speedily to those, for which there are authentic documents. In this latter, and solely important, class, the articles extracted from voyages, which are in the hands of the public, will be abridged to their leading heads; and the reader referred, for the details, to ​the original works; but in such articles as have either not appeared before, or but very imperfectly, in an English dress, as also in those extracted from unpublished manuscripts, a wider range will be taken: in these, so far as the documents go, on the one hand, and the limits of an introduction can allow, on the other, no interesting fact will be omitted.

Conformably to this plan, no attempt will be made to investigate the claims of the Chinese to the earliest knowledge of Terra Australis; which some, from the chart of Marco Polo, have thought they possessed. Nor yet will much be said upon the plea advanced by the Abbè Prèvost,^[4] and after him by the President Debrosses,^[5] in favour of Paulmier de Gonneville, a French captain; for whom they claim the honour of having discovered Terra Australis, in 1504. It is evident from the proofs they adduce, that it was not to any part,of this country, but to Madagascar, that Gonneville was driven; and from whence he brought his prince Essomeric, to Normandy.

Within these few years, however, two curious manuscript charts have been brought to light; which have favoured an opinion, that Terra Australis had really been visited by Europeans, nearly a century before any authentic accounts speak of its discovery. One of these charts is in French, without date; and from its almost exact similitude, is probably either the original, or a copy of the other, which is in English; and bears, with the date 154s, a dedication to the King of England.^[6] In it, an extensive country is marked to the southward of the Moluccas, under the name of Great Java; which agrees nearer with the position and extent of Terra Australis, than with any other land; and the direction given to some parts of ​the coast, approaches too near to the truth, for the whole to have been marked from conjecture alone. But, combining this with the exaggerated extent of Great Java in a southern direction, and the animals and houses painted upon the shores, such as have not been any where seen in Terra Australis, it should appear to have been partly formed from vague information, collected, probably, by the early Portuguese navigators, from the eastern nations; and that conjecture has done the rest. It may, at the same time, be admitted, that a part of the west and north-west coasts, where the coincidence of form is most striking, might have been seen by the Portuguese themselves, before the year 1540, in their voyages to, and from, India.

But quitting those claims to original discovery, in which conjecture bears so large a share, we come to such as are supported by undeniable documents. Before entering upon these, it is proper to premise, that, instead of following precisely the order of time, these discoveries will be classed under the heads of the different coasts upon which they were made: an arrangement which will obviate the confusion that would arise from being carried back from one coast to another, as must, of necessity, be the case, were the chronological order to be strictly followed.

The discoveries made in Terra Australis, prior to the Investigator's voyage, will, therefore, be divided into four Sections, under the following heads: 1. The North Coast; 2. The Western Coasts; 5. The South Coast; and, 4. The East Coast with Van Diemen's Land. But the articles in the fourth Section, being numerous and more extensive, will be divided into two parts: Part I. will contain the early discoveries, and such of the later, as were made independently of the British colony in New South Wales; and Part II. those which were made in vessels sent from that colony; and which may be considered as a consequence of its establishment.

​

The late Hydrographer to the Admiralty, Alexander Dalrymple, Esq., in his curious Collection concerning Papua, published with a Preliminary
Remarkstranslation, a paper which furnishes more regular and authentic accounts of the early Dutch discoveries in the East, than any thing with which the public was before acquainted. This interesting paper was procured by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks; and is a copy of the instructions to commodore Abel Jansz Tasman, for his second voyage of discovery: It is dated January 29, 1644, from the Castle of Batavia, and signed by the governor-general Antonio Van Diemen, and by Vander Lyn, Maatsuyker, Schouten, and Sweers, members of the council. The instructions are prefaced with a recital, in chronological order, of the previous discoveries of the Dutch, whether made from accident or design, in Nova Guinea, and the Great South Land; and from this account, combined with a passage from Saris,^[7] it appears, that—

On the 18th of November 1605, the Dutch yacht, the Duyfhen, was The Duyfhen
1606dispatched from Bantam to explore the islands of New Guinea; ​and that she sailed along, what was thought to be, the west side of that country, to 13¾° of south latitude. "This extensive country was found, for the greatest part, desart; but, in some places, inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages; by whom some of the crew were murdered. For which reason they could not learn anything of the land, or waters, as had been desired of them; and, from want of provisions and other necessaries, they were obliged to leave the discovery unfinished: The furthest point of the land, in their map, was called Cape Keer-Weer," or Turn-again.

The course of the Duyfhen, from New Guinea, was southward, along the islands(Atlas, Pl.I.) on the west side of Torres' Strait, to that part of Terra Australis, a little to the west and south of Cape York; but all these lands were thought to be connected, and to form the west coast of New Guinea. Thus, without being conscious of it, the commander of the Duyfhen made the first authenticated discovery of any part of the great South Land, about the month of March 1606; for it appears, that he had returned to Banda in, or before, the beginning of June, of that year.

Luis Vaes de Torres, a Spanish navigator, was the next person who saw Torres
1606Terra Australis; and it is remarkable, that it was near the same place, and in the same year; and that he had as little knowledge of the nature of his discovery, as had the Duyfhen.

Torres was second in command to Pedro Fernandez de Quiros; when he sailed with three vessels, from the port of Callao in Peru, in the year 1605. One of the purposes of their expedition was to search for the Tierra Austral; a continent which was supposed to occupy a considerable portion of that part of the southern hemisphere lying westward of America.

After the discovery of several islands, Quiros came to a land which he named Australia del Espiritu Santo, supposing it to be part of the great Southern Continent; but this, on his separation from the admiral, Torres found could be no other than an ​island; and then continued his course westward, in prosecution of the research.

About the month of August 1606, and in latitude 11½° south, he fell in with a coast, which he calls "the beginning of New Guinea;" and which appears to have been the south-eastern part of the land, afterwards named Louisiade, by Mons. de Bougainville, and now known to be a chain of islands. Unable to pass to windward of this land, Torres bore away along its south side; and gives, himself, the following account of his subsequent proceedings.

"We went along 300 leagues of coast, as I have mentioned, and diminished the latitude 2½°, which brought us into 9°. From hence we fell in with a bank of from 3 to 9 fathoms, which extends along the coast above 180 leagues. We went over it along the coast to 7½ S. latitude, and the end of it is in 5°. We could not go further on for the many shoals and great currents, so we were obliged to sail S. W. in that depth to 11°. S. latitude. There is all over it an archipelago of islands without number, by which we passed, and at the end of the 11th degree, the bank became shoaler. Here were very large islands, and there appeared more to the southward: they were inhabited by black people, very corpulent, and naked: their arms were lances, arrows, and clubs of stone ill fashioned. We could not get any of their arms. We caught in all this land 20 persons of different nations, that with them we might be able to give a better account to Your Majesty. They give much notice of other people, although as yet they do not make themselves well understood.

"We were upon this bank two months, at the end of which time we found ourselves in 25 fathoms, and in 5° S. latitude, and 10 leagues from the coast. And having gone 480 leagues, here the coast goes to the N. E. I did not reach it, for the bank became very shallow. So we stood to the north."^[8]

​It cannot be doubted, that the "very large islands" seen by Torres, at the 11th degree of south latitude, were the hills of Cape York; or that his two months of intricate navigation were employed in passing the strait which divides Terra Australia and New Guinea. But the account of this and other discoveries, which Torres himself addressed to the King of Spain, was so kept from the world, that the existence of such a strait Was generally unknown, until 1770; when it was again discovered and passed by our great circumnavigator Captain Cook.

Torres, it should appear, took the precaution to lodge a copy of his letter in the archives of Manila; for, after that city was taken by the British forces, in 1762, Mr. Dalrymple found out, and drew from oblivion, this interesting document of early discovery; and, as a tribute due to the enterprising Spanish navigator, he named the passage Torres' Strait; and the appellation now generally prevails.

Zeachen is said to have discovered the land of Arnhem and the Zeachen
1618northern Van Diemen's Land, in 1618; and he is supposed, from the first name, to have been a native of Arnhem, in Holland; and that the second was given in honour of the governor-general of the Indies.^[9] But there are two important objections to the truth of this vague account: first, no mention is made of Zeachen in the recital of discoveries which preface the instructions to Tasman; nor is there any, of the North Coast having been visited by the Dutch, in that year: secondly, it appears from Valentyn's lives of the governors of Batavia, that Van Diemen was not governor-general until January 1, 1636.

The second expedition, mentioned in the Dutch recital, for the Carstens
1623discovery of the Great South Land, "was undertaken in a yacht," in the year 1617, "with little success;" and the journals and remarks were not to be found. In January 1623, the yachts Pera and Arnhem, ​under the command of Jan Carstens, were despatched from Amboina, by order of His Excellency Jan Pieterz Coen. Carstens, with eight of the Arnhem's crew, was treacherously murdered by the natives of New Guinea; but the vessels prosecuted the voyage, and discovered "the great islands Arnhem and the Spult."^[10] They were then "untimely separated," and the Arnhem returned to Amboina. The Pera persisted; and "sailed along the south coast of New Guinea, "to a flat cove, situate in 10° south latitude; and ran along the West Coast of this land to Cape Keer-Weer; from thence discovered the coast further southward, as far as 17° to Staten River. From this place, what more of the land could be discerned, seemed to stretch westward:" the Pera then returned to Amboina. "In this discovery were found, every where, shallow water and barren coasts; islands altogether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations; and of very little use to the (Dutch East-India) Company."

Gerrit Tomaz Pool was sent, in April 1626, from Banda, with Pool
1636the yachts Klyn Amsterdam and Wezel, upon the same expedition as Carstens; and, at the same place, on the coast of New Guinea, he met with the same fate. Nevertheless "the voyage was assiduously continued under the charge of the supra-cargo Pieterz Pietersen; and the islands Key and Arouw visited. By reason of very strong Pietersen
1636 eastwardly winds, they could not reach the west coast of New Guinea (Carpentaria); but shaping their course very near south, discovered the coast of Arnhem, or Van Diemen's Land, in 11° south latitude; and sailed along the shore for 120 miles (30 mijlen), without seeing any people, but many signs of smoke."

​This is all that appears to have been known of the North Coast, Tasman
1644 when Abel Jansz Tasman sailed upon his second voyage, in 1644; for the instructions to him say, that after quitting "Point Ture, or False Cape, situate in 8° on the south coast of New Guinea, you are to continue eastward, along the coast, to 9° south latitude; crossing prudently the Cove at that place. Looking about the high islands or Speult's River, with the yachts, for a harbour; despatching the tender De Braak, for two or three days into the Cove, in order to discover whether, within the Great Inlet, there be not to be found an entrance into the South Sea.^[11] From this place you are to coast along the west coast of New Guinea, (Carpentaria,) to the furthest discoveries in 17° south latitude; following the coast further, as it may run, west or southward. But it is to be feared you will meet, in these parts, with the south-east trade winds; from which it will be difficult to keep the coast on board, if stretching to the south-east; but, notwithstanding this, endeavour by all means to proceed; that we may be sure whether this land is divided from the Great Known South Continent, or not."

The Dutch had, by this time, acquired some knowledge of a part of the south coast of Terra Australis; of the west coast; and of a part of the north-west; and these are the lands meant by "the Great Known South Continent." Arnhem's, and the northern Van Diemen's Lands, on the North Coast, are not included in the expression; for Tasman was directed "from De Witt's Land (on ​the North-west Coast,) to run across, very near eastward, to complete the discovery of Arnhem's and Van Diemen's Lands; and to ascertain perfectly, whether these lands are not one and the same island."

It is a great obstacle to tracing correctly the progress of early discovery in Terra Australis, that no account of this voyage of Tasman has ever been published; nor is any such known to exist. But it seems to have been the general opinion, that he sailed round the Gulph of Carpentaria; and then westward, along Arnhem's and the northern Van Diemen's Lands; and the form of these coasts in Thevenot's chart of 1663, and in those of most succeeding geographers, even up to the end of the eighteenth century, is supposed to have resulted from this voyage. The opinion is strengthened by finding the names of Tasman, and of the governor-general and two of the council, who signed his instructions, applied to places at the head of the Gulph; as is also that of Maria, the daughter of the governor, to whom our navigator is said to have been attached. In the notes, also, of Burgomaster Witsen, concerning the inhabitants of Nova Guinea and Hollandia Nova, as extracted by Mr. Dalrymple; Tasman is mentioned amongst those, from whom his information was drawn.

The President De Brasses^[12] gives, from the miscellaneous tracts Three Dutch
Vessels.
1705. of Nicolas Struyck, printed at Amsterdam, 1753, the following account of another, and last voyage of the Dutch, for the discovery of the North Coast.

"March 1, 1705, three Dutch vessels were sent from Timor, with order to explore the north coast of New Holland, better than it had before been done. They carefully examined the coasts, sand banks, and reefs. In their route to it, they did not meet with any land, but only some rocks above water, in 11° 52' south latitude:" (probably the south part of the great Sahul Bank; which, according to captain Peter Heywood, who saw it in 1801, lies in 11° 40'.) ​"They saw the west coast of New Holland 4° to the eastward of the east point of Timor. From thence they continued their route towards the north; and passed a point, off which lies a bank of sand above water, in length more than five German miles of fifteen to a degree. After which, they made sail to the east, along the coast of New Holland; observing every thing with care, until they came to a gulph, the head of which they did not quite reach. I (Struyck) have seen a chart made of these parts."

What is here called the West, must have been the North-west Coast; which the vessels appear to have made somewhat to the south of the western Cape Van Diemen. The point which they passed, was probably this same Cape itself; and in a chart, published by Mr. Dalrymple, Aug. 37, 1783, from a Dutch manuscript (possibly a copy of that which Struyck had seen), a shoal, of thirty geographic miles in length, is marked as running off, from it; but incorrectly, according to Mr. M^c. Cluer. The gulph here mentioned, was probably a deep bay in Arnhem's Land; for had it been the Gulph of Carpentaria, some particular mention of the great change in the direction of the coast, would, doubtless, have been made. From this imperfect account of the voyage of these three vessels, very little satisfactory information is obtained; and this, with some few exceptions, is the case with all the accounts of the early Dutch discoveries; and has usually been attributed to the monopolizing spirit of their East-India Company, which induced it to keep secret, or to destroy, the journals.

The north coast of Terra Australis does not appear to have been Cook.
1770.seen by any succeeding navigator, until the year 1770; when our celebrated captain James Cook passed through Endeavour's Strait, between Cape York and the Prince of Wales' Islands; and besides clearing up the doubt which, till then, existed, of the actual separation of Terra Australis from New Guinea, his more accurate observations enabled geographers to assign something like a true place to the former discoveries of the Dutch, in these parts. Captain Cook ​did not land upon the main; but, at Possession Island, he saw ten natives: "Nine of them were armed with such lances as we had been accustomed to see, and the tenth had a bow, and a bundle of arrows, which we had never seen in the possession of the natives of this country before."^[13]

At the end of the year 1791, lieutenant John M^c. Cluer of the Bombay marine, in returning from the examination of the west side M^c. Cluer
1770. of New Guinea, made the Land of Arnhem, in longitude 135¼°, east of Greenwich. He then sailed westward, along the shore, to 129° 55'; when the coast was found to take a southern direction. The point of turning is placed in 11° 15' south latitude; and is, doubtless, the Cape Van Diemen of the old charts, and the west extremity of the north coast of Terra Australis.

It does not appear that any other account has been given of this navigation, than the chart published by Mr. Dalrymple, in 1792. According to it, though lieutenant M*. Cluer constantly had soundings, in from 7 to 40 fathoms; yet he was generally at such a distance from the land, that it was not often seen; and, consequently, he was unable to identify the particular points. No landing seems to have been effected upon the main; but some service was rendered to navigation, by ascertaining the positions of several small islands, shoals, and projecting parts of the coast; and in conferring a certain degree of authenticity upon the discoveries of the early Dutch navigators.

Lieutenant M^c. Cluer is the last person, who can strictly be said to have added to our knowledge of the north coast of Terra Australis, previously to the time in which the voyage of the Investigator was planned; but several navigators had followed captain Cook through Torres' Strait, and by considerably different routes: these it will be proper to notice; as their discoveries are intimately connected with the present subject.

​After the mutineers of the Bounty had forced their commander, Bligh
1789.lieutenant (now rear-admiral) William Bligh, to embark in the launch, near the island Tofoa; he steered for Coepang, a Dutch settlement, at the south-west end of Timor. In the way, he made the east coast of New South Wales, in about 12½° of south latitude; and, sailing northward, passed round Cape York and the Prince of Wales' Islands.

It was not to be supposed, that captain Bligh, under the circumstances of extreme distress, of fatigue, and difficulty of every kind, could do much for navigation and geography; yet, he took views and made such observations and notes, as enabled him to construct a chart of his track, and of the lands and reefs seen from the launch. And as captain Bligh passed to the north of the Prince of Wales' Islands, whereas captain Cook had passed to the south, his interesting narrative, with the accompanying chart, made an useful addition to what little was yet known of Torres' Strait.^[14]

Captain (now admiral) Edward Edwards of His Majesty's Edwards
1791.frigate Pandora, on his return from the island Taheity,^[15] made the reefs of Torres' Strait, on Aug. 25; in about the latitude 10° south, and two degrees of longitude to the east of Cape York. Steering from thence westward, he fell in with three islands, rather high, which he named Murray's: lying in latitude 9° 57' south, and longitude 143° 42' east;^[16] and some canoes, with two masts, were seen running within side of the reef which lay between the islands and the ship. This reef was of considerable extent; and, during ​the whole of August 26, captain Edwards ran along it to the southward, without finding any passage through. On the 27th, the search was continued, without success; but on the 28th, a boat was despatched to examine an opening in the reef; and the ship stood off and on, waiting the result. At five in the evening, the boat made a signal for a passage being found; but fearing to venture through, so near sunset, without more particular information, captain Edwards called the boat on board. In the mean time, a current, or tide, set the Pandora upon the reef; and, after beating there till ten o'clock, she went over it into deep water; and sunk in 15 fathoms, at daylight of the 29th.

A dry sand bank was perceived within the opening, at the distance of four miles; and thither the boats repaired with the remaining officers and people; thirty-nine men having lost their lives in this melancholy disaster. This opening was ascertained to lie in latitude 11° 24', and longitude 143° 38'; and is represented as very practicable for ships.

Not being able to save any thing from the wreck, captain Edwards, almost destitute of provisions and water, set sail on Aug. 30, with his squadron of four boats; and steered for the north-east part of Terra Australis. No reefs, or other dangers, appear to have been encountered in the way to the coast; but in the course northward, along it, some islands and reefs were seen. From one part of the coast, two canoes with three black men in each, paddled hard after the boats; but though they waved and made many signs, it was not thought prudent to wait for them. At one of the York Isles, the natives, for some trifling presents, filled a keg of water for captain Edwards; but refused to bring down any more; and, soon afterward, they let fly a shower of arrows amongst the unfortunate sufferers. Happily no person was wounded; and the aggressors were put to flight, by a volley of musketry.

At the Prince of Wales' Islands, good water was found; and much alleviated the distress of captain Edwards and his people, ​They heard here the howling of wolves, (probably of wild dogs,) and "discovered a morai, or rather heap of bones. There were amongst them two human skulls, the bones of some large animals, and some turtle bones. They were heaped together in the form of a grave; and a long paddle, supported at each end by a bifurcated branch of a tree, was laid horizontally along it. Near to this, there were marks of a fire having been recently made; and the ground about was much footed and worn."^[17]

A few small oysters, a harsh austere fruit, resembling a plum, and a small berry of a similar taste to the plum, were all that could be found for food.

"There is a large sound formed here, to which," says Mr. Hamilton, "we gave the name of Sandwich's Sound; and commodious anchorage for shipping in the bay, to which we gave the name of Wolf's Bay, in which there is from five to seven fathoms all round. Near the centre of the sound is a small, dark-coloured, rocky island."

Sept. 2. In the afternoon, captain Edwards passed out to the northward, with his little squadron, from amongst the Prince of Wales' Islands; and the same evening, by steering westward, cleared all the islands and reefs of Torres' Strait: on the 14th he reached Timor.

The track and discoveries of the Pandora, in Plate XIII. are taken from a chart published in 1798, by Mr. Dalrymple, upon the authority of one constructed by lieutenant Hayward; but it does not contain the track of the boats after the loss of the Pandora. This chart, and the account given by Mr. Hamilton, which, though more than sufficiently explicit upon some points, is very defective in what concerns navigation and geography; are all that appears to have been published of this voyage.

​

Neither the great extent of the reefs, to the eastward of Cape Bligh and
Portlock
1792.York, nor the loss of the Pandora, were known in 1792; when captain William Bligh came a second time to Torres' Strait, with His Majesty's ship Providence, and the brig Assistant commanded by lieutenant (now captain) Nathaniel Portlock. The objects of his mission were, to transport the bread-fruit plant from Taheity to the West Indies; and, in his way, to explore a new passage through the Strait; in both of which hie was successful.

A chart of the discoveries made in Torres' Strait, was lodged, by (AtPl. XIII.) captain Bligh, in the Admiralty Office; and is incorporated with other authorities, in Plate XIII. of the accompanying Atlas. No account of this voyage having yet been published; it is conceived, that the following brief relation of the passage through the strait, will be acceptable to the nautical reader; and, having had the honour to serve in the expedition, I am enabled to give it from my own journal, with the sanction of captain Bligh.

Aug. 31. Latitude at noon 9° 25' south; longitude from fifteen sets of distances of the sun west, and star east, of the moon, taken-on the 24th, 25th, and 26th, preceding, 145° 22', and by time keepers, 145° 23' east. No land seen since passing Louisiade the preceding day; but many birds and fish, and much rock weed. At dusk, having steered W. ¼ S. 27 miles, breakers were seen a-head, at the distance of two miles; and the vessels hauled to the wind: no bottom at 94 fathoms.

Sept. 1. They bore away W. by S.; but hauled up gradually to South, on account of the breakers; and not being able to weather them, tacked to the N. E. At noon, latitude 9° 37' south, longitude by time keepers, 144° 59' east:^[18] part of the reef, which was named after captain Portlock, seen in the N.N.W. from the mast head. ​At four o'clock, the vessels edged away round the north end of Portlock's Reef, which, at dusk, bore South, about two leagues; and the wind was then hauled for the night.

Sept. 2. The breakers bore South, four or five miles; and captain Bligh steered westward: the Assistant leading. At noon, the latitude being 9° 26', longitude, by time keepers, 144° 23', other breakers were seen a-head, and the vessels hauled the wind to the southward; but finding another reef in that direction, with a dry bank upon it, they tacked to the N. E. at half past one; and got ground, for the first time, in 64 fathoms, coral bottom. During the following night, they stood off and on, constantly getting soundings.

No breakers were in sight in the morning of Sept. 3. At seven, a boat was sent a-head; and the vessels bore away after her to the N. W., in order to try the New-Guinea side of the Strait. At noon, their course was interrupted by a reef, which was named Bond's Reef, extending from W. N. W. to North, and distant four or five miles: observed latitude 9° 6', longitude 144° 13'. The north side of the Strait being judged impracticable, the wind was again hauled to the southward; and, at dusk, the vessels anchored in 37 fathoms, fine grey sand; five or six miles north of a reef, upon which was a dry bank, called Anchor Key. An island of considerable height, bearing S. W. by W. ten leagues, was then seen from the mast head: Captain Bligh gave it the name of Darnley's Island; and to the space between Portlock's and Bond's Reefs, by which the vessels had entered the Strait, that of Bligh s Entrance.

