Our people went ashore as usual, and with them Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, who, in search of plants, repaired to the woods. Our men, who were employed in cutting grass, being the farthest removed from the main body of the people, a company of fourteen or fifteen Indians advanced towards them, having sticks in their hands, which, according to the report of the serjeant of marines, shone like a musket. The grass-cutters, upon seeing them approach, drew together, and repaired to the main body. The Indians, being encouraged by this appearance of a flight, pursued them; they stopped, however, when they were within about a furlong of them, and after shouting several times, went back into the woods. In the evening they came again in the same manner, stopped at the same distance, shouted, and retired. I followed them myself, alone and unarmed, for a considerable way along the shore, but I could not prevail upon them to stop. This day Mr. Green took the sun's meridian altitude a little within the south entrance of the bay, which gave the latitude 34° S.; the variation of the needle was 11 3' E.

Early the next morning, the body of Forby Sutherland, one of our seamen, who died the evening before, was buried near the watering-place; and from this incident I called the south point of this bay Sutherland Point. This day we resolved to make an excursion into the country. Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, myself, and seven others, properly accoutred for the expedition, set out, and repaired first to the huts near the watering-place, whither some of the natives continued every day to resort; and though the little presents which we had left there before had not yet been taken away, we left others of somewhat more value, consisting of cloth, looking-glasses, combs, and beads, and then went up into the country. We found the soil to be either swamp or light sand, and the face of the country finely diversified by wood and lawn. The trees are tall, straight, and without underwood, standing at such a distance from each other, that the whole country, at least where the swamps do not render it incapable of cultivation, might be cultivated without cutting down one of them. Between the trees the ground is covered with grass, of which there is great abundance, growing in tufts about as big as can well be grasped in the hand, which stand very close to each other. We saw many houses of the inhabitants, and places where they had slept upon the grass without any shelter; but we saw only one of the people, who, the moment he discovered us, ran away. At all these places we left presents, hoping that at length they might produce confidence and good-will. We had a transient and imperfect view of a quadruped, about as big as a rabbit. Mr. Banks's greyhound, which was with us, got sight of it, and would probably have caught it, but the moment he set off he lamed himself against a stump which lay concealed in the long grass. We afterwards saw the dung of an animal which fed upon grass, and which we judged could not be less than a deer; and the footsteps of another, which was clawed like a dog, and seemed to be about as big as a wolf. We also tracked a small animal, whose foot resembled that of a polecat or weasel. The trees over our head abounded with birds of various kinds, among which were many of exquisite beauty, particularly loriquets and cockatoos, which flew in flocks of several scores together. We found some wood which had been felled by the natives with a blunt instrument, and some that had been barked. The trees were not of many species; among others there was a large one which yielded a gum not unlike the sanguis draconis; and in some of them steps had been cut at about three feet distant from each other, for the convenience of climbing them.

From this excursion we returned between three and four o'clock, and having dined on board, we went ashore again at the watering-place, where a party of men were filling casks. Mr. Gore, the second lieutenant, had been sent out in the morning with a boat to dredge for oysters at the head of the bay; when he had performed this service, he went ashore, and having taken a midshipman with him, and sent the boat away, set out to join the waterers by land. In his way he fell in with a body of two-and-twenty Indians, who followed him, and were often not more than twenty yards distant. When Mr. Gore perceived them so near, he stopped, and faced about, upon which they stopped also; and when he went on again, continued their pursuit. They did not, however, attack him, though they were all armed with lances, and he and the midshipman got in safety to the watering-place. The Indians, who had slackened their pursuit when they came in sight of the main body of our people, halted at about the distance of a quarter of a mile, where they

stood still. Mr. Monkhouse and two or three of the waterers took it into their head to march up to them; but seeing the Indians keep their ground till they came pretty near them, they were seized with a sudden fear very common to the rash and fool-hardy, and made a hasty retreat. This step, which insured the danger that it was taken to avoid, encouraged the Indians, and four of them running forward, discharged their lances at the fugitives, with such force, that flying no less than forty yards, they went beyond them. As the Indians did not pursue, our people, recovering their spirits, stopped to collect the lances when they came up to the place where they lay; upon which the Indians, in their turn, began to retire. Just at this time I came up, with Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, and Tupia; and being desirous to convince the Indians that we were neither afraid of them, nor intended them any mischief, we advanced towards them, making signs of expostulation and entreaty; but they could not be persuaded to wait till we could come up. Mr. Gore told us, that he had seen some of them up the bay, who had invited him by signs to come on shore, which he, certainly with great prudence, declined.

