the land to the south of the islands were, or were not, a part of Van Diemen's Land; and I therefore requested of Mr. Reed to make a stretch that way. At noon our latitude was 40° 44 2/3', and the peak of Cape Barren bore N. 13° E.; an island which had been visited by the Sydney-Cove's people, and was represented to be a breeding place for swans, bore from N. 68° W. to west, five or six miles, and there were some smaller islets behind it. The land lying two or three miles more to the south is sandy and low in front, but ascends in gently rising hills as it retreats into the country. Its general appearance was very different from that of Furneaux's Islands, the lower hills being covered with green grass, interspersed with clumps of wood, and the back land well clothed with timber trees.
We stretched on until the land was seen beyond 40° 50'; and then veered to the northward. In this latitude, captain Furneaux says, "the land trenches away to the westward;"* and as he traced the coast from the south end of the country to this part, there could no longer be a doubt that it was joined to the land discovered by Tasman in 1642. The smokes which had constantly been seen rising from it showed that there were inhabitants; and this, combined with the circumstance of there being none upon the islands, seemed to argue a junction of Van Diemen's Land with New South Wales; for it was difficult to suppose, that men should have reached the more distant land, and not have attained the islands intermediately situated; nor was it admissible that, having reached them, they had perished for want of food. On the other hand, the great strength of the tides setting westward, past the islands, could only be caused by some exceedingly deep inlet, or by a passage through to the southern Indian Ocean. These contradictory circumstances were very embarrassing; and the schooner not being placed at my disposal, I was obliged, to my great regret, to leave this important geographical question undecided.
[* Cook's Second Voyage, Vol. I. page 114.]
At the time we veered to the northward, the coast of Van Diemen's Land was about three miles distant, and the furthest extreme, a low point, bore S. 15° E. two or three leagues. On repassing Cape-Barren Point at four o'clock. I obtained two sets of distances of the sun west of the moon, to pair with others of the sun on the east side, taken on the 10th, also within sight of the Cape. The mean result, freed from the errors of the tables, gave its longitude 148° 20' E; being 14' more than is assigned to it by captain Furneaux, but 5½' less than what appears to be its real situation.
Nothing worthy of notice occurred in our passage back to Port Jackson: we made Hat Hill on March 7, and on the 9th, anchored in Sydney Cove.
Mr. Bass had been returned a fortnight from his expedition in the whale boat; and he communicated all his notes and observations to be added to my chart. There seemed to want no other proof of the existence of a passage between New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, than that of sailing positively through it; but however anxious I was to obtain this proof, the gratification of my desire was required to be suspended by a voyage to Norfolk Island in the Reliance.
FLINDERS and BASS. 1798.
In September following, His Excellency Governor Hunter had the goodness to give me the Norfolk, a colonial sloop of twenty-five tons, with authority to penetrate behind Furneaux's Islands; and should a strait be found, to pass through it and return by the south end of Van Diemen's Land; making such examinations and surveys on the way as circumstances might permit. Twelve weeks were allowed for the performance of this service, and provisions for that time were put on board; the rest of the equipment was completed by the friendly care of Captain Waterhouse of the Reliance.
I had the happiness to associate my friend Bass in this new expedition, and to form an excellent crew of eight volunteers from the king's ships; but a time keeper, that essential instrument to accuracy in nautical surveys, it was still impossible to obtain.
My report of the seals at Furneaux's Islands had induced Messrs. Bishop and Simpson, the commander and supracargo of the snow Nautilus, to prepare their vessel for a sealing speculation to that quarter; and on Oct. 7, we sailed out of Port Jackson together.*
[* Mr. Bass' Journal of observations upon the lands, etc. discovered or seen in this voyage, has been published by colonel Collins, in his Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. II. page 143 et seq.; his observations will, therefore, be generally omitted in this account.]
(Atlas, Pl. VIII.)
The wind being fair, we passed Hat Hill at four in the afternoon, and next morning, made Mount Dromedary. I took this opportunity of passing between Montague Isle and the main; but the depth of water being uncertain, the Nautilus was desired by signal not to follow. There was no bottom with 13, and afterwards with 20 fathoms, at a mile distance from the island; and the passage seemed perfectly free from danger, and is five or six miles wide. Mount Dromedary, from which the island lies E by N ½ N., is the highest land upon this part of the coast; its elevation being, I think, not less than 3000 feet. The top is about three miles long, and the south end is somewhat the most elevated part; it is covered with wood, even there, but still more so down the sides; the shore under it is mostly a white, sandy beach.
(Atlas, Pl. VI.)
At noon the centre of the mountain bore N.N.W. four leagues; but the haziness of the weather prevented an observation being taken for the latitude, as it had before done when passing in the Francis*. We then hauled further off the coast, with the Nautilus in company, and being near the latitude of Cape Howe, at ten o'clock, lay to until daylight, for the purpose of obtaining a good departure; but on the 9th, the wind had veered to south-west, and the weather having a bad appearance, we bore up for Two-fold Bay. The course after passing Green Cape, was N. 16° W. seven miles to Haycock Point, and N. 44° W. three or four miles from thence to the south point of entrance to the bay; the shore being all along bold, and for the most part rocky. From the south point, which may be known by its reddish appearance and having a steep rock lying off it, we steered for Snug Cove, on the north-west side of the bay; and there anchored in 3½ fathoms, sandy bottom, at something more than a cable's length from the small beach, and the same distance from the two points which bound the cove. In this situation, the outer red point was hidden by Snug-cove Head; and further out, in 5 fathoms, where the Nautilus anchored, the head and point were in a line.
[* The highest part of Mount Dromedary appears to lie in 36° 19' south, and long
itude 150° 11' east; or about 2' south and 11' east of its position in captain Cook's chart.]
In order to make some profit of this foul wind, Mr Bass landed early next morning to examine the country, whilst I went with Mr Simpson to commence a survey of Two-fold Bay. In the way from Snug Cove, through the wood, to the long northern beach, where I proposed to measure a base line, our attention was suddenly called by the screams of three women, who took up their children and ran off in great consternation. Soon afterward a man made his appearance. He was of a middle age, unarmed, except with a whaddie, or wooden scimitar, and came up to us seemingly with careless confidence. We made much of him, and gave him some biscuit; and he in return presented us with a piece of gristly fat, probably of whale. This I tasted; but watching an opportunity to spit it out when he should not be looking, I perceived him doing precisely the same thing with our biscuit, whose taste was probably no more agreeable to him, than his whale was to me. Walking onward with us to the long beach, our new acquaintance picked up from the grass a long wooden spear, pointed with bone; but this he hid a little further on, making signs that he should take it on his return. The commencement of our trigonometrical operations was seen by him with indifference, if not contempt; and he quitted us, apparently satisfied that, from people who could thus occupy themselves seriously, there was nothing to be apprehended.
We measured 116 chains along the north beach, and having taken the necessary angles, returned to Snug Cove for the purpose of observing the latitude; but the thick squalls, which were continually passing over from the south-west, prevented a sight of the sun. The survey was continued in the afternoon;