Sept. 4. A boat was sent to the S. S. W., and the vessels followed. Other high lands (Murray's Isles) were seen to the southward; and a reef with a sand bank on it, to the west. At noon, the latitude was 9° 32' south, and longitude 143° 59' east: Darnley's Island bore S. 74° to 82° W., four leagues; and the largest of Murray's Isles, S. 13° to 21° E.: the western reef was about three miles distant, but nothing was visible a-head in the S. by W. At four o'clock, the vessels anchored in 21 fathoms, sandy bottom; with Darnley's ​Island bearing N. 6o° W., three leagues. Betwixt a sand-bank, called Canoe Key, which bore S. 6o° W., two leagues, and a reef lying in the W. by S., there appeared to be a passage, which the boats were sent to examine.

On the 5th, boats were again sent to sound the passage. Several large sailing canoes were seen; and the cutter making the signal for assistance, the pinnace was sent to her, well manned and armed. On the return of the boats in the afternoon, it appeared, that, of four canoes which used their efforts to get up to the cutter, one succeeded. There were in it fifteen Indians, black, and quite naked; and they made signs which were interpreted to be amicable. These signs the officer imitated; but not thinking it prudent to go so near as to take a green cocoa-nut, which was held up to him, he continued rowing for the ship. A man, who was sitting upon the shed erected in the centre of the canoe, then said something to those below; and immediately they began to string their bows. Two of them had already fitted arrows, when the officer judged it necessary to fire in his own defence. Six muskets were discharged; and the Indians fell flat into the bottom of the canoe, all except the man on the shed: the seventh musket was fired at him, and he fell also. During this time, the canoe dropped astern; and the three others having joined her, they all gave chase to the cutter, trying to cut her off from the ship; in which they would probably have succeeded, had not the pinnace arrived, at that juncture, to her assistance. The Indians then hoisted their sails, and steered for Darnley's Island.

No boats could have been manoeuvred better, in working to windward, than were these long canoes by the naked savages. Had the four been able to reach the cutter, it is difficult to say, whether the superiority of our arms would have been equal to the great difference of numbers; considering the ferocity of these people, and the skill with which they seemed to manage their weapons.

September 6. Two boats were sent a-head; and the vessels followed them, between Canoe Key and the reef lying from it half a mile ​to the north. After running twelve miles beyond this narrow pass, they anchored in 13 fathoms; the latitude being 9° 37', and longitude 143° 41'. In the afternoon, they proceeded five miles further, to the N. N. W ; and Darnley's Island then bore S. 7°* to 55° E. two league : except on the north side, this island appeared to be surrounded with reefs and sand banks to a considerable distance. In sailing from Canoe Key, the vessels had left, on the larbord hand, a long chain of reefs and banks; at the north-west end of which, were three low, woody islands: the nearest of these, bearing S. 41° W. two or three miles from the anchorage, was named Nepean Island. The view to the northward, from W. by N. to E. by S., was free from dangers; but in every other direction there were reefs, islands, or dry banks.

This day, several canoes from Darnley's Island came off to both vessels. On approaching, the Indians clapped upon their heads, and exclaimed Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! repeatedly, with much vehemence; at the same time, they held out arrows and other weapons, and asked for toore-tooree! by which they meant iron.^[19] After much difficulty, they were persuaded to come along-side; and two men ventured into the ship. They had bushy hair,—were rather stout made,—and nearly answered the description given of the natives of New Guinea.^[20] The cartilage, between the nostrils, was cut away in both these people; and the lobes of their ears slit, and stretched to a great length, as had before been observed in a native of the Fejee Islands. They had no kind of clothing; but wore necklaces of cowrie shells, fastened to a braid of fibres; and some of their companions had pearl-oyster shells hung round their necks. In speaking to each other, their words seemed to be distinctly pronounced.

Their arms were bows, arrows, and clubs, which they bartered for every kind of iron work with eagerness; but appeared to set ​little value on any thing else. The bows are made of split bamboo; and so strong, that no man in the ship could bend one of them. The string is a broad slip of cane, fixed to one end of the bow; and fitted with a noose, to go over the other end, when strung. The arrow is a cane of about four feet long, into which a pointed piece of the hard, heavy, casuarina wood, is firmly and neatly fitted; and some of them were barbed. Their clubs are made of the casuarina, and are powerful weapons. The hand part is indented, and has a small knob, by which the firmness of the grasp is much assisted; and the heavy end is usually carved with some device: One had the form of a parrot's head, with a ruff round the neck; and was not ill done. Their canoes are about fifty feet in length, and appear to have been hollowed out of a single tree; but the pieces which form the gun-wales, are planks sewed on with the fibres of the cocoa nut, and secured with pegs. These vessels are low, forward, but rise abaft; and, being narrow, are fitted with an outrigger on each side, to keep them steady. A raft, of greater breadth than the canoe, extends over about half the length; and upon this is fixed a shed or hut, thatched with palm leaves. These people, in short, appeared to be dextrous sailors and formidable warriours; and to be as much at ease in the water, as in their canoes.

Sept. 7. The boats having found deep water round the north end of the three low islands, the vessels followed them; but anchored again, soon after noon, in latitude 9° 31', and longitude 143° 31'; being sheltered by the two western islands, named Stephens' and Campbell's, and the reefs which surround them. There were then no less than eight islands in sight, at different distances though none further to the westward than W. S. W. All these, except Darnley's Island, first seen, were small, low, and sandy but generally well covered with wood in the central parts.

On the 8th, the vessels steered westward, with the usual precautions. No land, or other obstruction, had been seen in that quarter; but, at ten o'clock, they were forced to haul the wind to the ​southward, their course being impeded by reefs; upon one of which, was Pearce's sandy Key. At noon, they had anchored in 15 fathoms, under the lee of Dalrymple's Island, the westernmost before seen; but two other islands were then visible in the S. by W.; and reefs extended from N. 4°, to S. 55° W., at the distance of three or four miles. The latitude here was 9° 37'; and longitude, from six sets of distances of the sun and moon, 143° 31'; but, by the time-keepers, 143° 15' east.

Several canoes were lying upon the shore of Dalrymple's Island; but no natives could be distinguished from the ships. When the boats returned, however, from sounding, in the afternoon, they came out upon the beach; waving green branches and clapping upon their heads, in token of friendship. Boats were afterwards sent to them, and were amicably received; the natives running into the water to meet them, and some getting into one of the boats. They eagerly asked for toore-tooree; and gave in exchange some ornaments of shells, and a kind of plum somewhat resembling jambo. When the boats pushed off from the shore, the natives followed into the water, and appeared anxious to detain them; but offered no violence. A moderately-sized dog, of a brown, chestnut colour, was observed amongst the party.

Sept. 9. The vessels steered after the boats, between the cluster of islands to the southward, and an extensive reef to the west; with soundings from 15 to 10 fathoms. At noon, the latitude was 9° 48', longitude by timekeepers 143° 6'; and two other islands came in sight to the westward. Before two o'clock, an extensive reef, partly dry, to which the name of Dungeness was given, made it necessary to heave to, until the boats had time to sound; after which, captain Bligh bore away along the north side of the reef, and anchored a mile from it, in 17 fathoms, hard bottom. In this situation, Dungeness Island, which is low and very woody, bore N. 64° to 87° W. three miles; and a small sandy isle, named Warriours Island, N 6° to 1° W. four miles: this last appeared to stand upon the great ​western reef, and was surrounded with dry sands. Besides these, there were other low isles, called the Six Sisters, in sight, to the 1792. south-east; and a long, flat island, bearing S. 33° to 46° W. over the dry Dungeness Reef; in the west, also, there were islands visible, at a greater distance, and much higher, than the others. The Strait, instead of becoming clearer, seemed to be more and more embarrassed with dangers, as the vessels proceeded westward. The latitude of this anchorage was 9° 50'½ south, and the longitude 142° 55' east.

Sept. 10. The boats sounded the channel to the north-west, between Dungeness and Warriours Islands; and finding sufficient water, the vessels got under way, at noon, to follow them. There were many natives collected upon the shore of Dungeness Island, and several canoes from Warriours Island were about the brig. Presently, captain Portlock made the signal for assistance; and there was a discharge of musketry and some guns, from his vessel and from the boats. Canoes were also coming towards the Providence; and when a musket was fired at the headmost, the natives set up a great shout, and paddled forward in a body; nor was musketry sufficient to make them desist. The second great gun, loaded with round and grape, was directed at the foremost of eight canoes, full of men; and the round shot, after raking the whole length, struck the high stern. The Indians leaped out, and swam towards their companions; plunging constantly, to avoid the musket balls which showered thickly about them. The squadron then made off, as fast as the people could paddle without shewing themselves; but afterwards rallied at a greater distance, until a shot, which passed over their heads, made them disperse, and give up all idea of any further attack.

In passing the deserted canoe, one native was observed still sitting in it. The other canoes afterwards returned to him; and, with glasses, signals were perceived to be made by the Indians, to their friends on Dungeness Island, expressive, as was thought, of grief and consternation.

​No arrows fell on board the Providence; but three men were wounded in the Assistant, and one of them afterwards died: The depth to which the arrows penetrated into the decks and sides of the brig, was represented to be truly astonishing.

The vessels passed between Dungeness and Warriours Islands, with from 19 to 13 fathoms; and anchored, at four o'clock, under the lee of Dungeness Island and Reef. The passage to the westward then appeared clearer; three high islands, bearing from S. 60° W. three leagues, to N. 76° W. five leagues, forming the sole visible obstructions.

Sept. 11. Captain Bligh proceeded on his course to the W. N. W., and passed two islands, to which the descriptive names of Turtle-backed Island and the Cap were given; and, soon after noon, the vessels anchored in 7 fathoms, soft bottom. There was a dry sand bearing N. 63° W. two or three miles; between which, and the third high island, called The Brothers, bearing S. 55° to 69° W. three miles, it was judged necessary for the boats to sound, before proceeding further. This anchorage was in latitude 9° 43', and longitude 142° 40'; and, besides the islands already mentioned, there was in sight a mountainous island, to which the name of Banks was given, bearing S. 43° W., twelve or thirteen leagues; also Burke's Island, S. 13° W. eight or ten leagues; and Mount Cornwallis, on another island, N. 29° W. six or eight leagues; and from behind this last, to N. 7° W., there extended a level land, which was supposed to be a part of the coast of New Guinea.

Sept. 12. The vessels followed the boats to the westward; but were interrupted by reefs, and obliged to anchor again before noon. The water had shoaled gradually, and there was then only 6 fathoms: the bottom a coarse, coral sand. Two other islands were then in sight: a low one, named Turn-again Island, bore N. 53° W. about four leagues; and Jervis' Island, which is rather high, S. 48° W. nine leagues. A reef, with a dry sand upon it, extended from S. 7° E. to 62° W. four or five miles; another was distant three miles to the ​west; and a third bore N. 18° W. five miles. The latitude of the anchorage Bligh and
Portlock
1792.was 9° 41' south, and longitude 142° 84' east.

A fresh gale from south-east did not allow the Providence and Assistant to proceed onward for three days. In the mean time, the passage between the reefs to the N. W., was sounded by the boats; and found to contain about 5 fathoms, regularly, upon hard ground. They were also sent to examine the passage round the southern reefs; and this being deeper, with a superior bottom, it was chosen as the preferable route.

Sept. 16. The vessels passed to windward of the southern reef; and steered south-westward, as it trended, in from 7 to 5 fathoms water, until half past noon; when they anchored in latitude 10° 3', and longitude, by time-keeper, 142° 14'. The sole direction in which the eye could range without being obstructed, was that whence the vessels had come; every where else the view was arrested by rocks, banks, and islands. The most extensive of these, was Banks' Island, extending from S. 14° E. to 62° W., two or three leagues; with a high hill upon it named Mount Augustus, which bore S. 4° E.:^[21] Another large island, named Mulgrave's, extended from behind the last to a cluster of rocks, whose extreme bore W. 5° N. The nearest land, bearing S. 24° E., one mile and a half, was the northwesternmost of three small isles; and to this, the second lieutenant was sent, for the purpose of taking possession of all the islands seen in the Strait, for His Britannic Majesty George III., with the ceremonies used on such occasions: the name bestowed upon the whole, was Clarence's Archipelago.

North Possession Island was found to be little else than a mass of rocks surrounded by a reef; but it was covered with a variety of ​trees and shrubs. Amongst them was a cluster of cocoa-nut trees, bearing a small, but delicious, fruit; and the tree bearing a plum, such as had been seen at Dalrymple's Island. Besides these, the botanists found the peeha and nono of Taheity; and two new plants, of the size of the common mulberry. One, of the class polyadelphia, bears a scarlet, bell-shaped flower, large as the China rose; the other was a species of erythrina, bearing clusters of butterfly-shaped flowers, of a light yellow, tinged with purple: both were entirely destitute of leaves, and their woods remarkably brittle.

There did not appear to be any fixed inhabitants upon Possession Island ; but from a fire which had been recently extinguished, and the shells and bones of turtle scattered around, it was supposed to have been visited not many days before. The bushes were full of small, green ants; which proved exceedingly troublesome to those who had sufficient hardihood to penetrate their retreats. Another, and larger species of ant, was black; and made its nest by bending and fixing together the leaves, in a round form, so as to be impenetrable to the wet. These, and a small kind of lizard, were all the animals found upon the island.

Sept. 17. The boats led to the westward, steering for a passage between Mulgrave's and Jervis' Islands; but seeing it full of rocks and shoals, the vessels anchored a little within the entrance, in 10 fathoms, coarse ground; until the boats should sound a-head. The latitude here was 10° 2', and longitude 142° 03'. The flood tide, from the E. N. E., was found to set through between the islands, at the rate of four miles an hour; and the breeze being fresh, and bottom bad, the situation was considered to be very unsafe.

Whilst the boats were sounding, several Indians in three canoes, were perceived making towards them; but on a swivel shot being fired over their heads, they returned to Mulgrave's Island, on the south side of the passage. On the signal being made for good anchorage further on, the Assistant led to the W. by S.; but on reaching the boats, the bottom was found much inferior to what had ​been imagined; the approach of night, however, obliged captain Bligh to anchor, soon afterward, in 8 fathoms.

In this situation, the vessels were so closely surrounded with rocks and reefs, as scarcely to have swinging room; the bottom was rocky; the wind blowing a fresh gale; and a tide running between four and five knots an hour. This anxious night was, however, passed without accident; and next morning, Sept. 18, the route was continued through the passage, between reefs and rocks, which, in some places, were not three quarters of a mile asunder: the smallest depth was 4 fathoms.

On clearing this dangerous pass, which captain Bligh named, Bligh's Farewell, he anchored in 6 fathoms, sandy bottom; the wind blowing strong at S. E. with thick weather. The latitude here was 10° 5', and longitude 141 56'. From north nearly, round by the east, to S. 8° E., there was a mass of islands, rocks, and reefs, at various distances; but in the western half of the compass, no danger was visible; and as far as three miles to the W.N.W., the boats found good soundings in 6 and 7 fathoms.

Sept. 19. The wind moderated; and the vessels steered W. by S. until noon, with a depth gradually increasing from 6 to 8 fathoms. The latitude was then 10° 8¼' south, longitude, by time keeper, 141° 31' east, and no land was in sight; nor did any thing more obstruct captain Bligh and his associate, in their route to the island Timor.

Thus was accomplished, in nineteen days, the passage from the Pacific, or Great Ocean, to the Indian Sea; without other misfortune than what arose from the attack of the natives, and some damage done to the cables and anchors. Perhaps no space of 8½° in length, presents more dangers than Torres' Strait; but, with caution and perseverance, the captains Bligh and Portlock proved them to be surmountable; and within a reasonable time: how far it may be advisable to follow their track through the Strait, will appear more fully hereafter.

​In the Voyage to the South Seas in H. M. ship Bounty, page 320, captain Bligh says, "I cannot with certainty reconcile the situation of some parts of the coast (near Cape York) that I have seen, to his (captain Cook's) survey; and from the situation of the high islands on the west side of the Strait, which had been seen from the Bounty's launch, and were now subjected to the correction of the Providence's time-keepers; he was confirmed in the opinion, that some material differences existed in the positions of the lands near Cape York.

The last passage known to have been made through Torres' Bampton and
Alt
1793.Strait, previously to the sailing of the Investigator, was by Messieurs William Bampton and Matthew B. Alt, commanders of the ships Hormuzeer and Chesterfield. Their discoveries were made public, in two charts, by Mr. Dalrymple, in 1798 and 1799; and from them, and captain Bampton's manuscript journal, the south coast of New Guinea, and most of the reefs and islands near it, are laid down in Plate XIII.; after having been adjusted to the observations of captain Bligh, and to those subsequently made by me in the Investigator and Cumberland. The journal was obtained through the kindness of Mr. Arrowsmith; and, though no courses and distances be given, and the differences from the charts be sometimes considerable, it is yet so interesting in many points, that I have judged the following abridgement would be acceptable, as well to the general, as to the nautical, reader.

The Hormuzeer and Chesterfield sailed together from Norfolk Island; with the intention of passing through Torres' Strait, by a route which the commanders did not know to have been before attempted. June 20, 1793, in the evening, being in latitude 10° 24' south, and longitude 144° 14' east (by captain Bampton's chart), a dry reef was seen extending from W. S. to N. W. by W., distant four or five miles, and breakers from the mast head at N. by E. ½E.: An island (Murray's), which appeared to be large and woody, was ​also seen, and bore N. W. ½W. The ships got ground in 60 fathoms, and hauled the wind to the eastward, till midnight; when, having no bottom at 70 fathoms, they lay to, till morning.

June 21. The Hormuzeer's long boat was sent a-head; and, at ten o'clock, the ships bore away northward. At noon, the latitude was 9° 30'. The course was altered, at three, to the north-west; and at dusk, they hove to, for the night: soundings from 70 to 56 fathoms. The same course being resumed on the sand, the latitude, at noon, was 8° 48'; and the depth 30 fathoms, on a bottom of sand, mud, and shells. From noon to five p. m., when they anchored, the ships appear to have steered W. by S. The land had been seen at one o'clock; and at two, the water had shoaled suddenly, from 30 to 10 fathoms, and afterwards diminished to 5, which continued to the place of anchorage. The land was part of the coast of New Guinea; and the extremes were set at W. by N. ¾N. and N. W. ½N., six or seven leagues, (in the chart, miles.) The flood tide here, set two miles per hour, towards the land; and the rise, by the lead line, was nine feet.

June 23. The ships got under way with the weather, or ebb, tide, a little before noon: latitude 8° 52'. At four o'clock, the wind blew strong at south-east, with thick weather; and they anchored in 9 fathoms, blue-mud; having made a course of E. N. E. nearly parallel to the coast. They remained here till the next afternoon; when the Hormuzeer having parted her cable, both ships stood to the north-eastward, along the land, until midnight; at which time they wore to the south-West, in 30 fathoms. At daylight of the 25th, the depth had decreased to 16 fathoms; and they stretched north-eastward again, with little variation in the soundings. The latitude, at noon, was 8° 10'; and the ships continued their course upon a wind, keeping as much to the east as possible; and the soundings having increased to 30 fathoms, at dusk, they hove to; but stretched off, at midnight, on coming into 10 fathoms. In the morning of June 26, they were standing to the eastward; but the ​wind becoming light at nine o'clock, Mr. Bampton anchored in 9 fathoms, on a muddy bottom, in latitude 7° 55' south. The coast of New Guinea was then seen to extend from N. N. W. ½W. to E. N. E.; and the south end of a reef, running off from the western extreme, bore W. by S. ½S., two leagues.

The land here forms a large, unsheltered bay; and an opening nearly at the head, bearing N.jK, appeared like the entrance of a considerable river; but an officer, who was sent in a boat to sound, saw breakers stretching across. The soundings were regular, from 9 to 6 fathoms, within a mile or two of the shore; when there was only twelve feet; and the surf which rolled in, made it impossible to land. The country round the bay is described as level and open, and of an agreeable aspect.

On the return of the boat the ships weighed, and stretched southward until June 27, at noon. The latitude was then 9° 1'; and a sand bank was seen from the mast head, bearing S. W. ½W. They then wore to the north-eastward; and continued upon that course until the 28th, at dusk; when the land of New Guinea being in sight as far as E. by N., the same, apparently, which had been set from the anchorage on the 26th, they stretched off till two in the morning; and then in again, towards the land.

Captain Bampton had followed the coast of New Guinea thus far, in the hope of finding a passage to the northward, between it and Louisiade; but the trending of the land so far to the east, and the difficulty of weathering it, from the current being adverse, obliged him to give up that hope. A consultation was then held; and a determination made to attempt the passage through the middle of Torres' Strait.

At the time the ships hauled their wind to the southward, the latitude was 8° 3'; the longitude, from three distances of the sun and moon, 145° 23'; and the depth of water 40 fathoms, on a muddy bottom. They had no soundings from that time to July 1, at one a. m.; when there was 35 fathoms. At daylight, land, which was ​the Darnley's Island of captain Bligh, bore S. W. by S. seven or eight leagues; a dry sand was seen in the W. N. W., ( probably W. S. W. ); and a reef, which appears to have been that of Anchor Key, was six or seven miles distant in the S. E. At four in the afternoon, when Darnley's Island bore W. by N. ½N. five leagues, and Murray's Island S. E. ½E. (probably S. S. E. ½E. ) the ships anchored in 22 fathoms, marly bottom; and the boats were sent towards the first island to sound, and see if it were inhabited. The latitude observed at this anchorage, was 9° 40' south, and longitude from three distances of the sun and moon 142° 58' 30" east.

July 2. The boats returned. Between the ships and the island, they had passed over five different reefs, separated by narrow channels of 11 to 14 fathoms deep. The natives of the island came down in considerable numbers; and exchanged some bows and arrows, for knives and other articles. They were stout men; and somewhat above the common size of Europeans. Except in colour, which was not of so deep a cast, they bore much resemblance to the natives of Port Jackson; and had scars raised upon their bodies in the same manner. The men were entirely naked; but the women, who kept at a distance and appeared small in size, wore an apron of leaves, reaching down to the knee. Many cocoa-nut trees were seen in the lower parts of the island.

When the boats returned, they were followed by four canoes. One of them went along-side of the Chesterfield; and an Indian ventured on board, on a sailor going into the canoe, as a hostage for him. Most of these people had their ears perforated. The hair was generally cut short; but some few had it flowing loose. It is naturally black; but from being rubbed with something, it had a reddish, or burnt appearance. These Indians, so far as they could be understood, represented their island to abound in refreshments; and it was, therefore, determined to send another boat to make further examination.

July 3. Mr. Shaw, chief mate of the Chesterfield, Mr. Carter, ​captain Hill of the New-South- Wales corps, who was a passenger went away armed, with five seamen in a whale boat; and were expected to return on the following day; but the 4th, 5th, and 6th, passed, without any tidings of them; although many signal guns had been fired.

On the 7th, two boats, manned and armed, under the command of Mr. Dell, chief mate of the Hormuzeer, were sent in search of the whale boat. On reaching the island, Mr. Dell heard conch shells sounding in different parts; and saw eighty or ninety armed natives upon the shore. To the inquiries, by signs, after the missing boat, they answered that she was gone to the westward; but none of them would venture near; nor did they pay attention to a white handkerchief which was held up, and had before been considered a signal of peace.

As the boats proceeded in their search, round the island, the natives followed along the shore, with increasing numbers. One man, who was rubbed with something blue, and appeared to be a chief, had a small axe in his hand; which was known, from the red helve, to have belonged to Mr. Shaw. On reaching the bay in the north-west side of the island, Mr. Dell remarked that the natives disappeared; all except about thirty, who were very anxious in persuading him to land. They brought down women; and made signs, that the boat and people whom he sought, were a little way up in the island. He, however, rowed onward; when the beach was immediately crowded with people, who had been lying in ambush, expecting him to land.

