which was the seine and a great quantity of linen, were laid out to dry; here they again set fire to the grass, entirely disregarding both threats and entreaties. We were therefore obliged to discharge a musket, loaded with small shot, at one of them, which drew blood at the distance of about forty yards, and thus putting them to flight, we extinguished the fire at this place before it had made much progress; but where the grass had been first kindled, it spread into the woods to a great distance. As the Indians were still in sight, I fired a musket, charged with ball, abreast of them among the mangroves, to convince them that they were not yet out of our reach upon hearing the ball they quickened their pace, and we soon lost sight of them. We thought they would now give us no more trouble; but soon after we heard their voices in the woods, and perceived that they came nearer and nearer. I set out, therefore, with Mr. Banks, and three or four more to meet them. When our parties came in sight of each other, they halted, except one old man, who came forward to meet us: at length he stopped, and having uttered some words, which we were very sorry we could not understand, he went back to his companions, and the whole body slowly retreated. We found means, however, to seize some of their darts, and continued to follow them about a mile: we then sat down upon some rocks, from which we could observe their motions, and they also sat down at about a hundred yards' distance. After a short time, the old man again advanced towards us, carrying in his hand a lance without a point; he stopped several times, at different distances, and spoke; we answered by beckoning, and making such signs of amity as we could devise; upon which the messenger of peace, as we supposed him to be, turned and spoke aloud to his companions, who then set up their lances

against a tree, and advanced towards us in a friendly manner : when they came up, we returned the darts or lances that we had taken from them, and we perceived with great satisfaction that this rendered the reconciliation complete. We found in this party four persons whom we had never seen before, who as usual were introduced to us by name; but the man who had been wounded in the attempt to burn our nets and linen was not among them; we knew, however, that he could not be dangerously hurt, by the distance at which the shot reached him. We made all of them presents of such trinkets as we had about us, and they walked back with us towards the ship. As we went along, they told us, by signs, that they would not set fire to the grass any more; and we distributed among them some musketballs, and endeavoured to make them understand their use and effect. When they came abreast of the ship, they sat down, but could not be prevailed upon to come on board; we therefore left them, and in about two hours they went away, soon after which we perceived the woods on fire at about two miles' distance. If this accident had happened a very little while sooner, the consequence might have been dreadful; for our powder had been aboard but a few days, and the store-tent, with many valuable things which it contained, had not been removed many hours. We had no idea of the fury with which grass would burn in this hot climate, nor consequently of the difficulty of extinguishing it; but we determined that if it should ever again be necessary for us to pitch our tents in such a situation, our first measure should be to clear the ground round us.

DEPARTURE FROM THE COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

Having got everything on board the ship, new berthed her, and let her swing with the tide; at night the master returned with the discouraging account that there was no passage for the ship to the northward.

The next morning, at low water, I went and sounded and buoyed the bar, the ship being now ready for sea.

At six o'clock in the morning of Friday, 3d August, we made a second unsuccessful attempt to warp the ship out of the harbour; but at five o'clock in the morning of the 4th, our efforts had a better effect, and about seven we got once more under sail, with a light air from the land, which soon died away, and was followed by the sea-breezes from S.E. by S., with which we stood off to sea, having the pinnace ahead, which was ordered to keep sounding continually. To the harbour which we had now left, I gave the name of

ENDEAVOUR RIVER.

ENTANGLED AMONG THE SHOALS.

In the afternoon of the 4th, we had a gentle breeze at S.E., and clear weather; but as I did not intend to sail till the morning, I sent all the boats to the reef to get what turtle and shellfish they could. At low-water I went up to the mast-head, and took a view of the shoals, which made a very threatening appearance: I could see several at a remote distance, and part of many of them was above water.

In the morning of the 6th we had a strong gale, so that we