In

The morning of the next day was so rainy, that we were all glad to stay on board. the afternoon, however, it cleared up, and we made another excursion along the sea-coast to the southward: we went ashore, and Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander gathered many plants; but besides these we saw nothing worthy of notice. At our first entering the woods, we met with three of the natives, who instantly ran away: more of them were seen by some of the people, but they all disappeared, with great precipitation, as soon as they found that they were discovered. By the boldness of these people at our first landing, and the terror that seized them at the sight of us afterwards, it appears that they were sufficiently intimidated by our fire-arms: not that we had any reason to think the people much hurt by the small-shot which we were obliged to fire at them, when they attacked us at our coming out of the boat; but they had probably seen the effects of them, from their lurkingplaces, upon the birds that we had shot. Tupia, who was now become a good marksman, frequently strayed from us to shoot parrots; and he had told us, that while he was thus employed, he had once met with nine Indians, who, as soon as they perceived he saw them, ran from him, in great confusion and terror.

The next day, twelve canoes, in each of which was a single Indian, came towards the watering-place, and were within half a mile of it a considerable time: they were employed in striking fish, upon which, like others that we had seen before, they were so intent, that they seemed to regard nothing else. It happened, however, that a party of our people were out a-shooting near the place, and one of the men, whose curiosity might at length, perhaps, be roused by the report of the fowling-pieces, was observed by Mr. Banks to haul up his canoe upon the beach, and go towards the shooting-party. In something more than a quarter of an hour, he returned, launched his canoe, and went off in her to his companions. This incident makes it probable that the natives acquired a knowledge of the destructive power of our fire-arms, when we knew nothing of the matter; for this man was not seen by any of the party whose operations he had reconnoitred.

While Mr. Banks was gathering plants near the watering-place, I went with Dr. Solander and Mr. Monkhouse to the head of the bay, that I might examine that part of the country, and make farther attempts to form some connexion with the natives. In our way we met with eleven or twelve small canoes, with each a man in it, probably the same that were afterwards abreast of the shore, who all made into shoal water upon our approach. We met other Indians on shore the first time we landed, who instantly took to their canoes, and paddled away. We went up the country to some distance, and found the face of it nearly the same with that which has been described already, but the soil was much richer; for, instead of sand, I found a deep black mould, which I thought very fit for the production of grain of any kind. In the woods we found a tree which bore fruit that in colour and shape resembled a cherry: the juice had an agreeable tartness, though but little flavour. found also interspersed some of the finest meadows in the world: some places, however, were rocky, but these were comparatively few: the stone is sandy, and might be used with advantage for building. When we returned to the boat, we saw some smoke upon another part of the coast, and went thither in hopes of meeting with the people, but at our approach,

P

these also ran away. We found six small canoes, and six fires very near the beach, with some muscles roasting upon them, and a few oysters lying near: by this we judged that there had been one man in each canoe, who having picked up some shell-fish, had come ashore to eat it, and made his separate fire for that purpose. We tasted of their cheer, and left them in return some strings of beads, and other things which we thought would please them. At the foot of a tree in this place we found a small well of fresh water, supplied by a spring; and the day being now far spent, we returned to the ship. In the evening, Mr. Banks made a little excursion with his gun, and found such a number of quails resembling those in England, that he might have shot as many as he pleased; but his object was variety and not number.