After having gone entirely round the island, and seen nothing of the object of his research, Mr. Dell returned to the first cove; Where a great concourse of natives, armed with bows, arrows, clubs, and lances, were assembled at the outskirt of the wood. By offering knives and other things, a few were induced to approach the boat; and the coxswain seized one of them by the hair and neck, with the intention of his being taken off to the ships, to give an ​account of the missing boat and people. A shower of arrows instantly came out of the wood; and a firing was commenced, which killed one Indian, and wounded some others. In the mean time, the coxswain found it impossible to keep the man, from his hair and body being greased; and the boat's crew was too much occupied to assist him.

July 8. The two commanders having heard the report of Mr. Dell, proceeded with the ships, round the northern reefs and sand banks, to the bay on the north-west side of Darnley's Island, which was named Treacherous Bay. On the 9th, in the afternoon, they anchored with springs on the cables, in 13 fathoms, sand, mud, and shells; the extremes of the island bearing E. ½N. to S. W. by S., and the nearest part distant a quarter of a mile. A boat was sent on shore; and returned, at sunset, with a few cocoa nuts; but without having seen any of the inhabitants.

July 10. An armed party of forty-four men landed from the ships, under the command of Mr. Dell. After hoisting the union jack, and taking possession of this, and the neighbouring islands and coast of New Guinea, in the name of His Majesty, they examined the huts, and found the great coats of captain Hill, Mr. Carter, and Mr. Shaw; with several other things which had belonged to them, and to the boats' crew; so that no doubt was entertained of their having been murdered. In the evening, the party arrived from making the tour of the island; having burnt and destroyed one-hundred-and-thirty-five huts; sixteen canoes, measuring from fifty to seventy feet in length; and various plantations of sugar cane. The natives appeared to have retired to the hills in the centre of the island; as not one of them could be discovered.

Darnley's Island was judged to be about fifteen miles in circumference. It is variegated with hills and plains; and the richness of the vegetation bespoke it to be very fertile; it appeared, however, to be scantily supplied with fresh water, there being only one small place where it was found near the shore. The plantations of the ​natives, which were extensive and numerous in the plains, contained yams, sweet potatoes, plantains, and sugar canes, inclosed within neat fences of bamboo; and cocoa-nut trees were very abundant, particularly near the habitations. The hills, which mostly occupy the middle of the island, were covered with trees and bushes of a luxuriant growth; and upon different parts of the shores, the mangrove was produced in great plenty.

The habitations of the Indians were generally placed at the heads of the small coves; and formed into villages of ten or twelve huts each, inclosed within a bamboo fence of, at least, twelve feet high. The hut much resembles a haycock, with a pole driven through it; and may contain a family of six or eight people. The covering is of long grass, and cocoa leaves. The entrance is small; and so low, that the inhabitants must creep in and out; but the inside was clean and neat; and the pole that supports the roof, was painted red, apparently with ochre.

In each of the huts, and usually on the right hand side going in, were suspended two or three human skulls; and several strings of hands, five or six on a string. These were hung round a wooden image, rudely carved into the representation of a man, or of some bird; and painted and decorated in a curious manner: the feathers of the Emu or Cassuary generally formed one of the ornaments. In one hut, containing much the greater number of skulls, a kind of gum was found burning before one of these images. This hut was adjoining to another, of a different form, and much more capacious than any of the others. The length was thirty feet, by fifteen in breadth; and the floor was raised six feet from the ground. The hut was very neatly built of bamboo, supported by long stakes, and thatched with cocoa leaves and dried grass. It was judged to be the residence of the chief of the island; and was the sole hut in which there were no skulls or hands; but the adjoining one had more than a double proportion.

The corpse of a man, who had been shot, was found disposed of ​in the following manner. Six stakes were driven into the ground; about three feet from each other, and six feet high. A platform of twigs was worked upon them, at the height of five feet; and upon this, the body was laid, without covering; but the putrid state of the corpse, did not allow of a close inspection.

Upon the reefs which surround the island, square places, of about fifty feet every way, were formed, by piling up stones of two or three feet high. The tide flows over these; and, on the ebb, the Indians go down and take out the fish. On all parts of the reefs, there were bamboos set up, with pendants of dried leaves; but whether they were intended as beacons for the canoes, or to point out the boundaries of each fishery, could not be ascertained. The description of the canoes is nearly the same as that given in the voyage of Bligh and Portlock; but Mr. Bampton says, "some of them were ingeniously carved and painted, and had curious figures at each end." The weapons of these people are bows; arrows, clubs of about four feet long, and spears and lances of various kinds, made of black, hard, wood. Some of the lances were jagged, from the sharp point to a foot upward; and most of them were neatly carved.

The sole quadrupeds seen, were rats, mice, and lizards; which, when the huts were set on fire, ran from them in great numbers. Land birds were numerous in all parts of the island; and upon the reefs were many curlews, large yellow-spotted plover, king's fishers, sand pipers, red bills, and gulls.

Captain Bampton lays down Darnley's Island, which the natives call Wamvax, in latitude 9° 39' 30" south, and longitude 142° 59' 15" east; but in his chart, the centre is placed in 9° 34' south, and 143° 1' east. He much regretted that he could not land again, to examine the interior parts of this fine island; but his long boat having drifted out of sight, without water, provisions, or compass, it was judged necessary for the ships to weigh, and look after her.

July 11. The Hormuzeer stood to the northward, with ​soundings of 15 to 19 fathoms. After three hours run, with a fresh breeze, a reef and sand bank were seen a-head, and the ship was veered to the south-west. Another reef and bank were descried, soon afterward, in the west; and, at the same time, a signal for seeing the long boat was made by the Chesterfield. In the afternoon, the boat was picked up, and both ships anchored under Stephens' Island.

An armed party was immediately sent on shore, to obtain intelligence, if possible, of the lost whale boat. The natives were assembled in hostile array, upon the hills, sounding their conchs; but, after lancing a few arrows, they fled. Several were wounded by the shots fired in return; but they succeeded in escaping to a canoe at the back of the island, and getting off; all except one boy, who was taken unhurt.^[22] In the huts, which were burnt, several things were found; and amongst them, a sheet of copper which belonged to the Chesterfield.

July 12. Stephens' Island was traversed all over; and a spike nail, with the king's broad arrow upon it, was brought on board, and excited many conjectures as to whence it came.^[23] The plantations, huts, images, skulls, and hands, were found similar to those of Darnley's Island. Amongst the trees, there was one resembling an almond, the nuts of which were good. The cocoa nut grows abundantly; especially in the south-eastern part, where the trees formed a continued grove. The sole quadruped seen; except rats, was a pretty animal of the opossum tribe. It was found in a cage; and had probably been brought, either from New Guinea, or New South Wales.^[24]

​July 13. A boat was sent to Campbell's Island; but it did not contain either plantations, cocoa-nut tree?, or fixed inhabitants. This, as also Stephens' and Nepean's Islands, are mostly low and sandy; and surrounded with extensive reefs, upon which, it was thought, the Indians pass from one island to the other, at low water. In the afternoon, the ships proceeded to the westward; but meeting with many reefs, they hauled more to the north, and discovered Bristow Island, lying close to the coast of New Guinea. Their attempts to find a passage here, were fruitless; and after incurring much danger, and the Chesterfield getting aground, they returned to their former anchorage, in the evening of July 21. The banks, reefs, and lands, seen during these eight days, will be found marked in Plate XIII.

Two canoes immediately came off from Stephens' Island; and one of the natives remained on board the Hormuzeer till eight o'clock. He seemed to be without fear; and when inquiry was made after the lost boat and people, he pointed to a whale boat, and made signs that such an one had been at Darnley's Island; and that six of the people were killed.^[25] Many presents were made to this man; and he was clothed, and sent on shore in one of the boats.

​July 22. The ships' crews beginning to feel the want of fresh water, people were sent on shore to dig a well; and the natives, though they still appeared shy and suspicious, gave them some assistance. On the 24th, the boats had discovered a passage to the south-westward; and as the well produced little water, and no provision could be obtained, it was determined to proceed onward, through the Strait, without further delay.

They weighed the same afternoon; and anchored, at dusk, in 14 fathoms; Campbell's Island bearing N. E. by E. to E. by N. ¾N.; and many other small isles being in sight to the south-west and southward. Next day, the 25th, they steered S. by W. ½W., from seven in the morning to six in the evening; when they anchored in 17 fathoms, having islands in sight nearly all round: the nearest at the distance of five or six miles. These islands were small; but inhabitants were seen on the greater number; and two canoes went off to the Chesterfield.

July 26. The ships proceeded westward, very slowly; the wind being at south-west. In the morning of the 27th, they were at anchor in 11 fathoms; Dungeness Island bearing W. by N. to N. W. by W. ½W., about six miles; and Warriors Island N. N. W. ½W. eight miles. Mr. Dell had passed the preceding night upon one of the Six Sisters, which was called Dove Island, bearing from the ship, S. S. E. six miles. A fire on the beach, with two fish broiling upon it, bespoke the presence of inhabitants; but on searching the island over, none could be discovered: it was thought that they had fled to a larger island, it being connected with this by a reef, which dries at low water. Mr. Dell had a seine with him, and caught a dozen fine fish; but the object of remaining all night, that of taking turtle, did not succeed; although large shells of them were found upon the shore.

Dove Island is about one mile and a half in circumference; and covered with trees and shrubs, the fragrance of whose flowers perfumed the air. Amongst other birds, two beautiful doves were shot ​The plumage of the body was green; the head, bill, and legs, red; the tail, and under sides of the wings, yellow. No huts, plantations, or other signs of fixed inhabitants were seen; nor was there any fresh water.

On the return of the boat, the vessels weighed; and the wind being at W. S. W., they worked through, between Dungeness and Warriors Islands, with the flood tide. They then anchored in 11 fathoms; the first Island bearing S. S. E. to S ½W. three leagues, and the second E. by S. ½S.

July 28. Having a fresh breeze at E. S. E., the long boat was sent a-head, and the ships followed, to the westward. They passed Turtle-backed Island, the Cap, and the Brothers, on one side, and Nichols' Key on the other: the soundings gradually shoaling from 12 to 7 fathoms. Upon the Cap, Mr. Bampton "saw a volcano burning with great violence," which induced him to give it the name of Fire Island; not knowing that it had before been named. At noon, the Brothers, with the Cap and Turtle-backed Island behind, bore S. E. by S. to S ½E. four miles; and Mount Cornwallis N. 16° W.

The water continued to shoal; and at three p. m., the ships anchored in 5 fathoms, sand, shells, and stones; the Brothers bearing E. by S. ¼S. five leagues, and Mount Cornwallis N. by E. ¼E. There were two large islands in sight in the S. S. W. ¼W. to S. W. ¼S, at the distance of eight or ten leagues; and many nearer reefs in the same direction.

July 29. The long boat was sent to sound in the north-west; and when the ebb tide slacked, the ships followed: wind at E. S. E.; The soundings increased from 5 to 7 fathoms; and afterwards varied between these depths, until noon; when the latitude observed was 9° 42' south.^[26] The Brothers then bore S. 64° E.; Mount Cornwallis N. 38° E; and a long, low island (Turn-again, of Bligh,) N. 35° to ​58° W. At three p. m. the reefs were so numerous, that the ships were obliged to anchor, until the boats could sound for a passage: the depth here was 4½ fathoms, on a bottom of rotten stones and coral.

July 31. They weighed, and hauled the wind eastward, to pass round Turn-again Island; bearing away occasionally to avoid small reefs: the soundings 5½ to 4 fathoms. After passing round, they anchored in 5 fathoms; until the boats should sound between the reefs which appeared on every side: Turn-again Island then bore S. 56° to 83° W. about two leagues, Mount Cornwallis N. 56° E., the Brothers S. 50° E.; the latitude observed was 9° 32', and longitude from four sights of the sun and moon, 140° 58' east. Next afternoon, in proceeding to the north-westward, the Chesterfield struck upon a bank in eight feet water; but the coral giving way to the ship, she went over without injury. In the evening, they both anchored in 4½ fathoms, gravel and shells; Mount Cornwallis bearing E. ¼S., and a long tract of land from N. W. by N. to N. E., at the distance of five or six leagues. Turn-again Island bore S. S. E. ¾E. to S. ½W., four miles; and thither the ships ran on Aug. 3., and anchored in 3¼ fathoms, fine sand, within a quarter of a mile of the shore; the extremes bearing S. 58° E. to 60° W. The purpose for which they came to this island, was to procure wood, water, and refreshments; during the time necessary for the boats to explore a passage through the innumerable reefs and banks, which occupy this part of the Strait.

Messieurs Bampton and Alt remained here seventeen days; being afraid to move with the strong south-east winds which blew during the greater part of the time. Turn-again Island is flat, low, and swampy; and about three miles in length, by half that space in breadth. (Mr. Bampton's chart makes it the double of these dimensions; and, generally, the islands in it exceed the description of the journal in about the same proportion: the journal seems to be the preferable authority.) The reefs which surround Turn-again Island, ​extend a great distance to the east and west; particularly in the latter direction, where there are many dry sand banks. The island is mostly over-run with mangroves; and at the top of the flood, the wood cutters were obliged to work in the water; and were, at all times, exceedingly annoyed with musketoes. The island is said, in the journal, to be in 9° 34' south and 140 55' east; which is 3' to the south and 1° 24' west of its situation in the chart of captain Bligh.

No other refreshment than small quantities of fish, crabs, and shell-fish, being procurable here, the ships crews were further r educed in their short allowance. With respect to fresh water, their situation was still worse: None could be obtained upon Turn-again Island; and had not captain Bampton ingeniously contrived a still, their state would have been truly deplorable. He caused a cover, with a hole in the centre, to be fitted by the carpenter upon a large cooking pot; and over the hole he luted an inverted tea kettle, with the spout cut off. To the stump of the spout, was fitted a part of the tube of a speaking trumpet; and this was lengthened by a gun barrel, which passed through a cask of salt water, serving as a cooler. From this machine, good fresh water, to the amount of twenty-five tb forty gallons per day, was procured; and obtained a preference to that contained in the few casks remaining in the Hormuzeer.

By Aug. 20., when the weather had become more moderate, the boats had sounded amongst the reefs in all directions; but there appeared to be no practicable passage out of this labyrinth, except to the north-west. In that direction the ships proceeded three hours, in from 6 to 3 fathoms. Next afternoon, they steered westward, with the flood tide; and again anchored in 3 fathoms, sand and gravel. The coast of New Guinea then extended from N. by E. ¼E. to N. W. ¾N.; and the north-west end of a long island, to which the name of Talbot was given, bore N. by E. ½E. nine or ten miles.

Aug. 22. At day-light they followed the long boat to the westward, in soundings from 2½ to 4 fathoms. At seven o'clock, the Hormuzeer grounded in 2 fathoms; upon a bank whence Talbot's ​Island bore N. N. E, to E. N. E., eight or ten miles, and where the observed latitude was 9° 27' south. She remained upon this bank until the morning of the 24th; when Mr. Bampton got into a channel of 13 fathoms, which had been found by the boats, and the ship did not appear to have received other damage, than the loss of the false keel. The still continued to be kept at work, day and night.

Aug. 27. Messieurs Bampton and Alt proceeded onward in a track which had been sounded by the boats. At sunset, they came to, in 4 fathoms; the extremes of New Guinea then bearing N. W. by W. to N. E. by E., three or four leagues. Some further progress was made next morning; and at noon, when at anchor in 3¼ fathoms, and in latitude 9° 26½', an island was discovered bearing S. W. ¾S. five or six leagues; which received, eventually, the name of Deliverance Island.

Aug. 29. The Hormuzeer grounded at low water; from which it appeared that the tide had fallen twelve feet, though then at the neaps. When the ship floated, they made sail to the westward; and deepened the water to 9 and 12 fathoms. At noon, it had again shoaled to 6; Deliverance Island bearing S. S. W. ½W. nine or ten miles, and New Guinea N. W. to N. by E. ½E. four or five leagues: latitude observed 9° 25' south. After preceding a little further westward, they anchored in 5 fathoms.

Aug. 30. The soundings varied as before, between 4 and 10 fathoms: the bottom, rotten coral intermixed with sand. At noon, when the latitude was 9° 21', Deliverance Island was just in sight from the deck, in the S. E. by S.; and the extremes of New Guinea bore N. E. by E. to N. W. ½W., ten or twelve miles.^[27] In the afternoon, the depth again decreased to 4 fathoms, and obliged them to anchor until morning. On the 31st, the ships appear to have steered ​south-westward, leaving on the starbord hand a very extensive bank, on which the long boat had 2 fathoms water: the soundings from the Hormuzeer were from 3 to 7 fathoms. At noon, the latitude was 9° 27', and no land in sight. The soundings then increased gradually; and at sunset, no bottom could be found at 40 fathoms. A swell coming from S. S. W. announced an open sea in that direction; and that the dangers of Torres' Strait were, at length, surmounted.

This passage of the Hormuzeer and Chesterfield in seventy-two days, with that made in nineteen by the captains Bligh and Portlock, displayed the extraordinary dangers of the Strait; and appear to have deterred all other commanders from following them, up to the time of the Investigator. Their accounts confirm the truth of Torres having passed through it, by shewing the correctness of the sketch contained in his letter to the King of Spain.

The sole remaining information, relative to the North Coast of Conclusive
Remarks.Terra Australis, was contained in a note, transcribed by Mr. Dalrymple, from a work of burgomaster Witsen upon the Migration of Mankind. The place of which the burgomaster speaks, is evidently on the coast of Carpentaria, near the head of the Gulph; but it is called New Guinea; and he wrote in 1705. The note is as follows; but upon whose authority it was given, does not appear:

"In 16° 10' south, longitude 159° 17'" (east of Teneriffe, or between 142° and 143° east of Greenwich,) "the people swam on board of a Dutch ship; and when they received a present of a piece of linen, they laid it upon their head in token of gratitude: Every where thereabout, all the people are malicious. They use arrows, and bows of such a length, that one end rests on the ground when shooting. They have also hazeygaeys and kalawaeys, and attacked the Dutch; but did not know the execution of the guns."

On summing up the whole of the knowledge which had been ​acquired of the North Coast, it will appear, that natural history, geography, and navigation had still much to learn of this part of the world; and more particularly, that they required the accomplishment of the following objects:

1st. A general survey of Torres' Strait. The navigation from the Pacific, or Great Ocean to all parts of India, and to the Cape of Good Hope, would be greatly facilitated, if a passage through the Strait, moderately free from danger, could be discovered; since five or six weeks of the usual route, by the north of New Guinea or the more eastern islands, would thereby be saved. Notwithstanding the great obstacles which navigators had encountered in some parts of the Strait, there was still room to hope, that an examination of the whole, made with care and perseverance, would bring such a passage to light. A survey of it was, therefore, an object much to be desired; not only for the merchants and seamen trading to these parts, but also from the benefits which would certainly accrue therefrom to general navigation and geography.

2nd. An examination of the shores of the Gulph of Carpentaria. The real form of this gulph remained in as great doubt with geographers, as were the manner how, and time when it acquired its name.^[28] The east side of the Gulph had been explored to the latitude of 17°, and many rivers were there marked and named; but how far the representation given of it by the Dutch was faithful,—what were the productions, and what its inhabitants,—were, in a great ​measure, uncertain. Or rather it was certain, that those early navigators did not possess the means of fixing the positions and forms of lands, with any thing like the accuracy of modern science; and that they could have known very little of the productions, or inhabitants. Of the rest of the Gulph no one could say, with any confidence, upon what authority its form had been given in the charts; so that conjecture, being at liberty to appropriate the Gulph of Carpentaria to itself, had made it the entrance to a vast arm of the sea, dividing Terra Australis into two, or more, islands.

3rd. A more exact investigation of the bays, shoals, islands, and coasts of Arnhem's, and the northern Van Diemen's, Lands. The information upon these was attended with uncertainty; first, because the state of navigation was very low at the time of their discovery; and second, from want of the details and authorities upon which they had been laid down. The old charts contained large islands lying off the coast, under the names of T' Hoog Landt or Wessel's Eylandt, and Crocodils Eylanden; but of which little more was known than that, if they existed, they must lie to the eastward of 135° from Greenwich. Of the R. Spult, and other large streams represented to intersect the coast, the existence even was doubtful. That the coast was dangerous, and shores sandy, seemed to be confirmed by Mr. M^c Cluer's chart; and that they were peopled by "divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations," was certainly not improbable, but it rested upon very suspicious authority. The Instructions to Tasman said, in 1644, "Nova Guinea has been found to be inhabited by cruel, wild, savages; and as it is uncertain what sort of people the inhabitants of the South Lands are, it may be presumed that they are also wild and barbarous savages, rather than a civilized people." This uncertainty, with respect to the natives of Arnhem's and the northern Van Diemen's Lands, remained, in a great degree, at the end of the eighteenth century.

Thus, whatever could bear the name of exact, whether in natural history, geography, or navigation, was yet to be learned of a ​country possessing five hundred leagues of sea-coast; and placed in a climate and neighbourhood, where the richest productions of both the vegetable and mineral kingdoms were known to exist. A voyage which should have had no other view, than the survey of Torres' Strait and the thorough investigation of the North Coast of Terra Australis, could not have been accused of wanting an object worthy of national consideration.

​

Under the term Western Coasts, is comprehended the space Preliminary
Observations.
(Atlas, Pl. I.) from the western extremity of the northern Van Diemen's Land to the North-west Cape of New Holland; and from thence, southward to Cape Leeuwin. The first is usually termed the North-west, and the second the West Coast: Taken together, they present an extent of shore of between seven and eight hundred leagues in length; lying in the fine climates comprised between the 11th and 35th degrees of south latitude.

The recital of discoveries in Tasman's instructions speaks of the first knowledge gained of these coasts in the following terms: "In the years 1616, 1618, 1619, and 1622, the west coast of this Great unknown South Land, from 35° to 22° south latitude, was discovered by outward-bound ships; and among them by the ship Endragt." The recital gives no further particulars; but from thence, and from a manuscript chart by Eessel Gerrits, 1627,^[29] there seems to be Dirk Hartog
1616. sufficient authority for attributing the first authenticated discovery of any part of the Western Coasts to Dirk Hartog, commander of the ship ​Endragt, outward-bound from Holland to India. He appears to have first seen the West Coast in latitude about 26°½ south; and to have sailed northward along it, to about 23°; giving the name Landt de Endragt, to the country so discovered. An important part of his discovery was Dirk Hartog's Road (at the entrance of a sound afterwards called Shark's Bay, by Dampier), lying a little south of 25°. Upon one of the islands which form the road there was found, first in 1697, and afterwards in 1801, a plate of tin, bearing the following inscription.

" Anno 1616, the 25th of October arrived here the ship Endragt of Amsterdam; the first merchant Gillis Miebais of Luik, Dirk Hartog of Amsterdam, captain. They sailed from hence for Bantam, the 27th D°." On the lower part, as far as could be distinguished in 1697, was cut with a knife, "The under merchant Jan Stins; chief mate Pieter Dookus of Bill. A°. 1616."

The Mauritius, another outward-bound ship, appears to have made some further discovery upon the West Coast, in July 1618, particularly of Willem's River, near the North-west Cape; but no further particulars are known.

In Campbell's edition of Harris' Voyages (p. 325), it is said, Edel.
1619."The next year the Land of Edel was found, and received its name from the discoverer." The president De Brosses says nearly the same thing (Tome I. p. 432); whence, combining this with the Dutch recital and the chart of Eessel Gerritz, it should appear that J. de Edel commanded an outward-bound ship; and, in July 1619, accidentally fell in with that part of the West Coast to which his name is applied. The extent of Edel's discovery appears, from Thevenot's chart, to have been from about the latitude 29°;, northward to 26½°, where the Land of Endragt commences; but in a chart of this coast, by Van Keulen, the name is extended southward to 32° 20', past the island Rottenest, which, according ​to Thevenot, should rather have been the discovery of the ship edel. Leeuwin.

