At Seven O'clock In The
Evening, We Anchored In Seven Fathoms Water, With A Small Bower, And Moored
With The
Coasting anchor to the westward, the north point of the bay N.N.E.
1/2 E. (which we take
To be Tasman's Head), and the easternmost point
(which we named Penguin Island, from a curious one we caught there) N.E. by
E 3/4 E.; the watering-place W. 1/2 N.; about one mile from the shore on
each side; Maria's Island, which is about five or six leagues off, shut in
with both points; so that you are quite land-locked in a most spacious
harbour.
We lay here five days, which time was employed in wooding and watering
(which is easily got), and over-hauling the rigging. We found the country
very pleasant; the soil a black, rich, though thin one; the sides of the
hills covered with large trees, and very thick, growing to a great height
before they branch off. They are all of the evergreen kind, different from
any I ever saw; the wood is very brittle, and easily split; there is a very
little variety of sorts, having seen but two. The leaves of one are long
and narrow; and the seed (of which I got a few) is in the shape of a
button, and has a very agreeable smell. The leaves of the other are like
the bay, and it has a seed like the white thorn, with an agreeable spicy
taste and smell. Out of the trees we cut down for fire-wood, there issued
some gum, which the surgeon called gum-lac. The trees are mostly burnt or
scorched, near the ground, occasioned by the natives setting fire to the
under-wood, in the most frequented places; and by these means they have
rendered it easy walking. The land birds we saw, are a bird like a raven;
some of the crow kind, black, with the tips of the feathers of the tail and
wings white, their bill long and very sharp; some paroquets; and several
kinds of small birds. The sea-fowl are ducks, teal, and the sheldrake. I
forgot to mention a large white bird, that one of the gentlemen shot, about
the size of a large kite of the eagle kind. As for beasts, we saw but one,
which was an opossom; but we observed the dung of some, which we judged to
be of the deer kind. The fish in the bay are scarce; those we caught were
mostly sharks, dog-fish, and a fish called by the seamen nurses, like the
dog-fish, only full of small white spots; and some small fish not unlike
sprats. The lagoons (which are brackish) abound with trout, and several
other sorts of fish, of which we caught a few with lines, but being much
encumbered with stumps of trees, we could not haul the seine.
While we lay here, we saw several smokes and large fires, about eight or
ten miles in shore to the northward, but did not see any of the natives;
though they frequently come into this bay, as there were several wigwams or
huts, where we found some bags and nets made of grass, in which I imagine
they carry their provisions and other necessaries.
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