In The Course
Of The Day The Officer Returned, And Brought Intelligence That The Ships
Were The Boussole And Astrolabe, Sent Out By Order Of The King Of France,
And Under The Command Of Monsieur De Perrouse.
The astonishment of the French
at seeing us, had not equalled that we had experienced, for it appeared,
that
In the course of their voyage they had touched at Kamschatka,
and by that means learnt that our expedition was in contemplation.
They dropped anchor the next morning, just as we had got under weigh
to work out of the Bay, so that for the present nothing more than salutations
could pass between us.
Before I quit Botany Bay, I shall relate the observations we were enabled
to make during our short stay there; as well as those which our subsequent
visits to it from Port Jackson enabled us to complete.
The Bay is very open, and greatly exposed to the fury of the S.E. winds, which,
when they blow, cause a heavy and dangerous swell. It is of prodigious extent,
the principal arm, which takes a S.W. direction, being not less,
including its windings, than twenty four miles from the capes which form
the entrance, according to the report of the French officers,
who took uncommon pains to survey it. At the distance of a league from
the harbour's mouth is a bar, on which at low water, not more than
fifteen feet are to be found. Within this bar, for many miles up the S.W.
arm, is a haven, equal in every respect to any hitherto known, and in which
any number of ships might anchor, secured from all winds.
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