The great reef lying off the coast of Edel, called Houtman's Abrolhos, was discovered at the same time; probably by Edel, or by some ship in the same squadron.

I do not find it any where said who commanded the Leeuwin, or The Leeuwin
1622. Lioness; but it should appear, that this was also one of the outward-bound ships which fell in with the West Coast. In Thevenot's chart, Leeuwin's Land comprehends about ninety leagues of the south-west extremity of New Holland; and, from the latitude of 35°, extends northward to about 51°; but in later publications, it has been much restricted in its northern limit, apparently, upon the authority of Van Keulen.

The next discovery upon the Western Coasts was that of the The Vianen.
1628. ship Vianen, one of the seven which returned to Europe under the command of the governor-general Carpenter. The Dutch recital speaks of this discovery in the following terms. The coast was seen "again accidentally in the year 1628, on the north side, in the latitude 21° south, by the ship Vianen, homeward bound from India; when they coasted two-hundred miles, without gaining any knowledge of this Great Country; only observing a foul and barren shore, green fields, and very wild, black, barbarous inhabitants."

This was the part called De Witt's Land; but whether the name were applied by the captain of the Vianen does not appear in the recital. De Brosses says, "William de Witt gave his own name to the country which he saw in 1628, to the north of Remessen's River; and which Viane, a Dutch captain, had, to his misfortune, discovered in the month of January in the same year; when he was driven upon this coast of De Witt, in 21° of latitude, and lost all his riches." The confusion that reigns in the ​president's account does not render it improbable, that the country might have received its name in the way he describes, and in the year 1628; for, in 1644, De Witt's Land is used as a known term for this part of the North-west Coast.

Thus far, the parts of the Western Coasts have been distinguished Pelsert.
1629. by little else than the dates and limits of their discovery; for, in fact, this is all that has reached us from these early navigators. The following account is of a different character: it is extracted from the twenty-first piece in Thevenot's collection; and, in the table of contents, is said to be translated from the Dutch.

The Batavia, commanded by Francisco Pelsert, struck, in the night of June 4, 1639, upon a reef, "called by our Flemings the "Abrolhos or Rocks of Frederick Houtman," lying off the west coast of New Holland. At daylight, an island was seen about three leagues distant, and two islets, or rather rocks, somewhat nearer, to which the passengers and part of the crew were sent. There being no fresh water to be found upon these islands, Pelsert had a deck laid over one of the boats; and, on June 8, put to sea, in order to make search upon the opposite main land: his latitude, at noon, was 28° 13' south.

A short time after quitting the Abrolhos, captain Pelsert got sight of the coast, which, by estimation, bore N. by W. eight leagues from the place of shipwreck.^[30] He had 35 to 30 fathoms, and stood off till midnight, when he again steered for the land; and in the morning of the 9th, it was four leagues off. He ran that day from five to seven leagues, sometimes to the north, sometimes to the west; the direction of the coast being N. by W.: it appeared to be rocky,—without trees,—and about the same height as the coast of Dover. ​A small, sandy bay was seen, into which Pelsert desired to enter; but finding too much surf, and the weather becoming bad, he was obliged to haul further off.

July 10. He kept in the same parallel, upon a wind; the weather being bad, and his boat very leaky. Next day, the wind was at W. S. W., and more moderate. He then steered north; for the sea was too high to approach the shore in safety. On the 12th, Pelsert observed the latitude to be 27°, and steered along the coast with a fair wind at S. E.; but the shore was too steep to admit of landing; neither could he find any bay or island to break off the sea. At a distance, the land seemed fertile and covered with plants. The latitude, on the 13th, was 35° 40', which shewed a current setting to the northward. Here Pelsert found himself a-breast of an opening, where the coast trends to the north-east (apparently into Shark's Bay). The course this day was nearly north; the shore consisted of reddish rock, of an equal height; and there being no island in front, the waves, which broke high upon it, prevented landing.

June 14. The wind was at east; and at noon, the latitude was observed to be 24°. The tides (or rather the current) took the boat further to the north than was desired; for Pelsert then carried but little sail, in the hope to find a landing place without going further. Perceiving some smokes at a distance, he rowed towards them; but the shore proved to be steep, with many rocks, and the sea broke high against it. At length, six of his people leaped overboard, and with much labour and risk got through the surf, Whilst the boat remained at anchor, in 25 fathoms. The sailors employed the rest of the day in seeking for water; and on looking about on every side, they saw four natives creeping towards them on their hands and feet. One of "our people" having appeared on an eminence, near them, the natives rose up and took to flight; so that those who were in the boat could see them distinctly. These men were wild, black, and altogether naked; not covering even those parts which almost all savages conceal.

​The six sailors, losing all hope of finding water, swam back to the boat, wounded and bruised by the blows they had received from the waves and rocks. The anchor was then weighed, and Pelsert continued his course, under easy sail, along the coast; but keeping without side of the shoals. The 15th in the morning, they discovered a cape, off which lay a chain of rocks, running out four miles into the sea; and behind this was another reef, close to the shore. The water being tolerably still between them, Pelsert thought to pass through; but the reefs joined round further on, and obliged him to return. At noon, an opening was seen, where the water was smooth, and they went into it, but with considerable danger; for the depth was no more than two feet, and the bottom stony. On landing, the people dug holes in the sand; but the water which oozed in was salt. At length, fresh rain water was found in the cavities of the rocks, and afforded them great relief; for they had, hitherto, been confined to a pint of water each. They staid on shore that night, and collected full forty gallons. Ashes and the remains of cray fish were found; which shewed that the natives had been there no long time before.

July 16. They sought to collect more water, but were unsuccessful; and none could be expected in the sandy, level country behind the coast. This plain was destitute of both grass and trees, and covered with ant hills so large, that they might have been taken for the houses of Indians. The quantity of flies was such, that the people had great difficulty in keeping them off. Eight savages, with with each a stick (probably a spear) in his hand, were seen at a distance. They came within musket shot; but on the Dutch sailors going towards them they took to flight.

Captain Pelsert, being at length convinced of the impossibility of procuring more water, determined to quit this coast. At noon, he got withoutside of the reef by a second opening more to the north; for, having observed the latitude to be 22° 17', his intention was to seek for the River of Jacob Remessens (near the North-west Cape); ​but the wind veering to north-east, he could no longer follow the direction of the coast. Considering, then, that he was more than four hundred miles from the place of shipwreck, and that scarcely water enough had been found for themselves, Pelsert resolved to make the best of his way to Batavia, to solicit assistance from the governor-general.

In the mean time, some one of the people left upon the islands of the Abrolhos thought of tasting the water in two holes, which, from its rising and falling with the tide, was believed to be salt; but, to their great surprise and joy, it was found good to drink, and never failed them afterwards.

On Pelsert's return to the Abrolhos in the yacht Sardam, he was under the necessity of executing some atrocious conspirators, and two were set on shore upon the opposite main land.^[31] Tasman was directed by his instructions, in 1644, to "inquire at the continent thereabout, after two Dutchmen; who, having forfeited their lives, were put on shore by the commodore Francisco Pelsert, if still alive. In such case, you may make your inquiries of them about the situation of those countries; and if they entreat you to that purpose, give them passage hither."

It is not from any direct information, that Abel Jansz Tasman Tasman.
1644. is placed as the next discoverer upon the western coasts of Terra Australis; for, as has been already observed, no account of his second voyage has ever been made public, or is any such known to exist. It is, however, supposed, with great probability of truth, that, after the examination of the North Coast, he pursued his course westward along the shore to the North-west Cape, conformably to his instructions; but that he did not go further southward along the Land of ​Endragt than to the tropic of Capricorn, where he quitted his examination, and returned to Batavia.

The chart published by Thevenot, in 1663, gives a form to the Western Coasts, and joins them to the northern Van Diemen's Land; but it is evident from Tasman's instructions, that the part between De Witt's Land and Cape Van Diemen was unknown to the Dutch government at Batavia in 1644. And since there is no account of its having been seen during the intermediate nineteen years, it may be concluded, that the North-west Coast was first explored by him; and Dampier says ( Vol. III. p. 96), that he had Tasman's chart of it; though none bearing his name can now be found.^[32]

The notes of burgomaster Witsen shew, that the North-west Coast was visited by Tasman; and as they give the earliest information of the inhabitants, and are curious in themselves, they are here transcribed from Mr. Dalrymple's Papua.

"In lat. 13° 8' S. lon. 146° 18'" (probably about 129½° east of Greenwich), "the coast is barren. The people are bad and wicked, shooting at the Dutch with arrows, without provocation, when they were coming on shore: It is here very populous."

In 14° 58' S. lon. 138° 59' (about 125° east), the people are savage, and go naked: none can understand them."

"In Hollandia Nova,^[33] in 17° 12' S. (lon. 121° or 122° east) "Tasman found a naked, black people, with curly hair; malicious and cruel, using for arms, bows and arrows, hazeygaeys and kalawaeys. They once came to the number of fify, double armed, dividing themselves into two parties, intending to have ​surprised the Dutch, who had landed twenty-five men; but the firing of guns frightened them so that they fled. Their prows are made of the bark of trees: their coast is dangerous: there are few vegetables: the people use no houses."

In 19° 35' S. long. 134 (about 120°, apparently), the inhabitants are very numerous, and threw stones at the boats sent by the Dutch to the shore. They made fires and smoke all along the coast, which, it was conjectured, they did to give notice to their neighbours of strangers being upon the coast. They appear to live very poorly; go naked; eat yams and other roots."

The buccaneers with whom our celebrated navigator, William Dampier, made a voyage round the world, came upon the Dampier.
1688. northwest coast of Terra Australis, for the purposes of careening their vessel, and procuring refreshments. They made the land in the latitude of 16° 50', due south from a shoal whose longitude is now known to be 122¼° east. From thence, they ran along the shore, N. E. by E. twelve leagues, to a bay or opening, where a convenient place was found for their purpose. Dampier's description of the country and inhabitants of the place, where he remained from Jan. 5. to March 12., is contained in the account of his voyages, Vol. I. page 462 to 470; and renders it unnecessary to do more than to mark its coincidence or disagreement with what is said, in the above note from Tasman, of the inhabitants and country near the same part of the coast.

Dampier agrees in the natives being "a naked, black people, with curly hair," like that of the negroes; but he says they have "a piece of the rind of a tree tied like a girdle about their waists, and a handful of long grass, or three or four green boughs full of leaves, thrust under their girdle, to cover their nakedness." Also, that the two fore teeth of the upper jaw are wanting in all of them, men and women, old and young: neither have they any beards;" which circumstances are not mentioned in the note from Tasman. ​Dampier did not see either bows or arrows amongst them; but says, "the men, at our first coming ashore, threatened us with their lances and swords; but they were frightened by firing one gun, which we did purposely to scar them." Of "their prows made of the bark of trees," he saw nothing. On the contrary, he "espied a drove of these men swimming from one island to another; for they have no boats, canoes, or bark logs." The English navigator is silent as to any dangers upon the twelve leagues of coast seen by him; but fully agrees in the scarcity of the vegetable productions, and in the circumstance of the natives using no houses.

The relation of Willem de Vlaming's voyage to New Holland Vlaming.
1696. was published at Amsterdam in 1701; but not having been fortunate enough to procure it, I have had recourse to Valentyn, who, in his Description of Banda, has given what appears to be an abridgment of the relation. What follows is conformable to the sense of the translation which Dr. L. Tiarks had the goodness to make for me; and the reasons for entering more into the particulars of this voyage than usual are, the apparent correctness of the observations, and that no account of them seems to have been published in the English language.^[34]

A Dutch ship, called the Ridderschap, having been missing from the time she had left the Cape of Good Hope, in 1684 or 1685, it was thought probable she might have been wrecked upon the Great South Land, and that some of the crew might (in 1696) be still living. Accordingly, the commodore Willem de Vlaming, who was going out to India with the Geelvink, Nyptang, and Wezel, was ordered to make a search for them.

On Dec. 28, the ships got soundings in 48 fathoms, coral bottom; in latitude 31° 53', and longitude 133° 44' (east, apparently, from the ​Peak of Teneriffe, 16° 45' to the west of Greenwich); where the variation was observed to be 10° 28' west: they afterwards had 25 fathoms, on better ground. On the 29th, they anchored under the island Rottenest, which lies in lat. 31° 50', long. 134° 25';^[35] and next day, a piece of wood, which had some time been fixed to the deck of a ship, was found upon the shore; but the nails were then rusted away. Fire wood was abundant here.

Jan. 5. Vlaming went on shore (to the main coast), with eighty-eight armed men, and walked inland to the eastward. There were a few large, and some small trees, from which dropped a kind of gum-lac; but they found nothing which could be used as food: the birds were small cockatoos and green parrots, and both were very shy. At the end of three hours walk they came to a piece of water, which was salt, and upon the beach were footsteps of full-grown persons and of children. No men were seen, but they observed many smokes; and found three deserted huts, so low and ill-constructed as to be inferior to those of the Hottentots.

On the 6th, they divided themselves into three parties : one took to the north, another to the south, and the third went four miles east, more into the interior; but, except one or two decayed huts, they met with nothing. Being returned to the salt lake without finding fresh water, they dug a pit near the side of it, and obtained wherewith to relieve their thirst. The lake had fallen a foot, which shewed it to have a communication with the sea; and they afterwards found the outlet, a little to the southward. No noxious animal of any kind was seen; and after remaining on shore all night, they returned on board on the 7th. The ships were then anchored ​nearer to the land, with the entrance of the lake or river bearing S. E. by E. The commodore afterwards went up this river, to the distance of fourteen or sixteen leagues, and caught some smelts, as also several black swans, of which two were taken alive to Batavia.^[36]

Having clearly ascertained the latitude (of the ships at anchor, most probably,) to be 31° 43' south, and discovered a reef four geographic miles in length, and two miles from the shore, they sailed from thence on Jan. 13. The wind was from the southward; and whilst the ships steered N. by W., parallel to the coast, the boats ran along within them, to examine it more closely. On the 15th, the people from the boats reported that they had seen neither men nor animals, and very few trees; but had met with a reef near the shore, in 30° 17'; and many shoals, both under and above water.

Fires upon the land were seen from all the ships in the night of Jan. 16; and next day, a boat was sent with armed people; but they returned with nothing, except some sea-mews which had been caught upon the islands and shoals lying along the coast. On the 18th, the ships were in latitude 30° 30', and found the variation to be 9° 21' west; and the 20th, some small islands were seen, and shrubs observed on the main land. On the 23rd, they were near a steep head, in 28° 8', and sent a boat to the shore; but the high surf prevented landing. People were perceived walking on the downs, but at too great a distance to distinguish more than that they were of the common stature, black, and naked.^[37] The boat got on shore soon afterward, when some brackish water was found; and having landed again on the 27th, the people saw some huts, as also the footsteps of men, and some birds; but there was no other vegetation than ​small shrubs. Some very indifferent water was the sole useful thing met with, and it was too far off for any to be taken on board.

Jan. 30. The boats were again sent on shore, and discovered two inlets, of which the southernmost, in latitude 26° 16', was three miles in width. On Feb. 2, they found two other openings, very deep, one of which ran up northward, and the other to the east, far inland. They went eleven leagues up the first of these, and found that it had another communication with the sea, to the N. N. W.^[38] On the 3rd, a boat brought the above account; and also, that the chief mate of the Geelvink had found a plate of tin, with an inscription commemorating the arrival and departure of Dirk Hartog. (See the inscription under the article Hartog, preceding.) This Road of Dirk Hartog's Bay, where the plate had been set up, is in 25° 24'; and the west variation was 8° 34'.

No mention is made by Valentyn of the ships entering the road, nor of their departure from it; but it should seem that they anchored on Feb. 4. On the 5th, commodore Vlaming and the commander of the Nyptang went with three boats to the shore, which proved to be an island. They found also a river, and went up it four or five leagues, amongst rocks and shoals; when they saw much water inland, as if the country were drowned, but no men, nor any thing for food; and, wherever they dug, the ground was salt. They afterwards came to another river, which they ascended about one league, and found it to terminate in a round basin, and to be entirely salt water. No men were seen, nor any animals, except divers which were very shy; and the country was destitute of grass and trees. Returning downward on the 10th, they saw footsteps of men and children, of the common size, and observed the point of entrance into the river to be of a very red sand.

The ships appear to have left Dirk Hartog's Road on Feb. 12. ​In the evening, the west variation was observed to be 7° 22'; and on the 13th, they saw a cliffy point from whence three shoals, connected by a reef, stretch out to the N. N. E. The shore here, in latitude 24° 42', lies S. by E. and N. by W. On the 16th, they passed round the point, and steered southward along the inner side of this land; and having doubled its south fend, found that it was an island: their latitude was then 24° 54'.

Feb. 17. The variation was observed to be 5 west, in latitude 28° 59'. Eight miles south of this situation they saw a bay with a rugged point; but to the northward the land was low: the west variation was 7° 3', in the evening. They discovered some reefs on the 19th, lying three geographic miles off shore; and also a point or cape (the North-west Cape) from which a reef extended two miles to the N. N. W. On the north side of this cape is a bay, where the Geelvink anchored; and a little further on (eastward), the other two vessels found an opening like a river, whose entrance was twelve miles wide. They went into it, but could no where find anchorage. The bay is called Willem's River; and the two vessels afterwards there joined the Geelvink: it is in 21° 28'. The same day it was determined to sail for Batavia, every thing having been done that the commodore's orders required; and, on the 21st, they departed accordingly.

Thus the West Coast, from the island Rottenest to the North-west Cape, was examined with care by Vlaming; and it is most probable, that the chart in Van Keulen, which Mr. Dalrymple republished, and was the best known at the end of the eighteenth century, resulted from this same voyage.

Captain William Dampier visited, a second time, the western Dampier.
1699. coasts of Terra Australis; being then sent out purposely for discovery, in his Majesty's ship the Roebuck.

In the night of Aug. 1, 1699, he struck soundings upon the northern part of the Abrolhos shoal, in latitude about 27° 40' south. ​Next morning he saw the main coast, and ran northward along it; discovering, in 26° 10', an opening two leagues wide, but full of rocks and foul ground. Aug. 6, he anchored (in Dirk Hartog's Road) at the entrance of a sound, which he named Shark's Bay, in latitude 25° 5' south. He remained there eight days, examining the sound, cutting wood upon the islands, fishing, &c.; and gives a description of what was seen in his usually circumstantial manner.^[39]

An animal found upon one of the islands is described as "a sort of raccoon, different from that of the West Indies, chiefly as to the legs; for these have very short fore legs; but go jumping upon them" (not upon the short fore, but the long hind, legs, it is to be presumed), "as the others do; and like them are very good meat." This appears to have been the small kanguroo, since found upon the islands which form the road; and if so, this description is probably the first ever made of that singular animal.

Leaving Shark's Bay on Aug. 14, captain Dampier steered northward, along the coast; but at too great a distance to make much observation upon it, until he got round the North-west Cape. On the sand, he saw an extensive cluster of islands; and anchored, in latitude 20° 21', under one of the largest, which he called Rosemary Island. This was near the southern part of De Witt's Land; but, besides an error in latitude of 40', he complains that, in Tasman's chart, "the shore is laid down as all along joining in one body, or continent, with some openings like rivers; and not like islands, as really they are."—"By what we saw of them, they must have been a range of islands, of about twenty leagues in length, stretching from E. N. E. to W. S. W.; and for ought I know, as far as to those of Shark's Bay; and to a considerable breadth also, for we could see nine or ten leagues in amongst them, towards the continent or main land of New Holland, if there be any such thing ​hereabouts:And by the great tides I met with awhile afterwards, more to the north-east, I had a strong suspicion that here might be a kind of archipelago of islands; and a passage, possibly, to the south of New Holland and New Guinea, into the great South Sea, eastward."

Not finding fresh water upon such of the islands as were visited that day, captain Dampier quitted his anchorage next morning, and "steered away E. N. E., coasting along as the land lies." He seems to have kept the land in sight, in the day time, at the distance of four to six leagues; but the shore being low, this was too far for him to be certain whether all was main land which he saw; and what might have been passed in the night was still more doubtful.

Aug. 30, being in latitude 18° 21', and the weather fair, captain Dampier steered in for the shore; and anchored in 8 fathoms, about three-and-half leagues off. The tide ran "very swift here; so that our nun-buoy would not bear above the water to be seen. It flows here, as on that part of New Holland I described formerly, about five fathoms."

He had hitherto seen no inhabitants; but now met with several. The place at which he had touched in the former voyage "was not above forty or fifty leagues to the north-east of this. And these were much the same blinking creatures (here being also abundance of the same kind of flesh flies teizing them), and with the same black skins, and hair frizzled, tall and thin, &c, as those were. But we had not the opportunity to see whether these, as the former, wanted two of their fore teeth." One of them, who was supposed to be a chief, "was painted with a circle of white paste or pigment about his eyes, and a white streak down his nose, from his forehead to the tip of it. And his breast, and some part of his arms, were also made white with the same paint."

Neither bows nor arrows were observed amongst these people: they used wooden lances, such as Dampier had before seen. He saw no houses at either place, and believed they had none; but ​there were several things like haycocks, standing in the savannah; which, at a distance, we thought were houses, looking just like the Hottentots' houses at the Cape of Good Hope; but we found them to be so many rocks.^[40]

The land near the sea-coast is described as equally sandy with the parts before visited, and producing, amongst its scanty vegetation, nothing for food. No stream of fresh water was seen, nor could any, fit to drink, be procured by digging.

Quitting this inhospitable shore, captain Dampier weighed his anchor on September 5, with the intention of seeking water and refreshments further on to the north-eastward. The shoals obliged him to keep at a considerable distance from the land; and finally, when arrived at the latitude 16° 9', to give up his project, and direct his course for Timor.

With the voyage of Dampier terminates the information gained of Conclusive
Remarks. the Western Coasts, previously to the year 1801. Monsieur de St. Alouarn had, indeed, seen some points or islands, in the year 1772, when he commanded the French flûte Le Gros Ventre; but the particulars are not generally known, being, in all probability, of little importance.

The summary of the knowledge possessed by the public, and the objects to which investigation might be usefully directed in these parts of Terra Australis, were as follow. The outline of the northwest coast was known upon the authority, as generally believed, of Tasman; with some points corrected by Dampier. The accuracy of Tasman's chart was, however, very much called in doubt: instead of being a continued shore, as the Dutch chart represented it, Dampier found the southern parts of De Witt's Land to consist of a range of islands. And he gives it as his opinion, that the northern part of ​New Holland was separated From the lands to the southward, by a strait; "unless," says he, "the high tides and indraught thereabout should be occasioned by the mouth of some large river; which hath often low lands on each side of the outlet, and many islands and shoals lying at its entrance: but I rather thought it a channel, or strait, than a river." This opinion he supports by a fair induction from facts; and the opening of twelve miles wide, seen near the same place by Vlaming's two vessels, and in which they could find no anchorage, strongly corroborated Dampier's supposition.

Later information had demonstrated, that the supposed strait could not lead out into the Great Ocean, eastward, as the English navigator had conjectured; but it was thought possible, that it might communicate with the Gulph of Carpentaria, and even probable that a passage existed from thence to the unknown part of the South Coast, beyond the Isles of St. Francis and St. Peter.

But whether this opening were the entrance to a strait, separating Terra Australis into two or more islands, or led into a mediterranean sea, as some thought; or whether it were the entrance of a large river, there was, in either case, a great geographical question to be settled, relative to the parts behind Rosemary Island.