The next morning, as the wind would not permit me to sail, I sent out several parties into the country to try again whether some intercourse could not be established with the natives. A midshipman, who belonged to one of these parties, having straggled a long way from his companions, met with a very old man and woman, and some little children; they were sitting under a tree by the water-side, and neither party saw the other till they were close together. The Indians showed signs of fear, but did not attempt to run away. The man happened to have nothing to give them but a parrot that he had shot; this he offered, but they refused to accept it, withdrawing themselves from his hand either through fear or aversion. His stay with them was but short, for he saw several canoes near the beach fishing, and being alone, he feared they might come ashore and attack him. He said, that these people were very dark-coloured, but not black; that the man and woman appeared to be very old, being both grey-headed; that the hair of the man's head was bushy, and his beard long and rough; that the woman's hair was cropped short; and both of them were stark-naked. Mr. Monkhouse, the surgeon, and one of the men, who were with another party near the watering-place, also strayed from their companions, and as they were coming out of a thicket, observed six Indians standing together, at the distance of about fifty yards. One of them pronounced a word very loud, which was supposed to be a signal, for a lance was immediately thrown at him out of the wood, which very narrowly missed him. When the Indians saw that the weapon had not taken effect, they ran away with the greatest precipitation; but on turning about towards the place whence the lance had been thrown, he saw a young Indian, whom he judged to be about nineteen or twenty years old, come down from a tree, and he also ran away with such speed as made it hopeless to follow him. Mr. Monkhouse was of opinion that he had been watched by these Indians in his passage through the thicket, and that the youth had been stationed in the tree to discharge the lance at him, upon a signal, as he should come by; but however this be, there could be no doubt but that he was the person who threw the lance.

In the afternoon, I went myself with a party over to the north shore; and while some of our people were hauling the seine, we made an excursion a few miles into the country, proceeding afterwards in the direction of the coast. We found this place without wood, and somewhat resembling our moors in England; the surface of the ground, however, was covered with a thin brush of plants about as high as the knees. The hills near the coast are low, but others rise behind them, increasing by a gradual ascent to a considerable distance, with marshes and morasses between. When we returned to the boat, we found that our people had caught with the seine a great number of small fish, which are well known in the West Indies, and which our sailors call leather-jackets, because their skin is remarkably thick. I had sent the second-lieutenant out in the yawl a-striking, and when we got back to the ship, we found that he also had been very successful. He had observed that the large sting-rays, of which there is great plenty in the bay, followed the flowing tide into very shallow water; he therefore took the opportunity of flood, and struck several in not more than two or three feet water: one of them weighed no less than two hundred and forty pounds after his entrails were taken out. The next morning, as the wind still continued northerly, I sent out the yawl again, and the people struck one still larger; for when his entrails were taken out, he weighed three hundred and thirty-six pounds.

The great quantity of plants which Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander collected in this place, induced me to give it the name of BOTANY BAY. It is situated in the latitude of 34° S.,

longitude 208° 37' W. It is capacious, safe, and convenient, and may be known by the land on the sea-coast, which is nearly level, and of a moderate height; in general higher than it is farther inland, with steep rocky cliff's next the sea, which have the appearance of a long island lying close under the shore. The harbour lies about the middle of this land, and in approaching it from the southward, is discovered before the ship comes abreast of it; but from the northward it is not discovered so soon. The entrance is a little more than a quarter of a mile broad, and lies in W.N.W. To sail into it, the southern shore should be kept on board till the ship is within a small bare island which lies close under the north shore; within this island the deepest water on that side is seven fathom, shallowing to five a good way up. At a considerable distance from the south shore there is a shoal reaching from the inner south point quite to the head of the harbour; but over towards the north and north-west shore there is a channel of twelve or fourteen feet at low-water for three or four leagues up, to a place where there is three or four fathom; but here I found very little fresh

water.

BOTANY BAY.

We anchored near the south shore, about a mile within the entrance, for the convenience of sailing with a southerly wind, and because I thought it the best situation for watering; but I afterwards found a very fine stream on the north shore, in the first sandy cove within the island, before which a ship might lie almost land-locked, and procure wood as well as water in great abundance. Wood, indeed, is every where plenty, but I saw only two kinds which may be considered as timber. These trees are as large or larger than the English oak, and one of them has not a very different appearance; this is the same that yields the reddish gum like sanguis draconis, and the wood is heavy, hard, and dark-coloured, like lignum vitæ : the other grows tall and straight, something like the pine; and the wood of this, which has some resemblance to the live-oak of America, is also hard and heavy. There are a few shrubs, and several kinds of the palm; mangroves also grow in great plenty near the head of the bay. The country in general is level, low, and woody, as far as we could see. The woods, as I have before observed, abound with birds of exquisite beauty, particularly of the parrot kind; we found also crows here, exactly the same with those in England. About the head of the harbour, where there are large flats of sand and mud, there is great plenty of water-fowl, most of which were altogether unknown to us: one of the most remarkable was black and white, much larger than a swan, and in shape somewhat resembling a pelican. On these banks of sand and mud there are great quantities of oysters, muscles, cockles, and other shell-fish, which seem to be the principal subsistence of the inhabitants, who go into shoal

