so low a flat that from the deck it could scarcely be seen. In crossing this bay, our depth of water was from thirty to twenty-two fathom, with a white sandy bottom. At noon, we were about three leagues from the shore, in latitude 25° 34' S., longitude 206° 45′ W.: Double Island Point bore S. W. and the northermost land in sight N. E. This part of the coast, which is of a moderate height, is more barren than any we had seen, and the soil more sandy. With our glasses we could discover that the sands, which lay in great patches of many acres, were moveable, and that some of them had not been long in the place they possessed; for we saw in several parts, trees half buried, the tops of which were still green; and in others, the naked trunks of such as the sand had surrounded long enough to destroy. In other places the woods appeared to be low and shrubby, and we saw no signs of inhabitants. Two water-snakes swam by the ship: They were beautifully spotted, and in every respect like land-snakes, except that their tails were broad and flat, probably to serve them instead of fins in swimming. In the morning of this day, the variation was 8° 20′ E., and in the evening, 8° 36′. During the night, we continued our course to the northward, with a light breeze from the land, being distant from it between two and three leagues, and having from twenty-three to twenty-seven fathom, with a fine sandy bottom.

At noon on the 19th, we were about four miles from the' land, with only thirteen fathom. Our latitude was 25° 4′, and the northermost land in sight bore N. 21 W., distant eight miles. At one o'clock, being still four miles distant from the shore, but having seventeen fathom water, we passed a black bluff head, or point of land, upon which a great number of the natives were assembled, and which therefore I called Indian Head: it lies in latitude 25° 3'. About four miles N. by W. of this head, is another very like it, from whence the land trends away somewhat more to the westward: Next to the sea it is low and sandy, and behind it nothing was to be seen, even from the mast-head. Near Indian Head we saw more of the natives, and upon the neighbouring shore fires by night, and smoke by day. We kept to the northward all night, at the distance of from four miles to four leagues from the shore, and with a depth of water from seventeen to thirty-four fathom. At daybreak, the northermost land bore from us W.S.W. and

seemed

seemed to end in a point, from which we discovered a reef running out to the northward as far as we could see. We had hauled our wind to the westward before it was light, and continued the course till we saw the breakers upon our lee-bow. We now edged away N.W. and N.N.W. along the east side of the shoal, from two to one mile distant, having regular soundings from thirteen to seven fathom, with a fine sandy bottom. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 20° 26', which was thirteen miles to the northward of the log: We judged the extreme point of the shoal to bear from us about N.W. and the point from which it seemed to run out bore S. W., distant twenty miles. This point I named Sandy Cape, from two very large patches of white sand which lay upon it. It is sufficiently high to be seen at the distance of twelve leagues, in clear weather, and lies in latitude 24° 45', longitude 206° 51: The land trends from it S.W. as far as can be seen. We kept along the east side of the shoal till two in the afternoon, when, judging that there was a sufficient depth of water upon it to allow passage for the ship, I sent the boat a-head to sound, and upon her making the signal for more than five fathom, we hauled our wind, and stood over the tail of it in six fathom. At this time we were in latitude 24° 22′, and Sandy Cape bore S. E., distant eight leagues; but the direction of the shoal is nearest N.N.W. and S.S.E. It is remarkable that when on board the ship we had six fathom, the boat, which was scarcely a quarter of a mile to the southward, had little more than five, and that immediately after six fathom we had thirteen, and then twenty, as fast as the man could cast the lead: From these circumstances, I conjectured that the west side of the shoal was steep. This shoal I called the Break Sea Spit, because we had now smooth water, and to the southward of it we had always a high sea from the S.E. At six in the evening, the land of Sandy Cape extended from S. 17 E. to S. 27 E., at the distance of eight leagues; our depth of water was twenty-three fathom: With the same soundings we stood to the westward all night. At seven in the morning, we saw, from the mast-head, the land of Sandy Cape bearing S.E.

E., distant about thirteen leagues: At nine, we discovered land to the westward, and soon after saw smoke in several places. Our depth of water was now decreased to seventeen fathom, and by noon we had no more than thirteen,

though

though we were seven leagues from the land, which extended from S. by W. to W.N.W. Our latitude at this time was 24° 28' S. For a few days past we had seen several of the sea-birds called boobies, not having met with any of them before; last night a small flock of them passed the ship, and went away to the N.W.; and in the morning, from about half an hour before sun-rise, to half an hour after, flights of them were continually coming from the N.N.W. and flying to the S.S.E. nor was one of them seen to fly in any other direction; we therefore conjectured that there was a lagoon, river, or inlet of shallow water, in the bottom of the deep bay, to the southward of us, whither these birds resorted to feed in the day, and that not far to the northward there were some islands to which they repaired in the night. To this bay I gave the name of Hervey's Bay, in honour of Captain Hervey. In the afternoon we stood in for the land, steering S.W. with a gentle breeze at S.E. till four o'clock, when, being in latitude 24° 36', about two leagues from the shore, and having nine fathom water, we bore away along the coast N.W. by W. and at the same time could see land extending to the S.S.E. about eight leagues. Near the sea the land is very low, but within there are some lofty hills, all thickly clothed with wood. While we were running along the shore, we shallowed our water from nine to seven fathom, and at one time we had but six, which determined us to anchor for the night.