If Tasman's chart were defective at De Witt's Land, it was likely to be so in other parts of the same coast; where there was no account, or belief, that it had been examined by any other person further north than the latitude 16½°. An investigation of the whole North-west Coast, with its numerous islands and shoals, was, therefore, required, before it could enter into the present improved systems of geography and navigation.

The chart of the West Coast, as far south as Rottenest, was founded upon much better authority; but for its formation from thence to Cape Leeuwin there were no good documents. In this part, there was room even for discovery and the whole coast required to be laid down with more accuracy than had been attainable by the Dutch navigators.

​As to the soil and vegetable productions upon several points near the sea, from Rottenest, northward to 16½°, there was tolerably good general information; the inhabitants, also, had been seen; and, at one place, communication with them had been obtained. The accounts did, certainly, not give any flattering prospect, that much interesting knowledge was likely to be acquired under these heads, unless a strait, or inland sea, were found; but the accounts were not only confined as to place, but, with the exception of Dampier's, were very imperfect; and the great extent of the coasts, in the richest climates of the world, excited hopes that a close investigation would not only be of advantage to natural history, but would bring to light something useful in the mineral or vegetable kingdoms.

In the case of penetrating the interior of Terra Australis, whether by a great river, or a strait leading to an inland sea, a superior country, and perhaps a different people, might be found, the knowledge of which could not fail to be very interesting, and might prove advantageous to the nation making the discovery.

​

No historical feet seems to be less disputed, than that the South Nuyts
1627.
(Atl.,Pl. I.) Coast of New Holland was first discovered in January 1627: whether it were the 26th, according to De Hondt, or the 16th, as is expressed on Thevenof's charts is of very little import. It is generally said, that the ship was commanded by Pieter Nuyts; but as Nuyts, on his arrival at Batavia, was sent ambassador to Japan, and afterwards made governor of Formosa, it seems more probable that he was a civilian, perhaps Company's first merchant on board, rather than captain of the ship: the land discovered has, however, always borne his name.

The Dutch recital says,—"In the year 1627, the South Coast of the Great South Land was accidentally discovered by the ship the Gulde Zeepaard, outward-bound from Fatherland, for the space of a thousand miles."

This discovery has always been considered as of importance. A memoir was published at Amsterdam in 1718, "to prove, that Nuyts' Land, being in the fifth climate, between 34° and 36° of latitude; it ought to be, like all other countries so situated, one of the most habitable, most rich, and most fertile parts of the world."^[41] The ​journal of this discovery seems to have been lost; or possibly was either suppressed or destroyed, according to what is thought to have been the Dutch policy of that time. It was, therefore, from the chart, and the above passage in the recital, alone, that any particulars could be drawn. If the extent of a thousand miles were taken to be in a straight line, and to commence at Cape Leeuwin, the end of Nuyts' Land would reach nearly to the longitude of 135° east of Greenwich; but if, as was probable, the windings of the shore were included, and a deduction made of one-sixth to one-seventh in the distance, then the Isles of St. Francis and St. Peter might be expected to be found between the 132nd and 133rd degrees of east longitude.

With the exception of Mons. de St. Alouarn, who is said to have Vancouver.
1791. anchored near Cape Leeuwin in 1772, the south coast of Terra Australia, though occupying much attention from geographers, seems to have been left unvisited from 1627 to 1791. In this year, captain George Vancouver, being on his way to North-west America, made the South Coast on Sept 26, at Cape Chatham, in latitude 35° 3' south, and longitude 116° 35' east, not many leagues beyond where Nuyts appears to have commenced his discovery. He sailed eastward, from thence, along the shore, till the 28th; when he anchored in a sound, to which was given the name of King George the III.

The country in the neighbourhood of the Sound, and of its two harbours, was found to be agreeably variegated in form; to be clothed with grass and wood; and, though generally more barren than fertile, yet affording many spots capable of cultivation. No considerable river was discovered; but fresh water was every where abundant for domestic purposes; and the climate was judged to be as healthy as the temperature was found to be agreeable, Kanguroos did not appear to be scarce; nor were the woods ill tenanted by the feathered tribes; and reptiles and other noxious animals were ​not numerous. Amongst the aquatic birds, black swans and wild ducks held a distinguished place ; but, like the land animals, were very shy: sea and shell fish were in tolerable abundance.

None of the inhabitants were seen; but from the appearance of their deserted huts, they were judged to be the same miserable race as those of the North-west and East Coasts. No marks of canoes, nor the remains of fish, even shell fish, were found near their habitations; and this circumstance, with the shyness of the birds and quadrupeds, induced a belief that the natives depended principally upon the woods for their subsistence.

Captain Vancouver quitted King George's Sound on Oct. 11, and proceeded eastward in the examination of the coast; but unfavourable winds prevented him from doing this so completely as he wished, and some parts were passed unseen; and the impediments to his progress at length caused the examination to be quitted, in favour of prosecuting the main design of his voyage. The last land seen was Termination Island, in latitude 34° 32' and longitude 122° 8'. The coast to the north of this island appeared much broken; but, although in Nuyts' chart a considerable group of islands were laid down in about that situation, captain Vancouver rather supposed it to be a continued main land.^[42]

So far as this examination extended, the general form of the coast was found to correspond with that of the old chart; nor was any material error found in Nuyts' latitude. A further, and more extended confirmation of the Dutch navigator's discovery, and of its having been well laid down, considering the period at which it was done, was obtained in the following year.

The French rear-admiral Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, having been D'Entre
casteaux.
1792. sent out with the ships La Recherche and L'Espérance in search of the unfortunate La Pérouse, made the south coast of New Holland ​on Dec. 5, 1792, about twenty-eight leagues to the north-west of Cape Chatham.^[43] The coast, from the South-west Cape to the longitude of Termination Island, was explored by the admiral, with all the minuteness that the state of the weather could permit; and he was, generally, able to keep the shore closer abord than captain Vancouver had done, and to supply the deficiencies in his chart. The broken land to the north of Termination Island was found to be conformable to what Nuyts had laid down: it made part of a very extensive group of islands, one of which afforded timely shelter to the French ships on Dec. 9, from a gale which had arisen at southwest.

They remained a week at this anchorage, whilst the naturalists explored the surrounding country, and the surveyors examined such of the islands as were visible from the ships. Seals, pinguins, and some kanguroos were seen; but no fresh water, accessible to shipping, could any where be found; the country within their reach being sandy and sterile. From Dec. 17 to 24, the ships were occupied in coasting eastward, along the outskirt of the group of islands, and then found it to terminate at 2½° of longitude from its commencement. The main land at the back of the islands had been generally visible, but at too great a distance for the precise form of the coast to be ascertained, or to allow of fixing the positions of, or even seeing, many of the inner islands and reefs.

This group is the first of the two marked upon the chart of Nuyts; and admiral D'Entrecasteaux praises the general accuracy of the Dutch navigator, in that "the latitude of Point Leeuwin, and of the coast of Nuyts' Land, were laid down with an exactness, surprising for the remote period in which they had been discovered." This liberal acknowledgment renders it the more extraordinary, ​that in the appellation which it was judged proper to give to this extensive group, the French admiral had not rather thought of doing honour to the original discoverer, or to the Gulde Zeepaard, than to his own ship; more especially, as his examination was far from being complete. This would have been more conformable to his general practice; but Archipel de la Recherche was the name adopted.

Beyond the archipelago, the South Coast was found to trend east-north-eastward; without any island lying off it, or presenting any place of shelter. The shore was either a steep calcareous cliff, of an equal height, or low and sandy, with a few naked hillocks behind; and above these, no hill, nor any thing of the interior country, could be discerned. "It is not surprising," says D'Entrecasteaux, "that Nuyts has given no details of this barren coast; for its aspect is so uniform, that the most fruitful imagination could find nothing to say of it"

Frustrated in his expectation of procuring fresh water, and having no more than sufficient, at a 1793. short allowance, to reach Van Diemen's Land, the admiral abandoned the investigation of the South Coast, on Jan. 3; being then in latitude 31° 49' south, and longitude 131° 38½' east of Greenwich.

In the otherwise excellent charts constructed by M. Beautemps-Beaupré, geographical engineer on board La Recherche, there is an extraordinary omission, arising either from the geographer, or the conductor of the voyage. In the first 12° of longitude no soundings are marked along the coast; whilst, in the last 5°, they are marked with tolerable regularity: the cause of this difference is not explained.

In comparing the French chart with that of Nuyts, it appeared that the rear-admiral had not proceeded so far along this coast as the Dutch navigator had done; for he did not see the islands of St. Francis and St. Peter, nor the reef marked about thirty leagues to the west of them. The point, however, where D'Entrecasteaux's examination terminated, was, in all probability, within a few leagues ​of that reef; and the end of Nuyts' discovery would be between 133° and 134°, to the east of Greenwich.

The South Coast was not known, in 1801, to have been visited Conclusive
Remarks. by any other than the three navigators, Nuyts, Vancouver, and D'Entrecasteaux.^[44] The coast line, from Cape Leeuwin to near the longitude of 139°, was generally so well ascertained, and the charts of Vancouver and D'Entrecasteaux appeared to be so good, that little remained in this space for future visitors to discover. At two places, the country and productions near the sea-side had also been examined; though no communication had any where been obtained with the inhabitants. It was known also from Nuyts, that at 133° or 134° of east longitude, commenced a second archipelago; and that the coast began there to assume an irregular form; but in what direction it trended, whether to the south-eastward for Bass' Strait, or northward for the Gulph of Carpentaria, was altogether uncertain. The great point, then, which required to be ascertained, was the form of the land from longitude 133° to 146° east, and from south latitude 32° to 38½°; comprising a space of two hundred and fifty leagues in a straight line. What rendered a knowledge of this part more particularly interesting, was the circumstance of no considerable river having been found on any of the coasts of Terra Australia previously explored: but it was scarcely credible that, if this vast country were one connected mass of land, it should not contain some large rivers; and if any, this unknown part was one of two remaining places, where they were expected to discharge themselves into the sea. The apparent want of rivers had induced some persons to think, that Terra Australis might be composed of two or more islands, as had formerly been suspected by the Dutch, and by Dampier; whilst others, believing in the continuity of the shores, thought this want might arise from the interior being principally occupied by a ​mediterranean sea; but it was generally agreed, that one end of the separating channels, or otherwise the entrance, if such existed, into the supposed sea, would most likely be found in this unexplored part of the South Coast.

Besides the solution of this important geographical problem, something remained to be done upon the parts already seen. The main land behind the first archipelago, as also the inner islands, were yet to be examined for harbours, where refreshment for ships might be obtained; a comparison of the persons and usages of the inhabitants, with those in other parts of this vast country, was desirable; and, although little utility could be drawn from the known productions at the two points visited, it might reasonably be hoped, that an investigation of a coast so extensive, would not fail to produce much useful information.

Many circumstances, indeed, united to render the south coast of Terra Australis one of the most interesting parts of the globe, to which discovery could be directed at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its investigation had formed a part of the instructions to the unfortunate French navigator La Pérouse, and afterwards of those to his countryman D'Entrecasteaux; and it was, not without some reason, attributed to England as a reproach, that an imaginary line of more than two hundred and fifty leagues extent, in the vicinity of one of her colonies, should have been so long suffered to remain traced upon the charts, under the title of Unknown Coast. This comported ill with her reputation as the first of maritime powers; and to do it away was, accordingly, a leading point in the instructions given to the Investigator.

​

Van Diemen's Land would more properly have been arranged Preliminary
Observations. under the head of the South Coast; but the later discoveries here have so intimate a connexion with those on the East, as to render it impossible to separate them without making repetitions, and losing perspicuity in the narrative.

The anxiety of the Dutch government at Batavia, to know how far the South Lands might extend towards the antarctic circle, was the cause of Tasman being sent with two vessels, to ascertain this point; and the discovery of Van Diemen's Land was one of the results. It was not, however, the policy of the Dutch government to make discoveries for the benefit of general knowledge; and accordingly this voyage "was never," says Dr. Campbell, "published intire; and it is probable, that the East-India Company never intended it should be published at all. However, Dirk Rembrantz, moved by the excellency and accuracy of the work, published in Low Dutch an extract of captain Tasman's journal, which has ​ever since been considered as a great curiosity ; and as such, has been translated into many languages."^[45]

If a judgment may be formed from the translations, Rembrantz must have omitted great part of the nautical details concerning Van Diemen's Land, a defect which is remedied in the following account. It is taken from a journal containing, besides the daily transactions and observations throughout the whole voyage, a series of thirty-eight manuscript charts, views, and figures. The expression by me, which often occurs in it, and followed by the signature Abel Jansz Tasman, shews that if this were not his original journal, it is a copy from it: probably one made on board for the governor and council of Batavia. With this interesting document, and a translation made in 1776, by Mr. C. G. Woide, chaplain of His Majesty's Dutch chapel at St. James's, I was favoured by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.^[46]

Captain Abel Jansz Tasman sailed from Batavia on Aug. 14, Tasman.
1642 1642, with the yacht Heemskerk and fly-boat Zeehaan; and, after touching at Mauritius, steered south and eastward upon discovery. Nov. 94, at four p. m., high land was seen in the E. by N., supposed to be distant forty miles. The ships steered towards it till the evening; Atlas
Plate. VII.) when there were high mountains visible in the E. S. E., and two smaller ones in the N. E. They sounded in 100 fathoms, and then stood off from the land, with the wind at south-east.

In the morning of Nov. 25., it was calm; but on a breeze ​springing up from the southward, Tasman steered for the land; and at five p. m., when it was twelve miles distant, sounded in 60 fathoms, coral bottom: at four miles off, the bottom was fine white sand. The latitude was then 42° 30' south; the mean of all their longitudes 163° 50' east (of Teneriffe apparently); and the compass had no variation. The coast here lies S. by E. and N. by W. It is of an even height; and was named Antony Van Diemen's Land, in honour of the governor-general, "our master, who sent us out to make discoveries. The islands round about, as many of them as were known to us, we called in honour of the Council of India."

The ships stood off again for the night, with a light breeze at S. S. E. On the 26th, the wind was from the eastward, and weather rainy, so that no land could be seen; but its distance was supposed to be twelve or thirteen leagues. At noon, the latitude from dead reckoning was 43° 36', and longitude 163° 2'; the course having been S. S. W. 72 miles.^[47] In the evening the wind shifted to the north-east, and their course was directed E. S. E.: the variation was then half a degree west.

Nov. 27, the land was again seen. At noon, a course of S. E. by E. 52 miles, gave the latitude by estimation 44° 4' south, and longitude 164° 2' east. The weather was thick and rainy, and the wind still from the north-eastward; and at the fourth hour of the night, the vessels lay to, not venturing to run in the dark. In the morning of the 28th, it was foggy, with rain. They made sail to the east; but on seeing the land from N. E. to N. N. E., hauled up for it. From what could be perceived of the coast, it extended S. E. by E. and N. W. by W., and seemed to decrease in height to the eastward. At noon, the latitude by estimation was 44° 1', longitude 165° 2'; and the course steered, E. by S. 44 miles. The wind was ​then at north-west; and in the evening, they came near three small islands, one of which was shaped like a lion's head, and lies twelve miles from the continent (this was the Mewstone, of Furneaux). The wind was from the eastward in the night, and the ships lay to.

Nov. 29, they were still near the cliffy, lion-head-shaped island. The wind was light and fair, and they steered parallel to the coast, which lies here east and west. At noon, having made a course of E. N. E. 48 miles, the latitude was judged to be 43° 53', longitude 166° 3'. They had, a little before, passed two cliffy islets lying to seaward; of which the westernmost (Swilly of Furneaux) is like Pedra Blanca near the coast of China: the easternmost (Eddystone of Cook) resembles an awkward tower, and is about sixteen miles from the main land. Continuing to coast along the shore, they came, at five in the evening, to a bay, into which it was resolved in council to enter; but when almost in it, a high wind rose, and obliged them to shorten sail and stand out to sea. At daylight of the 30th, they found themselves driven so far off by the storm (whence the name of Storm Bay, applied in the chart), that the land was scarcely visible. At noon, the general course had been E. by N. 80 miles; the latitude was found to be 43° 41', and longitude by estimation (corrected) 168° 3': the needle pointed here, true North. The land was in sight to the north-west, and the wind strong, but variable, from the northward. The ships steered westward for a short time; but the weather being too stormy to admit of approaching the land, they went upon the other tack; and kept as much to the northward, under easy sail, as the wind would permit.

Dec. 1 , the wind was more moderate ; and on its veering to W. S. W., the ships steered towards the shore. At noon, their course made good was N.N. W. 32 miles; the latitude was 43° 10' and longitude 167° 55'. It then fell calm, and a council of officers from the two vessels was called, in which it was resolved, if wind and weather permitted, "to get a knowledge of the land, and some refreshments." An eastern breeze sprung up soon afterward; ​and they got to anchor, an hour after sunset, "in a good port, in 22 fathoms, whitish good-holding sand; wherefore we ought to praise God Almighty." This port is called Frederik Hendrik's Bay, in the chart.

Next morning early, two armed boats were sent to an inlet (the inner bay), situate four or five miles to the north-westward of the ships, in order to search for fresh water, wood, and refreshments. They returned in the afternoon, and the officers gave the following account.

They rowed four or five miles round the point of the inlet, along a high and level shore. Wild greens were plentiful; some resembled those at the Cape of Good Hope, "and may be used "in place of wormwood;" others were long and saltish, and like sea parsley. They found many dry gullies, and one watering place in which the water was good, but obtained with difficulty, and in very small quantities. Some human voices were heard, and a sound like that of a trumpet, or little gong, which was not far off; but they could see no person. Amongst the trees, two were remarked whose thickness was two, or two and a half fathoms, and the first branches from sixty to sixty-five feet above the ground. The bark had been taken off with a flint stone, and steps were cut, full five feet one from the other; whence the natives were presumed to be very tall, or able to get up these trees by some artifice. They supposed the steps to be made for the purpose of getting at the nests of birds; and that some of them had not been cut above four days before. They observed traces on the ground, as if made by the claws of a tiger; and saw the excrements, as was thought, of quadrupeds. Some well-looking gums, which dropped from the trees and somewhat resembled gum-lac, were brought on board.

Off the east point of the (inner) bay, they found thirteen to fourteen feet water; and that the tide flowed about three feet. They there saw a number of men, of wild ducks, and geese; but inland ​none were seen, though their noise was heard. Muscles were found sticking to bushes, in different places. The country was covered with trees; but so thinly scattered, that one might see every where to a great distance amongst them, and distinguish men and animals. Several of the trees were "much burnt about the foot; and the ground was here and there like little squares (vuysterchen), and become as hard as stone, by fire."

A short time before the boats returned, a thick smoke had been observed upon the continent, to the west of where the ships lay at anchor; and from the people staying so much longer than they had been ordered, it was thought to have been made by them, as a signal. But on inquiry, they answered in the negative; and said that they, also, had seen smoke in several places; and bushes—(here seems to be a line omitted. ) "So that without doubt, here must be exceedingly tall people."

Dec. 3. A boat was sent to the south-east part of the (outer) bay, and found fresh water; but it broke through the low shore to the sea, and was brackish; and the soil was too rocky to dig wells. In the afternoon, commodore Tasman went, with several officers from both vessels in two boats, to the south-east extremity of the bay; taking with them the Prince's flag, and a post upon which was cut a compass, to be erected on shore. One of the boats was obliged to return, from the bad weather; but the shallop went to a little cove W. S. W. of the ships. The surf being there too high to admit of landing, the first carpenter, Pieter Jacobs, swam on shore with the post and Prince's flag; and set it up near the last of four remarkable trees, which stood in the form of a crescent, in the middle of the cove. "When the first carpenter had done this, in the sight of me Abel J. Tasman, of the master Gerrit Jansz, and under-merchant Abraham Coomans, we went with the shallop as near as possible to the shore, and the said carpenter swam back, through the surf. We then returned on board; and left this as a memorial to the ​posterity of the inhabitants of this country. They did not shew themselves; but we suspected some to be not far from thence, watching carefully our doings."

The wind was from the northward all this day; and at sunset, it blew a storm. The variation at anchor was observed to be 3° east; the latitude was 43° south, and longitude 167½° east (from Teneriffe.)

Dec. 4. The wind was more moderate, and came from the westward, off the land. The anchors were then weighed, but the flukes of one were broken. On quitting Frederik Hendrik's Bay, the ships steered northward as much as possible, to look for a watering place. At noon, the course had been N. E. 32 miles; the latitude was 42° 40', and longitude 168°. In the evening, they saw a round mountain, about eleven leagues to the N. N. W.; and during the whole day, several smokes were visible along the coast. "Here," says Tasman, "I should give a description of the extent of the coast, and the islands near it, but I hope to be excused, and refer, for brevity's sake, to the chart made of it, and herewith joined."

The ships kept close to the wind all night, as they did in the morning of Dec. 5, when it was N. W. by W. The high round mountain was then seen bearing west, eight leagues, and this was the furthest land visible, nor did the wind allow them to come in with it again. At noon, the latitude was judged to be 41° 34', and longitude 169°; the course for the last day having been N. E. by N. 80 miles. Tasman then steered "precisely eastward, to make further discoveries," agreeably to a resolution of the council, taken in the morning.

The copy of Tasman's charts, given in the Atlas, Plate III. of D'Entrecasteaux's Voyage, and taken from Valentyn, is conformable to the manuscript charts in the Dutch journal. There is, however, an error of one degree too much east, in the scale of longitude; and Pedra Blanca is erroneously written against the Eddystone, in the general chart. In the plan of Frederik Hendrik's Bay, the name is placed within the inner bay, instead of being ​written, as in the original, on the point of land between the inner and outer bays: I conceive the name was intended to comprise both.^[48]

More than a century had elapsed after this celebrated voyage of Cook.
1770 Tasman, and the eastern limit of Terra Australis remained still unknown. But the British nation was then taking the lead in discovery; and the new and liberal principles upon which His Majesty, George III. ordered it to be prosecuted, was a sure indication that so considerable a part of the globe would not long escape attention. Captain James Cook, accompanied by Mr. Green, was sent in the Endeavour to observe, at Taheity, the transit of Venus over the sun's disk; and after accomplishing that object, and making a survey of New Zealand, he continued his course westward, in order to explore the east side of the Terra Australis Incognita.

In the morning of April 19, 1770, the land was seen bearing from (Atlas, Pl. I.) north-east to west; the furthest part, in the latter direction, being judged to lie in 38° south, and 148° 53' east. But captain Cook could not determine whether it did, or did not, join to Tasman's Van Diemen's Land.

It would be superfluous, here, to follow our great navigator in his discoveries along the coast, northward to Botany Bay and from thence to Cape York. Such an abstract as suits the plan of this Introduction would be little satisfactory to the reader; when, by an easy reference to the original narrative, so much interesting information upon this new country, its productions, and inhabitants, may be obtained.^[49]

This voyage of captain Cook, whether considered in the extent of his discoveries and the accuracy with which they were traced, or in the labours of, his scientific associates, far surpassed all that had ​gone before. The general plan of the voyage did not, however, permit captain Cook to enter minutely into the details of every part; and had it been otherwise, the very extent of his discoveries would have rendered it impossible. Thus, some portions of the east coast of Terra Australis were passed in the night, many openings were seen and left unexamined, and the islands and reefs lying at a distance from the shore could, generally, be no more than indicated: he reaped the harvest of discovery, but the gleanings of the field remained to be gathered.