water with their little canoes, and pick them out with their hands. We did not observe that they eat any of them raw, nor do they always go on shore to dress them, for they have frequently fires in their canoes for that purpose. They do not, however, subsist wholly upon this food, for they catch a variety of other fish, some of which they strike with gigs, and some they take with hook and line. All the inhabitants that we saw were stark-naked; they did not appear to be numerous, nor to live in societies, but, like other animals, were scattered about along the coast, and in the woods. Of their manner of life, however, we could know but little, as we were never able to form the least connexion with them. the first contest at our landing, they would never come near enough to parley; nor did they touch a single article of all that we had left at their huts, and the places they frequented, on purpose for them to take away.

After

During my stay in this harbour I caused the English colours to be displayed on shore every day, and the ship's name and the date of the year to be inscribed upon one of the trees near the watering-place. It is high-water here, at the full and change of the moon, about eight o'clock, and the tide rises and falls perpendicularly between four and five feet.

CHAPTER II.—THE RANGE FROM BOTANY BAY TO TRINITY BAY; WITH A FARTHER ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTRY, ITS INHABITANTS, AND PRODUCTIONS.

Ar day-break, on Sunday, the 6th of May, 1770, we set sail from Botany Bay, with a light breeze at N.W., which soon after coming to the southward, we steered along the shore N.N.E.; and at noon, our latitude, by observation, was 33° 50′ S. At this time we were between two and three miles distant from the land, and abreast of a bay or harbour, in which there appeared to be good anchorage, and which I called PORT JACKSON *. This harbour lies three leagues to the northward of Botany Bay: the variation, by several azimuths, appeared to be 8° E. At sunset, the northernmost land in sight bore N. 26 E., and some broken land, that seemed to form a bay, bore N. 40 W., distant four leagues. This bay, which lies in latitude 33° 42', I called BROKEN BAY. We steered along the shore N.N.E. all night, at the distance of about three leagues from the land, having from thirty-two to thirty-six fathom water, with a hard sandy bottom.

Soon after sunrise on the 7th, I took several azimuths, with four needles belonging to the azimuth compass, the mean result of which gave the variation 7° 56′ E. At noon our latitude, by observation, was 33° 22′ S.: we were about three leagues from the shore, the northernmost land in sight bore N. 19 E., and some lands which projected in three bluff points, and which, for that reason, I called CAPE THREE POINTS, bore S. W., distant five leagues. Our longitude from BOTANY BAY was 19′ E. In the afternoon, we saw smoke in several places upon the shore, and in the evening, found the variation to be 8° 25′ E. At this time we were between two and three miles from the shore, in twenty-eight fathom; and at noon, the next day, we had not advanced one step to the northward. We stood off shore, with the winds northerly, till twelve at night, and at the distance of about five leagues, had seventy fathom; at the distance of six leagues we had eighty fathom, which is the extent of the soundings; for at the distance of ten leagues, we had no ground with 150 fathom.

The wind continuing northerly till the morning of the 10th, we continued to stand in and off the shore, with very little change of situation in other respects; but a gale then springing up at S.W., we made the best of our way along the shore to the northward. At sunrise, our latitude was 33° 2′ S., and the variation 8° E. At nine in the forenoon, we passed a remarkable hill, which stood a little way inland, and somewhat resembled the crown of a hat; and at noon our latitude, by observation, was 32° 53′ S., and our longitude 208° W. We were about two leagues distant from the land, which extended from N. 41 E. to S. 41

It is almost unnecessary to point out Port Jackson as the site of the first English settlement in New Holland, now the well-known town of Sydney. The first convoy of convicts arrived at Botany Bay on the 20th of January,

1788, after a voyage of eight months and one week; but that spot not affording all the accommodations needed, Port Jackson was fixed on as the position of the future capital of Australia.-ED.