At six in the morning we weighed, with a gentle breeze from the southward, and steered N.W. W. edging in for the land till we got within two miles of it, with water from seven to eleven fathom; we then steered N.N.W. as the land lay, and at noon, our latitude was 24° 19′. We continued in the same course, at the same distance, with from twelve fathom to seven, till five in the evening, when we were abreast of the south point of a large open bay, in which I intended to anchor. During this course, we discovered with our glasses that the land was covered with palm-nut trees, which we had not seen from the time of our leaving the islands within the tropic; we also saw two men walking along the shore, who did not condescend to take the least notice of us. In the evening, having hauled close upon a wind, and made two or three trips, we anchored about eight o'clock in five fathom, with a fine sandy

bottom.

bottom. The south point of the two miles, the north point N.W. distance from the shore.

bay bore E. S. distant N. and about the same

Early the next morning I went ashore, with a party of men, in order to examine the country, accompanied by Mr Banks, Dr Solander, the other gentlemen, and Tupia: The wind blew fresh, and we found it so cold, that being at some distance from the shore, we took our cloaks as a necessary equipment for the voyage. We landed a little within the south point of the bay, where we found a channel leading into a large lagoon: This channel I proceeded to examine, and found three fathom water till I got about a mile up it, where I met with a shoal, upon which there was little more than one fathom; but having passed over it, I had three fathom again. The entrance of this channel lies close to the south point of the bay, being formed by the shore on the east, and on the west by a large spit of sand: It is about a quarter of a mile broad, and lies in S. by W. In this place there is room for a few ships to lie in great security, and a small stream of fresh water; I would have rowed into the lagoon, but was prevented by shallows. We found several bogs, and swamps of salt water, upon which, and by the sides of the lagoon, grows the true mangrove, such as is found in the West Indies, and the first of the kind that we had met with. In the branches of these mangroves there were many nests of a remarkable kind of ant, that was as green as grass: When the branches were disturbed they came out in great numbers, and punished the offender by a much sharper bite than ever we had felt from the same kind of animal before. Upon these mangroves also we saw small green caterpillars in great numbers: Their bodies were thick set with hairs, and they were ranged upon the leaves side by side like a file of soldiers, to the number of twenty or thirty together: When we touched them, we found that the hair of their bodies had the quality of a nettle, and gave us a much more acute, though less durable pain. The country here is manifestly worse than about Botany Bay: The soil is dry and sandy, but the sides of the hills are covered with trees, which grow separately, without underwood. We found here the tree that yields a

gum

3 For some remarks on these creatures, see the Section which treats of this country in general.-E.

gum like the sanguis draconis; but it is somewhat different from the trees of the same kind which we had seen before, for the leaves are longer, and hang down like those of the weeping willow. We found also much less gum upon them, which is contrary to the established opinion, that the hotter the climate, the more gums exude. Upon a plant also which yielded a yellow gum, there was less than upon the same kind of plant in Botany Bay. Among the shoals and sandbanks we saw many large birds, some in particular of the same kind that we had seen in Botany Bay, much bigger than swans, which we judged to be pelicans; but they were so shy that we could not get within gun-shot of them. Upon the shore we saw a species of the bustard, one of which we shot; it was as large as a turkey, and weighed seventeen pounds and a half. We all agreed that this was the best bird we had eaten since we left England; and in honour of it we called this inlet Bustard Bay. It lies in latitude 24° 4', longitude 208° 18′. The sea seemed to abound with fish; but unhappily, we tore our seine all to pieces at the first haul: Upon the mud banks, under the mangroves, we found innumerable oysters of various kinds; among others the hammer-oyster, and a large proportion of small pearl-oysters: If in deeper water there is equal plenty of such oysters at their full growth, a pearl fishery might certainly be established here to very great advantage.

The people who were left on board the ship said, that while we were in the woods about twenty of the natives came down to the beach, abreast of her, and having looked at her some time, went away; but we that were ashore, though we saw smoke in many places, saw no people: The smoke was at places too distant for us to get to them by land, except one, to which we repaired. We found ten small fires still burning within a few paces of each other; but the people were gone: We saw near them several vessels of bark, which we supposed to have contained water, and some shells and fish-bones, the remains of a recent meal. We saw also, lying upon the ground, several pieces of soft bark, about the length and breadth of a man, which

we

There are several trees which yield a resinous substance, resembling what is called dragon's blood, as the Pterocarpus draco, the Dracaena draco, the Calamus draco, the Dalbergia monetaria, &c. Some observations on the botany of New Holland are reserved for a future page.-E.