The first visitor to Van Diemen's Land, after Tasman, its Marion.
1772 discoverer, was captain Marion. He commanded the Mascarin and Marquis de Castries, from the Isle Mauritius; and one of the objects of his expedition, was the discovery of the supposed Southern Continent. This voyage possesses a considerable degree of interest, and was published at Paris in 1783; but not being generally known in England, the parts which relate to Van Diemen's Land, are here given in abridgment.

March 3, 1772, M. Marion made the west side, in latitude (Atlas, Pl. VII.) 42° 56', half a degree south of Tasman's first land fall; and behind a point in 43° 15', he saw an opening leading to the northward, but of which no particular mention is made. Steering eastward, round all the rocks and islets lying off the south coast, he arrived, on the evening of the 4th, in Frederik Hendrik's Bay; and anchored in 22 fathoms, sandy bottom. The great sandy cove of the outer bay bore from thence, S. 25° W. one league and a half; the extreme of Maria's Island, N. E. by N.; and the northernmost part of the main land, N. 5° W. six leagues: (these bearings appear to be as taken by the compass). The latitude observed here, was 42° 50' south, and longitude 145° 20' east of Greenwich; the first being 10', and the longitude above 5° less, than given by Tasman.^[50]

The fires and smokes, seen by day and night, bespoke the country ​to be well inhabited; and, on anchoring, there were about thirty men assembled upon the shore. On the boats being sent next morning, the natives went to them without distrust; and, having piled together some pieces of wood, presented a lighted stick to the new comers, and seemed to ask them to set fire to the pile. Not knowing what this ceremony meant, they complied; and the act seemed neither to excite surprise, nor to cause any alteration in the conduct of the natives: they continued to remain about the French party, with their wives and children, as before.

These people were of the common stature, of a black colour, and were all naked, both men and women; and some of the latter had children fastened to their backs, with ropes made of rushes. All the men were armed with pointed sticks (spears), and with stones which appeared to have been sharpened in the manner of axe heads. They had, in general, small eyes, and the white duller than in Europeans; the mouth very wide, the teeth white, and flat noses. Their hair, which resembled the wool of the Caffres, was separated into shreds, and powdered with red ochre. They were generally slender, tolerably well made, kept their shoulders back, and upon their prominent chests, several had marks raised in the skin. Their language appeared harsh; the words seeming to be drawn from the bottom of the throat.

The French tried to win them by little presents, but they rejected with disdain every thing that was offered; even iron , looking-glasses, handkerchiefs, and cloth. They were shown ducks and fowls, which had been carried from the ships; and it was endeavoured to make them understand, that such would be gladly purchased of them; but they took these animals, with which they seemed to be unacquainted, and threw them away in anger.

The party had been about an hour with the savages when captain Marion went on shore. One of the natives stepped forward, and offered him a fire-brand to be applied to a small heap of wood; and the captain, supposing it was a ceremony necessary to prove that he ​came with friendly intentions, set fire to the heap without hesitation. This was no sooner done, than they retired precipitately to a small hill, and threw a shower of stones, by which captain Marion and the commander of the Castries were both wounded. Some shots were then fired; and the French, returning to their boats, coasted along the beach to an open place in the middle of the bay, where there was no hill or eminence from whence they could be annoyed. The savages sent their women and children into the woods, and followed the boats along shore; and on their putting in to land, one of the natives set up a hideous cry, and immediately a shower of spears was discharged. A black servant was hurt in the leg; and a firing then commenced, by which several of the natives were wounded, and one killed. They fled to the woods, making a frightful howling, but carried off such of the wounded as were unable to follow. Fifteen men, armed with muskets, pursued them; and on entering amongst the trees, they found a dying savage. This man was a little more than five feet seven inches high; his breast was marked like those of the Mozambique Caffres, and his skin appeared as black; but on washing off the soot and dirt, his natural colour appeared to be reddish. The spears, which it was feared might have been poisoned, were proved not to be so by the facility with which the wound of the black servant was healed.

After the flight of the savages, captain Marion sent two officers with detachments, to search for water, and for trees proper to make a foremast and bowsprit for the Castries; but after traversing two leagues of country without meeting a single inhabitant, they returned unsuccessful in both pursuits; nor could any fresh water be found during the six days which the ships remained in Frederik Hendrik's Bay.

The land here is quite sandy, but covered with brush-wood, and with small trees which the savages had mostly stripped of the bark for cooking their shell fish. The greater part of the trees were burnt at the foot; but amongst them there was a kind of pine, less ​than ours, which was perfectly preserved; apparently from the natives finding them to be of use in some way or other.^[51]

There were marks of fire almost every where; and in many places the earth was covered with ashes. Where it was not burnt, there was plenty of grass, ferns like those of Europe, sorrel, and alléluia. From the few animals seen, it was thought that the fires made by the natives near the coast, drove them inland. The shooters met with a tiger cat, and saw many holes in the ground, like those of a warren. They killed crows, blackbirds, thrushes, doves, a white-bellied paroquet whose plumage resembled that of the same bird at the River Amazons, and several kinds of sea birds, principally pelicans, and the black-bodied red bill.

The climate was cold, although in the end of summer; and it excited surprise, that the savages could go naked; the more so, as the nearest approach to houses consisted of branches of trees, set up behind the fire places to break off the wind. The many heaps of shells seemed to bespeak, that the usual food of these people was muscles and other shell fish.

Many large rays were caught by the French, as also sea cats, old wives, and several other fish whose names were not known. They found also plenty of cray-fish, lobsters, very large crabs, and good oysters; and the curious picked up sea stars, sea eggs, and a variety of fine and rare shells.

Finding he was only losing time in searching for water in this wild country, captain Marion determined to make sail for New Zealand, where he hoped to succeed better, and also to obtain masts for the Castries. He accordingly left Van Diemen's Land on the 10th of March; and the account of it concludes with the observation, that they had very bad weather on the west coast, but on the east side the sky was much clearer and winds more moderate.

The chart of Mons. Crozet, which accompanies the voyage, appears, though on a very small scale, to possess a considerable degree of ​exactness in the form of the land. The wide opening, called Storm Bay, is distinctly marked; as is another bay to the westward, with several small islands in it, the easternmost of which are the Boreel's Eylanden of Tasman.

A year after Marion had quitted Frederik Hendrik's Bay, Van Ftonimjx. Furneaux.
1773 Diemen's Land was visited by captain Tobias Furneaux, in His Majesty's ship Adventure. He made the South-west Cape on March 9, and steered eastward, close to the islands and rocks called Maatsuyker's, by Tasman; and behind which lay a bold shore, which seemed to afford several anchoring places. Some of these rocks resembled, says captain Furneaux, "the Mewstone, particularly one which we so named, about four or five leagues E. S. E. ½E. off the above cape, which Tasman has not mentioned, or laid down in his draughts."^[52] This is nevertheless the lion-head-shaped island, particularly mentioned by Tasman, as lying twelve miles out from the coast: the mistake arose from the imperfection of the accounts.

After passing Maatsuyker's Isles, captain Furneaux sent a boat to the main land, on the 10th, and the people found places where the natives had been, and where pearl scallop shells were scattered about. <f The soil seemed to be very rich; the country well clothed with wood, particularly on the lee sides of the hills; plenty of water which falls from the rocks in beautiful cascades, for two or three hundred feet perpendicular, into the sea; but they did not see the least sign of any place to anchor in with safety."

On the return of the boat, captain Furneaux made, sail, and came to "the westernmost point of a very deep bay, called by Tasman Stormy Bay. From the west to the east point of this bay there are several small islands, and black rocks which we called the Friars." From the Friars he followed the coast N. by E. four leagues, and the same evening anchored in Adventure Bay. "We first took this bay," says the captain, "to be that which Tasman ​called Frederick Henry Bay; but afterwards found that his is laid down five leagues to the northward."

Captain Furneaux here mistook the Storm and Frederik Hendrik's Bays of Tasman; and he has been followed in this error by all the succeeding navigators of the same nation, which has created not a little confusion in the geography of this part of the world.

The bay supposed to have been Storm Bay, has no name in Tasman's chart; though the particular plan shews that he noticed it, as did Marion more distinctly. The rocks marked at the east point of this bay, and called the Friars, are the Boreel's Eylanden of Tasman; and the true Storm Bay is the deep inlet, of which Adventure Bay is a cove. Frederik Hendrik's Bay is not within this inlet, but lies to the north-eastward, on the outer side of the land which captain Furneaux, in consequence of his first mistake, took to be Maria's Island, but which, in fact, is a part of the main land. All this is evident from a close comparison of the forms of the land in the two charts, and is corroborated by the differences of longitude from the Mewstone.

Adventure Bay proved to be a valuable discovery, being a good and well-sheltered anchorage, where wood and water were abundant, and procurable without much difficulty. The country was found to be pleasant; the soil black and rich, though not deep; the sides of the hills covered with large trees of the evergreen kind, growing to a great height before they spread out into branches. There were several species of land birds; and the aquatic fowl were ducks, teal, and the sheldrake. An opossum was seen, and the excrement of another quadruped, judged to be of the deer kind. Sea fish were caught, but not in plenty. The lagoons abounded with trout and several other sorts of fish. No natives came down to the ships; but their fires were seen at a distance, and several of their miserable huts were examined. Not the least mark of canoe or boat was seen, and it was generally thought they had none; "being altogether, from what we could judge, a very ignorant and wretched set of people; ​though natives of a country capable of producing every necessary of life, and a climate the finest in the world. We found not the least sign of any minerals or metals."

After remaining five days in Adventure Bay, captain Furneaux sailed along the coast to the northward, in order to discover whether Van Diemen's Land were joined to New South Wales. He passed the Maria's, Schouten's, and Vanderlin's Islands of Tasman, at some distance; and then, closing more in with the coast, he found the land to be low and even, and of an agreeable aspect, "but no signs of a harbour or bay, where a ship might anchor in safety." In latitude 40° 50', the coast, from running nearly north, turned to the westward, and, as captain Furneaux thought, formed a deep bay. From thence to "39° 50', is nothing but islands and shoals; the land high, rocky, and barren." In the course northward, past these islands, he had regular soundings, from 15 to 30 fathoms, though no land was visible; it was, however, seen again (or thought to be so) in latitude 39°, and nearly due north from the islands. The bottom then becoming uneven, our navigator discontinued his course, and steered for New Zealand.

Whether Van Diemen's Land were, or were not, joined to New South Wales, was a question not yet resolved; but captain Furneaux gave it as his opinion, "that there is no strait between New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, but a very deep bay."

The next visitor to Van Diemen's Land was captain James Cook, with his Majesty's ships Resolution and Discovery. He made the Cook.
1777

South-west Cape on Jan. 94, 1777, and steered eastward along the shore, as captain Furneaux had done, but generally at a greater distance: on the 26th he anchored in Adventure Bay.

Captain Cook's account of this bay agrees nearly with that of Furneaux; but he there procured abundance of fish, and had frequent communication with the natives: his description of them coincides, generally, with what has been recited in Marion's voyage. ​The most striking differences betwixt these people and those captain Cook had seen on the east coast of New South Wales, were in their language, in having no canoes, and in the different texture of the hair: in those it was "naturally long and black, though it be universally cropped short;" whilst in Adventure Bay, "it was as woolly, as that of any native of Guinea."^[53] In these particulars, as in some others, they agreed with Dampier's description of the people on the North-west Coast, who were without canoes, and had woolly hair.

The following articles, to the conclusion of Part I. of this Section, are placed somewhat out of their chronological order, for the convenience of classing together all the discoveries which had no connection with the British settlement in New South Wales. Those made in vessels from that settlement, or which may be considered as a consequence of its establishment, will compose Part II. in uninterrupted order.

Captain William Bligh put into Adventure Bay with his Majesty's Bligh.
1788 ship Bounty in 1788, and with the Providence and Assistant in 1799; for the purpose of obtaining wood and water. These were procured with facility, as also plenty of fish; and many useful seeds and trees were planted.

No discoveries being made here, beyond those of Furneaux and Cook, the reader is referred to captain Bligh's Voyage to the South Seas, p. 45 to 54, for his observations on the country and inhabitants. There is, however, one remarkable circumstance recorded of these people, which is, that when presents wrapped up in paper were thrown to them, "they took the articles out, and placed them on their heads;" a ceremony which is similar to that recorded by Witsen, of the inhabitants on the east side of the Gulph of Carpentaria.

​

The brig Mercury, commanded by John Henry Cox, Esq., anchored at the entrance of a deep bay on the south side of Van Cox.
1789 Diemen's Land, on July 3, 1789. This bay was then first discovered, and lies N. by W. ten miles from the Mewstone.^[54] The country was found to be agreeably interspersed with hills and vallies, and some of the hills were luxuriantly clothed with trees to their very summits. About four miles from the vessel, there was a stream of fresh water; and close to it stood a hut, or rather hovel, neatly constructed of branches of trees and dried leaves. "Around it were scattered a great quantity of pearl; escalop, oyster, and other shells, which had been lately roasted." The fæces of some large animal were met with in every direction; but neither the animal itself nor any of the natives could be found.

July 5. A heavy swell from the southward obliged Mr. Cox to get under way; and he worked along shore to the eastward. His intention was to put into Adventure Bay; but being set to the northward of his reckoning, on the 8th, he discovered, and came to an anchor in Oyster Bay, on the inner side of Maria's Island, the shelter there being found secure, and wood and water plentiful. This bay lies in 42° 42' south, and 148° 25' east, and not more than three or four leagues to the northward of Tasman's Frederik Hendrik's Bay; though Mr. Cox, following in the error of captain Furneaux, seems to have had no idea of this proximity.

Some communication was obtained with the inhabitants of the island; but as nothing in this, or in other respects, was found materially different to what was observed by Mons. Marion and captain Cook in the neighbouring bays, it is unnecessary to enter into the details.

The French rear-admiral, Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, made the D'Entre
casteaux.
1792 coast of Van Diemen's Land with the intention of procuring wood ​and water at Adventure Bay; "but deceived by the forms of the coast, which resemble each other, he entered Storm Bay," April 20, 1792.^[55] This is not, however, the Storm Bay of Tasman; but that which was taken for such by captain Furneaux.

The error was soon detected; but finding shelter and good anchoring ground, the admiral determined to remain where he was, and to examine the inlet. The result most amply repaid his labour, by opening to him the most important discovery which had been made in this country from the time of Tasman. Instead of an open bay, this inlet was found to be the entrance into a fine navigable channel, running more than ten leagues to the northward, and there communicating with the true Storm Bay. It contains a series of good harbours, or is itself, rather, one continued harbour, from beginning to end.

This new passage obtained the name of Canal de D'Entrecaseaux; and, after passing through it with his ships, the admiral steered across Storm Bay, passing to the southward of the land which Furneaux and Cook had taken for Maria's Islands. At the head of Storm Bay other openings were seen; but the wind from the north and the pressure of time, did not allow him to examine them at that period.

On Jan. 21, of the following year, admiral D'Entrecasteaux 1795. anchored again in one of the ports on the west side of the entrance to his newly discovered channel; and after completing the wood and water of his two ships, La Recherche and L'Esperance, pursued his former course up the passage, sending boats to complete the surveys of the different harbours on each side. A boat was also sent to explore the two openings in the head of Storm Bay. The westernmost proved to be a river, up which the boat ascended twenty miles to the northward; and so far it was navigable for ships. It was not pursued further; so that the distance, to which this ​Rivière du Nord might penetrate into the country, was uncertain. The eastern opening led northward into a wide, open bay; and this into another large expanse of water to the eastward, but which was not examined. It was thought, however, that this eastern bay communicated with that of Frederik Hendrik; and on this supposition (which has not proved correct), the land which Furneaux and Cook had erroneously thought to be Maria's Island, was named Île d'Abel Tasman.

The charts of the bays, ports, and arms of the sea at the southeast end of Van Diemen's Land, constructed in this expedition by Mons. Beautemps-Beaupré and assistants, appear to combine scientific accuracy and minuteness of detail, with an uncommon degree of neatness in the execution: they contain some of the finest specimens of marine surveying, perhaps ever made in a new country.

Admiral D'Entrecasteaux gives a very favourable account of the disposition of the native inhabitants on the shores of the channel; and he had frequent communications with them. In person and manner of living, they agree with those described by Marion and Cook; but the vocabulary of their language is somewhat different; and bark canoes, which preceding navigators had thought them not to possess, were found in the channel. The description of the country is, generally, favourable; though somewhat less so than that of captain Cook at Adventure Bay. The climate was thought good, though moist; and the supplies of wood, water, and fish, for ships, were abundant; but the preference, in these respects, was given to Adventure Bay, even by the French admiral.

Mons. Labillardière, in his previously published account of D'Entrecasteaux's voyage, says, that he found a small vein of coal near the South Cape; and that lime-stone rocks exist on the west-side of Adventure Bay. These circumstances are omitted by M. de Rossel; as is also the remark, that although the natives had their teeth perfect, in general, yet in some near the bay, one, and sometimes two of the upper front teeth were wanting. The same thing was ​observed by Dampier, of the inhabitants on the north-west coast of Terra Australis; and this coincidence, together with their similarity of person, particularly in the woolly hair, is sufficiently remarkable to induce a belief, that these people, placed at the two extremities of this vast country, have yet one common origin; although the intermediate inhabitants of the East Coast differ in some essential particulars.

Captain John Hayes, of the Bombay marine, visited Storm Bay Hayes.
1794. and D'Entrecasteaux's Channel, with the private ships Duke and Dutchess from India, in 1794. He went much further up the Rivière. du Nord, than the boat from the French ships had done, and gave it the name of the Derwent River. This name is likely to efface the first appellation, and with some degree of propriety; both from the superior extent of captain Hayes' examination, and from North River being an equivocal term for a stream at the south end of Van Diemen's Land.

That captain Hayes had some intimation of the French discovery is evident, but not knowing the distinctive appellations given, he took upon himself to impose names every where. Succeeding visitors have gone with his sketch in their hands, whilst the charts of D'Entrecasteaux were unknown in that part of the world; from whence, and still more from those names having now become familiar to the settlement established in the Derwent River, it will be difficult, if not impossible in many cases, for the original discoverer to be reinstated in his rights.

The head of the Derwent is the sole part where captain Hayes' sketch conveys information, not to be found much more accurately delineated in the charts of D'Entrecasteaux.

​

The year 1788 will ever be a memorable epoch in the history of Preliminary
Information. Terra Australis. On Jan. 18, captain (now vice-admiral) Arthur Philip arrived in Botany Bay, with His Majesty's brig Supply; and was followed by the Syrius, captain John Hunter, six sail of transports, and three store ships. The purpose of this armament was to establish a colony in New South Wales, over which extensive country captain Philip was appointed Governor and Captain-general. Botany Bay proved to be an unfavourable situation for the new colony; it was, therefore, abandoned in favour of Port Jackson, which lies three leagues to the northward, and was found to be oNe of the finest harbours in the world.

A history of this establishment at the extremity of the globe, in a country where the astonished settler sees nothing, not even the grass under his feet, which is not different to whatever had before met his eye, could not but present objects of great interest to the European reader; and the public curiosity has been gratified by the perusal of various respectable publications, wherein the proceedings of the ​colonists, the country round Port Jackson, its productions, and native inhabitants, are delineated with accuracy, and often with minuteness. The subject to be here treated is the progress of maritime geographical discovery, which resulted from the new establishment; and as the different expeditions made for this purpose are in many cases imperfectly, and in some altogether unknown, it has been judged that a circumstantial account of them would be useful to seamen, and not without interest to the general reader. These expeditions are, moreover, intimately connected with the Investigator's voyage, of which they were, in fact, the leading cause.

The first advantage to maritime geography which arose from the Atlas,
Plate VIII. new settlement, was a survey of Botany and Broken Bays and Port Jackson, with most of the rivers falling into them. Botany Bay had, indeed, been examined by captain Cook; but of the other two harbours, the entrances alone had been seen. This survey, including the intermediate parts of the coast, was made by captain John Hunter, and was published soon after its transmission to England by govenor Philip.

In the beginning of 1795, captain (now vice-admiral) Hunter sailed a second time for New South Wales, to succeed captain Philip in the government of the new colony. He took with him His Majesty's armed vessels Reliance and Supply; and the author of this account, who was then a midshipman and had not long before returned from a voyage to the South Seas, was led by his passion for exploring new countries, to embrace the opportunity of going out upon a station which, of all others, presented the most ample field for his favourite pursuit.

On arriving at Port Jackson, in September of the same year, it appeared that the investigation of the coast had not been greatly extended beyond the three harbours; and even in these, some of the rivers were not altogether explored. Jervis Bay, indicated but not named by captain Cook, had been entered by lieutenant Richard Bowen; and to the north, Port Stephens had lately been examined by ​Mr C. Grimes, land surveyor of the colony, and by captain W. R. Broughton of H. M. ship Providence; but the intermediate portions of coast, both to the north and south, were little further known than from captain Cook's general chart; and none of the more distant openings, marked but not explored by that celebrated navigator; had been seen.

In Mr. George Bass, surgeon of the Reliance, I had the happiness to find a man whose ardour for discovery was not to be repressed by any obstacles, nor deterred by danger; and with this friend a determination was formed of completing the examination of the east coast of New South Wales, by all such opportunities as the duty of the ship, and procurable means, could admit.

Projects of this nature, when originating in the minds of young men, are usually termed romantic; and so far from any good being anticipated, even prudence and friendship join in discouraging, if not in opposing them. Thus it was in the present case; so that a little boat Bass and
Flinders.
1795. of eight feet long, called Tom Thumb, with a crew composed of ourselves and a boy, was the best equipment to be procured for the first outset. In the month following the arrival of the ships, we proceeded round in this boat, to Botany Bay; and ascending George's River, one of two which falls into the bay, explored its winding course about twenty miles beyond where governor Hunter's survey had been carried.

The sketch made of this river and presented to the governor, with the favourable report of the land on its borders, induced His Excellency to examine them himself shortly afterward; and was followed by establishing there a new branch of the colony, under the name of Banks' Town.

A voyage to Norfolk Island interrupted our further proceedings, 1796. until March 1796. Mr. Bass and myself then went again in Tom Thumb, to explore a large river, said to fall into the sea some miles to the south of Botany Bay, and of which there was no indication in captain Cook's chart.

​and we sailed out of Port Jackson early in the morning of March 25, and stood a little off to sea to be ready for the sea breeze. On coming in with the land in the evening, instead of being near Cape Solander, we found ourselves under the cliffs near Hat Hill, six or seven leagues to the southward, whither the boat had been drifted by a strong current. Not being able to land, and the sea breeze coming in early next morning from the northward, we steered for two small islets, six or seven miles further on, in order to get shelter; but being in want of water, and seeing a place on the way where, though the boat could not land, a cask might be obtained by swimming, the attempt was made, and Mr. Bass went on shore. Whilst getting off the cask, a surf arose further out than usual, carried the boat before it to the beach, and left us there with our arms, ammunition, clothes, and provisions thoroughly drenched, and partly spoiled. The boat was emptied and launched again immediately; but it was late in the afternoon before every thing was rafted off, and we proceeded to the islets. It was not possible to land there; and we went on to two larger isles lying near a projecting point of the main, which has four hillocks upon it presenting the form of a double saddle, and proved to be captain Cook's Red Point. The isles were inaccessible as the others; and it being dark, we were constrained to pass a second night in Tom Thumb, and dropped our stone anchor in 7 fathoms, under the lee of the point.

The sea breeze, on the 27th, still opposed our return; and learning from two Indians that no water could be procured at Red Point, we accepted their offer of piloting us to a river which, they said, lay a few miles further southward, and where not only fresh water was abundant, but also fish and wild ducks. These men were natives of Botany Bay, whence it was that we understood a little of their language, whilst that of some others was altogether unintelligible. Their river proved to be nothing more than a small stream, which descended from a lagoon under Hat Hill, and forced a passage for itself through the beach; so that we entered it with difficulty even ​in Tom Thumb. Our two conductors then quitted the boat to walk along the sandy shore abreast, with eight or ten strange natives in company.

After rowing a mile up the stream, and finding it to become more shallow, we began to entertain doubts of securing a retreat from these people, should they be hostilely inclined; and they had the reputation at Port Jackson of being exceedingly ferocious, if not cannibals. Our muskets were not yet freed from rust and sand, and there was a pressing necessity to procure fresh water before attempting to return northward. Under these embarrassments, we agreed upon a plan of action, and went on shore directly to the natives. Mr. Bass employed some of them to assist in repairing an oar which had been broken in our disaster, whilst I spread the wet powder out in the sun. This met with no opposition, for they knew not what the powder was; but when we proceeded to clean the muskets, it excited so much alarm that it was necessary to desist. On inquiring of the two friendly natives for water, they pointed upwards to the lagoon; but after many evasions our barica^[56] was filled at a hole not many yards distant.

The number of people had increased to near twenty, and others were still coming, so that it was necessary to use all possible expedition in getting out of their reach. But a new employment arose upon our hands: we had clipped the hair and beards of the two 4 Botany-Bay natives at Red Point; and they were shewing themselves to the others, and persuading them to follow their example: Whilst, therefore, the powder was drying, I began with a large pair of scissars to execute my new office upon the eldest of four or five chins presented to me; and as great nicety was not required, the shearing of a dozen of them did not occupy me long. Some of the more timid were alarmed at a formidable instrument coming so near to their noses, and would scarcely be persuaded by their shaven friends, to allow the operation to be finished. But when their chins were held ​and up a second time, their fear of the instrument,—the wild stare of their eyes,—and the smile which they forced, formed a compound upon the rough savage countenance, not unworthy the pencil of a Hogarth. I was almost tempted to try what effect a little snip would produce; but our situation was too critical to admit of such experiments.

Every thing being prepared for a retreat, the natives became vociferous for the boat to go up to the lagoon; and it was not without stratagem that we succeeded in getting down to the entrance of the stream, where the depth of water placed us out of their reach. Our examination of the country was confined, by circumstances, to a general view. This part is called Alowrie, by the natives, and is very low and sandy near the sides of the rivulet. About four miles up it, to the north-west, is the lagoon; and behind, stands a semi-circular range of hills, of which the highest is Hat Hill. The water in the lagoon was distinctly seen, and appeared to be several miles in circumference. The land round it is probably fertile, and the slopes of the back hills had certainly that appearance. The natives were in nothing, except language, different from those at Port Jackson; but their dogs, which are of the same species, seemed to be more numerous and familiar.

Soon after dark the sea breeze was succeeded by a calm; and at ten o'clock we rowed out of the rivulet, repassed Red Point, and at one in the morning came to an anchor in 5 fathoms, close to the northernmost of the two, first rocky islets.^[57] In the afternoon of the 28th, we got on shore under the high land to the north of Hat Hill, and were able to cook provisions and take some repose without disturbance. The sandy beach was our bed; and after much fatigue, and passing three nights of cramp in Tom Thumb, it was to us a bed of down.

​The shore in this part is mostly high and cliffy; and under the cliffs were lying black lumps, apparently of slaty stone, rounded by attrition. These were not particularly noticed, but Mr. Clarke, in his disastrous journey along the coast, afterwards made fires of them; and on a subsequent examination, Mr. Bass found a stratum of coal to run through the whole of these cliffs.

March 29. By rowing hard we got four leagues nearer home; and at night dropped our stone under another range of cliffs, more regular but less high than those near Hat Hill. At ten o'clock, the wind, which had been unsettled and driving electric clouds in all directions, burst out in a gale at south, and obliged us to get up the anchor immediately, and run before it. In a few minutes the waves began to break; and the extreme danger to which this exposed our little bark, was increased by the darkness of the night, and the uncertainty of finding any place of shelter. The shade of the cliffs over our heads, and the noise of the surfs breaking at their feet, were the directions by which our course was steered parallel to the coast.

Mr. Bass kept the sheet of the sail in his hand, drawing in a few inches occasionally, when he saw a particularly heavy sea following. I was steering with an oar, and it required the utmost exertion and care to prevent broaching to; a single wrong movement, or a moment's inattention, would have sent us to the bottom. The task of the boy was to bale out the water which, in spite of every care, the sea threw in upon us.

After running near an hour in this critical manner, some high breakers were distinguished a-head; and behind them there appeared no shade of cliffs. It was necessary to determine, on the instant, what was to be done, for our bark could not live ten minutes longer. On coming to what appeared to be the extremity of the breakers, the boat's head was brought to the wind in a favourable moment, the mast and sail taken down, and the oars got out. Pulling then towards the reef during the intervals of the heaviest seas, we found it to terminate in a point; and in three minutes were ​in smooth water under its lee. A white appearance, further back, kept us a short time in suspense; but a nearer approach shewed it to be the beach of a well-sheltered cove, in which we anchored for the rest of the night. So sudden a change, from extreme danger to comparatively perfect safety, excited reflections which kept us some time awake: we thought Providential Cove a well-adapted name for this place; but by the natives, as we afterwards learned, it is called Watta-Mowlee.

On landing next morning, March 30, water was found at the back of the beach. The country round the cove is, in general, sandy and barren. No natives were seen, but their traces were recent. The extremity of the reef, which afforded us such signal shelter, bore S. E. by E. from the centre of the beach, the north head of the cove E. N. E.; and except at the intermediate five points of the compass, Watta-Mowlee affords shelter for large boats, with anchorage on a fine sandy bottom.

Between three and four miles to the northward of this cove, we found the river, or rather port, which was the original place of our destination; and it having been a pilot named Hacking, from whom the first information of it had been received, it was named after him : by the natives it is called Deeban.

April 1st, was employed in the examination of the port. It is something more than one mile wide in the entrance; but soon contracts to half that space, and becomes shallow. Neither have the three arms, into which if afterwards branches out, any deep channel into them; although, within the second branch, there are from 3 to 8 fathoms. Finding there was no part accessible to a ship, beyond two miles from the entrance, nor any prospect of increasing our small stock of provisions, Port Hacking was quitted early in the morning of April 2.

The shores of the port are mostly rocky, particularly on the north side; but there is no want of grass or wood; and without doubt there are many culturable spots on the sides of the streams which descend, apparently from the inland mountains, into the uppermost ​branch. Two natives came down to us in a friendly manner, and seemed not to be unacquainted with Europeans. Their language differed somewhat from the Port-Jackson dialect; but with the assistance of signs, we were able to make ourselves understood. After sounding the entrance of Port Hacking in going out, and finding 8½ fathoms water, we steered N. E. by E. for Cape Solander; and the same evening Tom Thumb was secured along-side the Reliance in Port Jackson.

In this little expedition, I had no other means of ascertaining the situations of places than by pocket-compass bearings and computed distances % which was done as follows:

South lat. East Ion. o / o / Cliffy south extreme of Cape Solander, lies in 34 2,5 151 12 From thence to Port Hacking, a low curving 1 shore, mostly beach, lies S. W. b. W. 6 miles J Situation of Port Hacking 34 5,9 151 6 From Port Hacking to Watta-Mowlee ; low cliffs, s but rising gradually to the head of the cove ; [ +3,2 —1,6 S.S.W.si- miles - - «- J Situation of Watta-Mowlee 34 9,1 151 4,4 Thence to the end of steep cliffs, nearly straight ; 1 S.S.W. 4 i miles - - - J + 4 ' 2 -*' 1 To the end of coal cliffs, and commencement ofl Hat-Hill beach; mostly a high shore, some-] times cliffy, with small beaches at intervals ; f + &' — 2 >4* S. by W. 10 miles, - - I From thence to Red Point ; a curving sandy 1 beach with small rocky points ; S. $ E. 61 miles J + 6 ^ + 1 ' 1 Situation of Red Point 34 29,5 151 i~ From Red Pt. to the entrance of Tom Thumb's la- ] goon; a low, curving sandy beach; S.W. 5 miles J + 3,5 -4,3 Situation of the entrance to Tom Thumb's lagoon 34 33,0 - 150 56,7 Digitized by

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After this expedition, the duties of the ship, and a voyage to the Clarke.
1797. Cape of Good Hope by the way of Cape Horn, suspended our projects for some time. On the return of the Reliance to New South Wales, we found there the supra-cargo of the Sydney Cove, a ship from India commanded by Mr. G. A. Hamilton, which, having started (Atlas, Pl. I.) a butt end, had been run on shore at Furneaux's Islands and wrecked. Mr. Clarke had left the ship, with the chief mate and others, in the long boat, designing for Port Jackson, in order to procure means for transporting the officers and people, and such part of the cargo as had been saved, to the same place; but being overtaken by a heavy south-east gale, their boat had been thrown on shore near Cape Howe, three-hundred miles from the colony, and stove to pieces.

There was no other prospect of safety for Mr. Clarke and his companions, than to reach Port Jackson on foot; and they commenced their march along the sea shore, scantily furnished with ammunition, and with less provisions. Various tribes of natives were passed, some of whom were friendly; but the hostility of others, and excessive fatigue, daily lessened the number of these unfortunate people; and when the provisions and ammunition failed, the diminution became dreadfully rapid. Their last loss was of the chief mate and carpenter, who were killed by Dilba, and other savages near Hat Hill;^[58] and Mr. Clarke, with a sailor and one lascar, alone remained when they reached Watta-Mowlee. They were so exhausted, as to have scarcely strength enough to make themselves observed by a boat which was fishing off the cove; but were at length conveyed into her, and brought to Port Jackson.

Mr. Clarke gave the first information of the coal cliffs, near Hat Hill; and from him it was ascertained, that, besides the known bays, many small streams and inlets had interrupted his march along the shore, from Cape Howe to Watta-Mowlee; but that there were ​none which he had not been able to pass, either at the sea side, or by going a few miles round, into the country. A journal of his route was published in the Calcutta newspapers, some time in 1798.

The colonial schooner Francis had made one voyage to Furneaux's Islands, and brought from thence captain Hamilton, and part of his people and cargo. The same vessel was about to proceed thither a second time, and I was anxious to embrace that opportunity of exploring those extensive and little known lands; but the great repairs required by the Reliance would not allow of my absence. My friend Bass, less confined by his duty, made several excursions, principally into the interior parts behind Port Jackson; with a view to pass over the back mountains, and ascertain the nature of the country beyond them. His success was not commensurate to the perseverance and labour employed: the mountains were impassable; but the course of the river Grose, laid down in Plate VIII,, resulted from one of these excursions.

In September, a small colonial vessel having been carried off by Shortland.
1797. convicts, lieutenant John Shortland, first of the Reliance,^[59] went after them to the northward, in an armed boat. The expedition was fruitless, as to the proposed object; but in returning along the shore from Port Stephens, Mr. Shortiaod discovered a port in latitude 33°, (Atlas,
Pl. VIII.) capable of receiving small ships; and what materially added to the importance of the discovery, was a stratum of coal, found to run through the south head of the port, and also pervaded a cliffy island in the entrance. These coals were not only accessible to shipping, but of a superior quality to those in the cliffs near Hat Hill. The port was named after His Excellency governor Hunter; and a settlement, called New Castle, has lately been there established. The entrance is narrow, and the deepest water (about three fathoms) ​close to the north-west side of the Coal Island; but no vessel of more than three hundred tons should attempt it.

In December, Mr. George Bass obtained leave to make an expedition Bass.
1797. to the southward; and he was furnished with a fine whale boat and six weeks provisions by the governor, and a crew of six seamen from the ships. He sailed Dec. 3., in the evening; but foul and strong winds forced him into Port Hacking and Watta-Mowlee. On the 5th, in latitude 34° 38', he was obliged to stop in a small bight of the coast, a little south of Alworie. The points of land there are basaltic; and on looking round amongst the burnt rocks scattered over a hollowed circular space behind the shore, Mr. Bass found a hole of twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter; into which the sea washed up by a subterraneous passage.

Dec. 6., he passed a long sloping projection which I have called Point Bass, lying about three leagues south of Alowrie. Beyond this point, the coast forms a sandy bay of four or five leagues in length, containing two small inlets; and the southernmost being accessible to the boat, Mr. Bass went in and stopped three days. This little place was found to deserve no better name than Shoals Haven. The entrance is mostly choaked up by sand, and the inner part with banks of sand and mud; there is, however, a small channel sufficiently deep for boats. The latitude was made to be 34° 52' south; the sloping Point Bass, to the northward, bore N. 12° E., and a steep head at the southern extremity of the bay, S. 35° E. The tide was found to rise seven or eight feet, and the time of high water to be about eight hours and a half after the moon passed over the meridian.

The great chain of high land, called the Blue Mountains, by which the colony at Port Jackson is prevented from extending itself to the west, appeared to Mr. Bass to terminate here, near the sea coast. The base of this southern extremity of the chain, he judged to extend twenty-five or thirty miles, in a south-western direction from ​Point Bass; after which it turns north-westward. In the direction of west from Shoals Haven, and in all the space to the south of that line, was an extensive, flat country, where a party desirous of penetrating into the interior might reasonably hope to avoid those impediments which, at the back of Port Jackson, have constantly proved insurmountable.

In an excursion from the boat towards the southern end of the mountains, Mr. Bass fell in with a considerable stream, which he traced down to the shore, about three miles north of Shoals Haven: this is the first inlet of the long bay, which had been observed from the sea, with a bar running across the entrance. The soil on the southern bank of this stream he compared, for richness, to the banks of the Hawkesbury; and attributes this unusual fertility to the same cause: repeated inundations. In fact, the stream has since been found to descend from the mountains at twelve or fifteen miles from the coast, and to run along their southern extremity to the sea; so that it performs the same office here that the Hawkesbury does further north—that of being a channel for the waters which descend from the high back land; but as, in the heavy rains, it is also unequal to the task, the banks are overflowed, and the low country to the south and west is inundated and fertilized. There are, however, at the back of Shoals Haven, many thousand acres of open ground, whose soil is a rich vegetable mould, and now beyond the reach of the floods.

Dec. 10. The boat left Shoals Haven and entered Jervis Bay, a large open place of very unpromising appearance. On the north side of the entrance, between Point Perpendicular and Long Nose, there is a small cove, where a ship's boat might lie at half tide; and with a hose fill water from the back of the beach, at two pits which appeared to be always full. The best anchorage for ships seemed to be on the east side of the bay, between Long Nose and the northern beach, though they would not, even there, be entirely land-locked. Bowen's Island lies a quarter of a mile from the south ​side of the entrance, but the passage between does not admit any thing larger than boats. There is a small beach at the back of the island, off which ships might anchor in 8 fathoms sandy bottom, and be sheltered as far round as south-east; but with the wind nearer to east they would be exposed.

The east shore of Jervis Bay runs, for twelve or fifteen miles, so near to north from the entrance, that it is not, at the head, more than four hundred yards across to the shore of the long outer bay. The piece of land, which is thus made a narrow peninsula, is rather high, with a face of steep cliffs toward the sea. The rocks on the inner side bear strong marks of volcanic fire; and being disposed in parallel layers, their inclination to the west is very evident: quantities of pumice stone were scattered along the shores.

The country round the bay is mostly barren. On the eastern side it is rocky, with heath and brush-wood; the west is low, swampy, and sandy, with some partial exceptions; but on the south side there are grassy spaces amongst the brush-wood which might afford pasturage for cattle.

Jervis Bay was quitted Dec. 13., and at noon the Pigeon House bore W. by N. In the evening Mr; Bass stopped in a cove, which Point Upright shelters from northern winds; and he employed the next day in looking round the country. The vallies and slopes of the hills were found to be generally fertile; but there being nothing of particular interest in this place, it was quitted on the 15th. Some small islands lying close under the shore (in Bateman Bay), bore west at noon; and the night was passed at anchor under a point, in latitude 36° 00', where, the wind being foul on the 16th, Mr. Bass laid the boat on shore, and proceeded to examine the surrounding country.

At eight or nine miles from the coast is a ridge of hummocky hills, extending to the southward; but the space between these hills and the sea is low, and in great part occupied by salt swamps. The sea was found to have an entrance at the back of the point, and to form a considerable lagoon, which communicated with the swamps ​by means of several branching arms. The soil, as may be supposed, was generally bad, the sloping sides of some of the hills being alone capable of any utility. In a round of twelve or fourteen miles Mr. Bass could not find a drop of fresh water, or see a native. There were, however, many huts, and he traced the paths from them down to holes dug in the lowest grounds; but these were then all dried up, and the country in general seemed to be suffering from drought.

Dec. 17. The wind having veered to N. N. W., the boat was launched, and proceeded to the southward. Mount Dromedary was passed at eleven; and an island of about two miles in circuit was seen lying off it, a few miles to the eastward: the latitude at noon was 36° 23'. At four, the fair breeze died away, and a strong wind, which burst forth from the south, obliged Mr. Bass to run for a gap in the land, which had just before been noticed. Here, on a little beach at the mouth of an inlet, across which the sea was breaking, the boat was hauled up for the night. Next morning, the inlet being free of breakers, he entered the prettiest little model of a harbour he had ever seen. Unfortunately it is but a model; for although the shelter within be complete for small craft, yet the depth over the bar is too small, even for boats, except at high water, when there is eight or nine feet. This little place was named Barmouth Creek, and lies, according to Mr. Bass' computation, in 36° 47' south. The country round, so far as was examined, is rocky and barren near the sea; and towards the head of the creek, it is low and penetrated by the salt swamps.

Dec. 19. At day light Mr. Bass continued his course to the southward, (Atlas,
PI VII ) with a fair breeze. At seven he discovered Two-fold Bay; but unwilling to lose a fair wind, reserved the examination of it for his return. At five in the evening the wind came at S. S. W.; and he anchored under the lee of a point, but could not land. A sea breeze from E. N. E. next day, enabled him to continue onward; and at eleven, he bore away west, round Cape Howe, whose latitude was ​observed to be 37° 30'. In the evening he landed at the entrance of a lagoon, one mile north of the Ram Head, in order to take in as much fresh water as possible; for it was to be feared that a want of this necessary article might oblige him to discontinue his pursuit, at a time when, from the coast being unexplored, it would become more than ever interesting.

Dec. 21. A gale set in at W. S. W., and continued for nine days without intermission. This time was employed in examining the country, which, though hilly in external appearance, was found to be mostly low, sandy, and wet. The hills have a slight covering of green upon them, but consist of little else than sand; and from what could be seen of the back country, the soil there is scarcely better. The vallies are overgrown with long grass, ferns, brush-wood, and climbing plants, so as to be almost impenetrable; yet even there the soil is good for nothing.

At every landing place, from Jervis Bay to Barmouth Creek, the fresh water had been observed to diminish both in quantity and quality; and upon this coast of sand the difficulty of procuring it was expected to be very great. It was, on the contrary, plentiful; there being many little runs which drained out from the sand hills; and either trickled over the rocky spots at their feet, or sank through the beaches into the sea.

The western gale being at length succeeded by a breeze at E, N. E., Mr. Bass left the Ram Head early on the 31st. His course was W. by S., dose to a low, sandy coast; the beach being interrupted by small, rocky points, not oftener than once in ten or fifteen miles. The back land consisted of short ridges of irregular hills, lying at no great distance from the sea. At noon, the latitude was 37° 42'; and the distance run from the Ram Head, by computation, was thirty or thirty-five miles.

The furthest land seen by captain Cook, is marked at fifteen leagues from the Ram Head, and called Point Hicks; but at dusk Mr. Bass had run much more than that distance close along the ​shore, and could perceive no point or projection which would be distinguishable from a ship: the coast continued to be straight, low, and sandy, similar to what had been passed in the morning. There arose many large smokes from behind the beach; probably from the sides of lagoons, with which, there was reason to think, the back country abounded.

The breeze continuing to be fresh and favourable, Mr. Bass ventured 1798. to steer onward in the night, and kept the shore close a-bord. At two in the morning, the increased hollowness of the waves made him suspect the water was becoming shallow; and he hauled off for an hour, until there was sufficient daylight to distinguish the land. It was still low, level, and sandy, and trended S. W. by W., nearly as the boat was steering. At seven o'clock, high land appeared at a considerable distance in the south-west; and the beach then trended in the same direction. It, however, changed soon afterward, to run nearly west; and Mr. Bass quitted it to keep on his course for the high land. The latitude at noon was 38° 41'; and the difference made from the noon before, upon the average course of S. W. by W;, makes the distance run 107 miles; which, added to the preceding thirty or thirty-five, gives the length of the beach from the Ram Head, to be about 140 miles.^[60]

The high land extended from the bearing ,of S. W. by S. to W. N. W., and was distant in the latter direction two or three leagues. North of it there was a deep bight; and further eastward, two or three places in the Long Beach which had the appearance of inlets. To the south there were several rocky islets; and great numbers of petrels, and other sea-birds, were flying about the boat.

​From the latitude of the high land, Mr. Bass considered it to be that seen by captain Furneaux (or supposed to have been seen), in 39°; and consequently, that he had traced the unknown space between Point Hicks and Furneaux's Land. His course was now steered to pass round this land ; but on coming abreast of the rocky islets, a hummock appeared above the horizon in the S. E. by S., and presently, a larger one at S. ½W.; and being unable to fetch the first, he steered for the latter, which proved to be an island; and at six in the evening, he anchored under its lee. Vast numbers of gulls and other birds were roosting upon it, and on the rocks were many seals; but the surf would not admit of landing. This island was judged to be thirty miles, S. by W., from the situation at noon.

Jan. 2. The wind was strong at E. N. E.; and Mr. Bass being apprehensive that the boat could not fetch the high main land, determined to steer southward for the islands, in the hope of procuring some rice from the wreck of the ship Sydney Cove, to eke out his provisions. The wind, however, became unfavourable to him, veering to E. S. E.; so that with the sea which drove the boat to leeward, the course to noon was scarcely so good as S. S. W. The latitude observed was then 39° 51'; and no land being in sight, the prospect of reaching Furneaux's Islands became very faint. At four o'clock, an accident caused it to be totally given up: water was observed to rush in fast through the boat's side, and made it absolutely necessary to go upon the other tack. The latitude to which Mr. Bass supposed himself arrived, was something to the south of 40°; and the weather was clear enough for land of moderate height to have been seen five leagues further, had there been any within that distance.

The boat was then kept north-eastward, towards Furneaux's Land. At nine in the evening, the wind blew hard at S. E. by E., accompanied by a hollow, irregular sea, which put our enterprising discoverer and his boat's crew into the greatest danger; but the good qualities of his little bark, with careful steerage, carried him ​through this perilous night. On the 3rd, at six o'clock, the land was seen; and in the afternoon, whilst standing in to look for a place of shelter, a smoke and several people were observed upon a small island not far from the main coast. On rowing up, they proved to be, not natives, to Mr. Bass' great surprise, but Europeans. They were convicts who, with others, had run away with a boat from Port Jackson, in the intention of plundering the wreck of the Sydney Cove; and not being able to find it, their companions, thinking, their number too great, had treacherously left them upon this island, whilst asleep. These people were seven in number; and during the five weeks they had been on this desert spot, had subsisted on petrels, to which a seal was occasionally added. Mr. Bass promised to call at the island, on his return; and in the mean time, proceeded to the west side of the high main land, where he anchored, but could not get on shore.

Jan. 4. The wind being at north-east, he continued his course onward, steering W. N. W. round an open bay; and afterwards N. W. by W., as the coast generally trended. The shore consisted of long, shallow bights, in which the land was low and sandy; but the intermediate rocky points were generally steep, with a ridge of hills extending from them, into the interior, as far as could be distinguished. In the evening an inlet was discovered, with many shoals at the entrance; and the deep channel being not found till a strong tide made it unattainable, Mr. Bass waited for high water; he then entered a spacious harbour which, from its relative position to the hitherto known parts of the coast, was named Western Port. It lies, according to the boat's run, about sixty miles N. W. by W. ½ W. from Furneaux's Land; and its latitude is somewhere about 38° 25' south.^[61] The time of high water is near half an hour after the moon's passage over the meridian, and the rise of tide from ten to fourteen feet.

The examination of this new and important discovery, the repairs ​of the boat, and the continuance of strong winds, kept Mr. Bass thirteen days in Western Port. His sketch of it has since been superseded by the more regular examination of ensign Barralier, copied into the chart, where its form, situation, and extent will be best seen. The land upon its borders is, generally, low and level; but the hills rise as they recede into the country, and afford an agreeable prospect from the port. Wherever Mr. Bass landed, he found the soil to be a light, brown mould, which becomes peaty in the lowest grounds. Grass and ferns grow luxuriantly, and yet the country is but thinly timbered. Patches of brush wood are frequent, particularly on the eastern shore, where they are some miles in extent; and there the soil is a rich, vegetable mould. The island (since called Phillip Island) which shelters the port, is mostly barren, but is covered with shrubs and some diminutive trees.

Mr. Bass had great difficulty in procuring good water, arising, as he judged, from unusual dryness in the season; and the head of the winding creek on the east side of die port, was the sole place where it had not a brackish taste. The mud banks at the entrance of the creek may be passed at half tide by the largest boats; and within it, there is at all times a sufficient depth of water.

No more than four natives were seen, and their shyness prevented communication; the borders of the port, however, bore marks of having been much frequented, but the want of water seemed to have occasioned a migration to the higher lands. Kanguroos did not appear to be numerous; but black swans went by hundreds in a flight, and ducks, a small, but excellent kind, by thousands; and the usual wild fowl were in abundance.

The seventh week of absence from Port Jackson had expired, by the time Mr. Bass was ready to sail from Western Port; and the reduced state of his provisions forced him, very reluctantly, to turn the boat's head homeward.

Jan. 18. At daylight, he sailed with a fresh wind at west, which increased to a gale in the afternoon, with a heavy swell from the ​south-west; and he sought shelter behind a cape since named Cape Liptrap. Next morning, he ran over to the islands on the west side of Furneaux's Land; but was obliged to return to his former place of shelter, where a succession of gales kept him until the 26th. A quantity of petrels had been taken on the islands, and this week of detention was mostly employed in salting them for the homeward bound voyage.

At length, Mr. Bass was able to execute the project he had formed for the seven convicts. It was impossible to take them all into the boat; therefore to five, whom he set upon the main land, he gave a musket, half his ammunition, some hooks and lines, a light cooking kettle, and directions how to proceed in their course toward Port Jackson. The remaining two, one of whom was old and the other diseased, he took into the boat with the consent of the crew, who readily agreed to divide the daily bannock into nine with them. He then bore away, with a fresh wind at west, round Furneaux's Land.^[62]

From Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, Mr. Bass was detained by eastern gales from proceeding on his return. The boat lay in Sealers Cove, whilst he occupied the time in examining Wilson's Promontory. The height of this vast cape, though not such as would be considered extraordinary by seamen, is yet strikingly so from being contrasted with the low, sandy land behind it; and the firmness and durability of its structure make it worthy of being, what there was reason to believe it, the boundary point of a large strait, and a corner stone to the new continent. It is a lofty mass of hard granite, of about twenty miles long, by from six to fourteen in breadth. The soil upon it is shallow and barren; though the brush wood, dwarf gum trees, and some smaller vegetation, which mostly cover the rocks, give it a deceitful appearance to the eye of a distant observer.

​Looking from the top of the promontory to the northward, there is seen a single ridge of mountains, which comes down, out of the interior country, in a southern direction for the promontory; but sloping off gradually to a termination, it leaves a space of twelve or sixteen miles of low, sandy land between them. This low land is nearly intersected by a considerable lagoon on the west, and a large shoal bay, named Corner Inlet, on the east side; and it seemed probable, that this insulated mass of granite has been entirely surrounded by the sea at no very distant period of time.

There were no inhabitants on Wilson's Promontory; but, upon the sandy neck, some were seen near the borders of the inlets. The few birds were thought to have a sweeter note than those of Port Jackson.

Four small, barren islands lie seven or eight miles to the northeast, from Sealers Cove. The northernmost of them was visited, and found to be about one mile and a half in circuit, ascending gradually from the shore, to a hill of moderate elevation in the centre. There was neither tree nor shrub upon it; but the surface was mostly covered with tufts of coarse grass, amongst which the seals had every where made paths and the petrels their burrows. Mr. Bass was of opinion, that upon these islands, and those lying scattered round the promontory, which are all more or less frequented by seals, a commercial speculation on a small scale might be made with advantage. The place of shelter for the vessel would be Sealers Cove, on the main land; which, though small, and apparently exposed to east winds, would be found convenient and tolerably secure: fresh water is there abundant, and a sufficiency of wood at hand to boil down any quantity of blubber likely to be procured.

The observed latitude of the cove was 38° 50';^[63] and the rise of tide found to be ten or eleven feet, ten hours and a quarter after the ​moon passed over the meridian. The flood, after sweeping southwestward along the great eastern beach, strikes off for the Seal Islands and the promontory, and then runs westward, past it, at the rate of two or three miles an hour: the ebb tide sets to the eastward. " Whenever it shall be decided," says Mr. Bass in his journal, "that the opening between this and Van Diemen's Land is a strait, this rapidity of tide, and the long south-west swell that seems to he continually rolling in upon the coast to the westward, will then be accounted for."

Feb. 2, Mr. Bass sailed to Corner Inlet; and next day fell in with the five convicts, whom he put across to the long beach,^[64] but was himself unable to proceed until the 9th, in consequence of foul winds. Corner Inlet is little else than a large flat, the greater part of it being dry at low water. There is a long shoal on the outside of the entrance, which is to be avoided by keeping close to the shore of the promontory; but when the tide is out the depth, except in holes, no where exceeds a£ fathoms. A vessel drawing twelve or thirteen feet may lie safely under the high land, from which there are some large runs of most excellent water. The tide rises a foot less here than in Sealers Cove, and flows an hour later; arising, probably, from the flood leaving it in an eddy, by setting past, and not into the inlet.

Feb. 9, Corner Inlet was quitted with a strong south-west wind, and Mr. Bass steered E. by N. along the shore. At the distance of five miles, he passed the mouth of a shallow opening in the low sandy beach, from which a half-moon shoal stretches three miles to the south-eastward. Four or five miles further, a lesser opening of the same kind was passed; and by noon, when the latitude was 38° 34' (probably 38° 46'), he had arrived at the point of the long beach, which in going out, had been quitted to steer for the promontory. His general course from thence was N. E. by E. along the shore, until nine o'clock, when judging the coast must begin to trend more ​eastwardly, he again steered E. b. N.; the wind blowing a fresh gale at W. S. W., with a following sea. At daylight, Feb. 10, the beach was distant two miles, and trending parallel to the boat's course.

The western gale died away in the morning, and was succeeded by one from the eastward. The boat was in no condition to struggle against a foul wind; and Mr. Bass, being unwilling to return to Corner Inlet, ventured through a heavy surf and took refuge upon the beach; having first observed the latitude to be 37° 47' south.

The country at the back of the beach consisted of dried-up swamps and barren sand hills. Some natives came down with very little hesitation, and conducted themselves amicably: they appeared never to have seen or heard of white people before.

Feb. 11, the foul wind had ceased to blow, and the clouds threatened another gale from the south-west. So soon as there was sufficient daylight, the boat was launched, and at four the same afternoon anchored under the Ram Head. Mr. Bass was kept there till the 14th in the evening; when a strong breeze sprung up suddenly at south-west, and he sailed immediately, passing Cape Howe at ten o'clock. By noon of the 15th, he had reached Two-fold Bay, where the latitude was observed to be 36° 53' south;^[65] and having ascertained that Snug Cove, on its north-west side, afforded Atlas.
Plate VIII. shelter for shipping, he steered northward, and passed Mount Dromedary soon after midnight. At noon, Feb. 16, Mr. Bass landed upon a small island lying under the shore to the south-east of the Pigeon House, to examine a pole which he had before observed, and supposed might have been set up as a signal by shipwrecked people; but it proved to be nothing more than the dead stump of a tree, much taller and more straight than the others. He sailed next morning; but the wind hung so much in the north and east ​quarters that he was forced successively into Jervis Bay, Shoals Haven, and Port Hacking; and it was not until the 24th at night, that our adventurous discoverer terminated his dangerous and fatiguing voyage, by entering within the heads of Port Jackson.

It should be remembered, that Mr. Bass sailed with only six weeks provisions; but with the assistance of occasional supplies of petrels, fish, seal's flesh, and a few geese and black swans, and by abstinence, he had been enabled to prolong his voyage beyond eleven weeks. His ardour and perseverance were crowned, in despite of the foul winds which so much opposed him, with a degree of success not to have been anticipated from such feeble means. In three hundred miles of coast, from Port Jackson to the Ram Head, he added a number of particulars which had escaped captain Cook; and will always escape any navigator in a first discovery, unless he have the time and means of joining a close examination by boats, to what may be seen from the ship.

Our previous knowledge of the coast scarcely extended beyond the Ram Head; and there began the harvest in which Mr. Bass was ambitious to place the first reaping hook. The new coast was traced three hundred miles; and instead of trending southward to join itself to Van Diemen's Land, as captain Furneaux had supposed, he found it, beyond a certain point, to take a direction nearly opposite, and to assume the appearance of being exposed to the bufferings of an open sea. Mr. Bass, himself, entertained no doubt of the existence of a wide strait, separating Van Diemen's Land from New South Wales; and he yielded with the greatest reluctance to the necessity of returning, before it was so fully ascertained as to admit of no doubt in the minds of others. But he had the satisfaction of placing at the end of his new coast, an extensive and useful harbour, surrounded with a country superior to any other known in the southern parts of New South Wales.

A voyage expressly undertaken for discovery in an open boat, and in which six hundred miles of coast, mostly in a boisterous climate, ​was explored, has not, perhaps, its equal in the annals of maritime history. The public will award to its high spirited and able conductor, alas! now no more, an honourable place in the list of those whose ardour stands most conspicuous for the promotion of useful knowledge.

During the time that Mr. Bass was absent on his expedition in Flinders.
1798.the whale boat, the Francis schooner was again sent with captain Hamilton to the wreck of his ship the Sydney Cove; to bring up what remained of the cargo at Preservation Island, and the few people who were left in charge. On this occasion I was happy enough to obtain governor Hunter's permission to embark in the schooner; in order to make such observations serviceable to geography and navigation, as circumstances might afford; and Mr. Reed, the master, was directed to forward these views as far as was consistent with the main objects of his voyage.

Feb. 1, we sailed out of Port Jackson with a fair wind; and on (Atlas,
Plate VIII. the following noon, the observed latitude was 35° 43', being 14' south of account. I prevailed on Mr. Reed to stand in for the land, which was then visible through the haze; and at sunset, we reached into Bateman Bay.^[66] When the two rocky islets in the middle of the bay bore S. by W. ¼ W., a short mile, we had 8 fathoms water, and 6 fathoms a mile further in. The north head is steep with, a rock lying off it; but Bateman Bay falls back too little from the line of the coast to afford shelter against winds from the eastward. The margin of the bay is mostly a beach, behind which lie sandy, rocky hills of moderate elevation.

In the morning of the 3rd, we steered S. by W. along the shore; and saw, in latitude about 35° 58', and eight or nine miles from the ​south point of Bateman Bay, a small opening like a river running south-westward. It was here that Mr. Bass found a lagoon, with extensive salt swamps behind it, and observed the latitude 36° 00'. At noon, the east point of the opening bore N. ¼ W. seven miles, and the top of Mount Dromedary was visible above the haze; but no observation could be taken for the latitude.

Soon after noon, land was in sight to the S. S. E., supposed to be the Point Dromedary of captain Cook's chart; but, to my surprise, it proved to be an island not laid down, though lying near two leagues from the coast. The whole length of this island is about one mile and a quarter, north and south; the two ends are a little elevated, and produce small trees; but the sea appeared to break occasionally over the middle part. It is probably frequented by seals, since many were seen in the water whilst passing at the distance of two miles. This little island, I was afterwards informed, had been seen in the ship Surprise, and honoured with the name of Montague.

When captain Cook passed this part of the coast his distance from it was five leagues, and too great for its form to be accurately distinguished. There is little doubt that Montague Island was then seen, and mistaken for a point running out from under Mount Dromedary; for its distance from the mount, and bearing of about N. 75° E., will place it in 36° 17', or within one minute of the latitude assigned to the point in captain Cook's chart.

At six in the evening, Mount Dromedary was set at N. 40° W. five leagues. We steered S. S. W. until two in the morning, when the land was so near as made it necessary to alter the course; and at daybreak of the 4th, the shore was not more than three miles distant; it was moderately high and rocky, and at the back were many hummocky hills. Having been much upon deck in the night, I then retired to rest; and in the mean time, the schooner passed Mr. Bass's Two-fold Bay without its being noticed. At nine we came abreast of a smooth, sloping point which, from its appearance, and being unnoticed in captain Cook's chart, I named Green Cape. The ​shore, for about seven miles to the northward, lies N. 16° W., and is rocky and nearly straight, and well covered with wood: the Cape itself is grassy. On the south side, the coast trends west, three or four miles, into a sandy bight, and then southward to Cape Howe.

The latitude at noon was 37° 25', giving a current of twenty miles to the south, in two days; Green Cape bore N. by E. four leagues, and Cape Howe S. by W. five or six miles. Captain Cook lays down the last in 37° 26', in his chart; but the above observation places it in 37° 30½, which I afterwards found to agree with an observation of Mr. Bass, taken on the west side of the cape. The shore abreast of the schooner was between one and two miles distant; it was mostly beach, lying at the feet of sandy hillocks which extend from behind Green Cape to the pitch of Cape Howe. There were several fires upon the shore; and near one of them, upon an eminence, stood seven natives, silently contemplating the schooner as she passed.

On coming abreast of Cape Howe, the wind chopped round to the south-west, and the dark clouds which settled over the land concealed it from our view; we observed, however, that it trended to the west, but sought in vain for the small island mentioned by captain Cook as lying close off the Cape.^[67]

Our latitude was 38° 30' next day, or 38' south of account, although the wind had been, and was still from that direction. Mr. Reed then steered W. by N., to get in again with the coast; and on the following noon, we were in 38° 16' and, by account, 22' of longitude to the west of Point Hicks. The schooner was kept more northward in the afternoon; at four o'clock a moderately high, sloping hill was visible in the N. by W., and at seven a small rocky point on the beach bore N. 50° W. three or four leagues. The shore extended E. N. E. and W. S. W., and was low and sandy in front; but at ​some miles distance inland, there was a range of hills with wood upon them, though scarcely sufficient to hide their sandy surface.

At five in the morning of the 7th, the rocky point bore N. E. ½ N. six or seven miles, and the furthest visible part of the beach W. ½ S. The southern wind had died away in the night and a breeze springing up at N. E. by E., we steered before it along the same low, sandy shore as seen in the evening. The hills which arose at three or four leagues behind the beach, appeared to retire further back as we advanced westward; they would, however, be visible to a ship in fine weather, long before the front land could be seen.

The observed latitude at noon was 38° 17' south, and by two sets of distances of the sun east of the moon, reduced up from the morning, the longitude was 147° 37' east.^[68] The beach was six or seven miles distant, but after obtaining the noon's observation, we closed more in; and at two or three miles off, found a sandy bottom with 11 fathoms of line. Our course along the shore from two to four o'clock, was S. W. ¾ S., with a current in our favour. The beach then trended more to the west; but the breeze having veered to E. by N. and become strong, with much sea, it was considered too dangerous to follow it any longer. At five, the western and most considerable of two shallow-looking openings bore north-west, seven or eight miles; and at sunset, some high and remarkable land was perceived bearing S. W. by W., which proved to be the same discovered by Mr. Bass, and now bearing the name of Wilson's Promontory. It appeared, from a partial view given by a break in the clouds, as if cut in two, and the parts had been removed to some distance from each other: the gap was probably Sealers Cove.

The state of the weather, and the land to leeward, made it necessary to haul up south-eastward, close upon a wind. At day-break ​of the 8th, neither Wilson's Promontory nor any other land to the northward could be seen; but between the bearings of N. 84° and S. 63° E., six or eight miles distant, there was land rather high and irregular, with a cliffy shore; and a separate cluster of rocky islets bore south to S. 16° W., from three to five miles. We passed close to these last, at six o'clock, and perceived that the tide, which before had set to leeward, was then turned to the east: the moon had just before passed the meridian.

This small cluster consists of a steep island, near one mile in length, of two smaller round islets, and two or three rocks; one of which obtained the name of Judgment Rock, from its resemblance to an elevated seat. The higher and more considerable land to the eastward was seen, as we advanced, to divide itself also into several parts. This group is principally composed of three islands; and between the largest on the east and two others on the west, there appeared to be a deep channel. The other parts are rocks, which lie scattered mostly off the north-western island. These two clusters were called Kent's Groups, in honour of my friend captain William Kent, then commander of the Supply.

Our latitude at noon was 39° 38'; the steep island of the small group bore N. 50° W., and the passage through tjie larger islands N. 12° E., six or eight miles. This observation places the centre of the passage and of the large group, in about 39° 39' south; and from the lunar observations of the preceding day, brought on by log, (for unfortunately I had no timekeeper,) it should lie in longitude 147° 25' east. It is however, to be observed, that a fortuitous compensation of errors can alone render a dead reckoning correct in the way of such tides as we had experienced during the last twenty-four hours.^[69]

By keeping the wind to the southward, we came up with a pyramidal-shaped rock through which there is a chasm: it bore W. 8° S. ​one mile, at four o'clock, when the eastern island of Kent's large group was set at N. 17 E., five or six leagues. At six, the pyramid bore N. 38° W. five miles, and high land came in sight to the eastward: one piece extended from N. 75° to S. 87° E., apparently about five leagues distant, and the bluff, southern end of another range of hills bore S. 51° E., something further. Captain Hamilton supposed these to be parts of the land he had seen to the north-west of Preservation Island, where the wreck of his ship was lying; but whether they might belong to Furneaux's Islands or to the main, was unknown to him. He had always gone to, and returned from his island by the east side of this land; and the wind having veered northward, the schooner was kept as much to the north-east as possible, in order to pursue the same track.

We came up with a low point or island at eleven at night, when the wind died away. At six in the morning of Feb. 9., the northern land extended from N. 49° E. three leagues, to S. 47° E. four or five miles; the southern land bore S. 24° to 2° E. five or six leagues, and seemed to form a hilly, separate island; although, as low land was seen between them, the two may probably be connected: there was also a cliffy island bearing north, seven or eight miles. On a breeze springing up from south-west, our course was steered to pass close round the northern land; but finding much rippling water between it and two islands called the Sisters by captain Furneaux, we passed round them also, and then hauled to the southward along the eastern shore.

This northern land, or island as it proved to be, has some ridges of sandy-looking hills extending north and south between the two shores; and they are sufficiently high to be visible ten leagues from a ship's deck in clear weather. On the west side of the north point, the hills come nearly down to the water; but on the east side, there is two or three miles of flat land between their feet and the shore. The small trees and brush wood which partly covered the hills, seemed to shoot out from sand and rock; and if the vallies and low land ​within be not better than what appeared from the sea, the northern part of this great island is sterile indeed. The Sisters are not so high as some of the hills on the great island, and are less sandy: the small, cliffy island, which lies eight or nine miles, nearly west, from the inner Sister, had no appearance of sand.

Whilst passing round the north end of Furneaux's Islands, I experienced how little dependence was to be put in compass bearings, in such, at least, as were taken with my best instrument, the steering compass of the schooner. The south extreme of the inner Sister shut on with the north-west point of the great island at E. ¾ S., magnetic bearing; but after passing round, they shut, on the other side, at W. by N. ¼ N.; so that, to produce an agreement, it was necessary to allow half a point more east variation on the first, when the schooner's head was N. by W., than on the last, when it was S. S. E. In a second instance, the north end of the outer Sister opened from the inner one at N. E. ¾ N.; but they came on again at S. W. ½ W., making a difference of a whole point, when the head was N. by W. and E. S. E. These bearings were probably not correct within two or three degrees; but they showed that a change in the course steered produced an alteration in the compass.

The observed latitude at noon was 39° 50⅓', the centre of the outer Sister bore N. 34° W., nearly five leagues, and our distance from the sandy, eastern shore of the great island was about six miles. At two o'clock, we came up with an island of three miles in length, and nearly the same space distant from a sandy projection of the great island. The passage between them is niuch contracted by shoal spits of sand which run out from each side; and it seemed doubtful, whether the water were deep enough in any part of the channel to admit a ship. The form of the land here is somewhat remarkable: upon the low projection of the great island there are three pyramidal hills, which obtained the name of the Patriarchs, and stand apart from the more western high land; and upon the south-west end of the island opposite there is also a pyramid, which, ​with other hills near it, presents some resemblance to the Lion's Head and Rump at the Cape of Good Hope. This island and two rocky islets lying off its south-east end were afterwards called the Babel Isles. The largest is covered with tufted grass and brush wood; and the whole appeared to be much frequented by shags, sooty petrels, and other sea birds.

We had scarcely passed the Babel Isles, when the wind, which had been at W. by S., chopped round to the southward, with squally weather, and drove the schooner off to the north-east. In the night it became less unfavourable; and at noon of the 10th, our latitude was 40° 3½'; the isles bore N. 78° W., three or four leagues, and the high land of Cape Barren S. 13° to 34° W. Having a fair wind in the afternoon, we passed along the outskirts of the Bay of Shoals, without perceiving any breakers; but in the space between the great island and the land of Cape Barren there were many rocks, and a low island of three or four miles long, with a hill in the middle, lay at the entrance of the opening.

The high part of Cape-Barren Island, but particularly the peak, may be seen eleven, and perhaps more leagues from a ship's deck. The extremity of the cape is a low point, which runs out two miles east from the high land; and off this point lies a flat, rocky islet and a peaked rock. The shore is sandy on each side of the Cape point: it trends N. 40° W., for about five miles, on one side, and S. 49° W., past two sandy bights on the other, to a rocky projection on which are two whitish cones, shaped like rhinoceros' horns.

We steered south-westward, in the evening, round the Cape point, and were sufficiently close to hear the bellowing of the seals upon the islet. Arrived off Cone Point, the schooner was hauled off shore; and the wind becoming strong and unfavourable in the night, it was not until the evening of the 12th, that we got to anchor in Hamilton's Road, at the east end of Preservation Island. This road is sheltered from all winds, except between south and S. S. E.; and these do not ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/150 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/151 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/152 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/153 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/154 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/155 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/156 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/157 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/158 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/159 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/160 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/161 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/162 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/163 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/164 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/165 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/166 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/167 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/168 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/169 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/170 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/171 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/172 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/173 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/174 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/175 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/176 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/177 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/178 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/179 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/180 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/181 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/182 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/183 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/184 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/185 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/186 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/187 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/188 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/189 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/190 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/191 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/192 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/193 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/194 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/195 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/196 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/197 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/198 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/199 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/200 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/201 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/202 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/203 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/204 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/205 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/206 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/207 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/208 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/209 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/210 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/211 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/212 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/213 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/214 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/215 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/216 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/217 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/218 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/219 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/220 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/221 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/222 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/223 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/224 ​Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/225