1770. May. Thurfd. 31. are bold to both the fhores, and the distance between As I had not therefore a fingle inducement to stay longer in this place, I weighed anchor at fix o'clock in the morning of Thursday the 31st of May, and put to fea. We stood to the N. W. with a fresh breeze at S. S. E. and kept without the group of islands that lie in fhore, and to the N. W. of Thirty Sound, as there appeared to be no safe paffage between them and the main at the fame time we had a number of islands without us, extending as far as we could fee. During our run in this direction, our depth of water was ten, eight, and nine fathoms. At noon the west point of Thirty Sound, which I have called PIER HEAD, bore S. 36 E. diftant five leagues; the eaft point of the other inlet, which communicates with the Sound, bore S. by W. diftant two leagues; the group of islands juft mentioned lay between us and the point, and the fartheft part of the main in fight, on the other fide of the inlet, bore N. W. Our latitude, by obfervation, was 21° 53. At half an hour after twelve the boat, which was founding a-head, made the fignal for fhoal water, and we immediately hauled our wind to the N. E. At this time we had feven fathoms, at the next cast five, and at the next three, upon which we inftantly dropped an anchor that brought the fhip up. Pier Head, the north-west point of Thirty Sound, bore S. E. diftant fix leagues, being half way between the islands which lie off the eaft point of the western inlet, and three fmall islands which lie directly without them. It was now the first of the flood, which we found to fet N. W. 17708 June. N. W. by W. W. and having founded about the fhoal, upon which we had three fathoms, and found deep water all round it, we got under fail, and having hauled round the three iflands that have been just mentioned, came to anchor under the lee of them, in fifteen fathoms water; and the weather being dark, hazy, and rainy, we remained there till feven o'clock in the Friday 1. morning. At this time we got again under fail, and ftood to the N. W. with a fresh breeze at S. S. E. having the main land in fight, and a number of islands all round us, fome of which lay out at fea as far as the eye could reach. The western inlet, which in the chart is diftinguished by the name of Broad Sound, we had now all open; at the entrance it is at least nine or ten leagues wide; in it, and before it, lie feveral islands, and probably fhoals alfo, for our foundings were very irregular, varying fuddenly from ten to four fathoms. At noon our latitude, by obfervation, was 21° 29' S. a point of land which forms the north-weft entrance into Broad Sound, and which I have named CAPE PALMERSTON, lying in latitude 21o 30', longitude 210° 54′ W. bore W. by N. diftant three leagues. Our latitude was 21° 27', our longitude 210° 57'. Between this Cape and Cape Townshend lies the bay which I have called the BAY OF INLETS. We continued to ftand to the N. W. and N. W. by N. as the land lay, under an eafy fail, having a boat a-head to found. At first the foundings were very irregular, from nine to four fathoms, but afterwards they were regular from nine to eleven. At eight in the evening, being about two leagues from the main land, we anchored in eleven fathoms, with a fandy bottom, and foon after we found the tide fetting, with a flow motion, to the weftward. At one o'clock it was flack, Saturd. 2. or law water; and at half an hour after two the ship trended to the eastward, and rode fo till fix in the morning, when the tide had rifen eleven feet. We now got under fail, and stood away, in the direction of the coaft, N. N. W. From what we had obferved of the tide during the night, it is plain that the flood came from the N. W. whereas the preceding day, and feveral days before, it came from the S. E. nor was this the first or even fecond time that we remarked the fame thing. At fun-rife this morning we found the variation to be 6° 45′ E. and in fteering along the fhore, Y 2 1770. fhore, between the ifland and the main, at the distance June: of about two leagues from the main, and three or four from the ifland, our foundings were regular from twelve to nine fathoms; but about eleven o'clock in the forenoon we were again embarraffed with fhoal water, having at one time not more than three fathoms; yet we got clear, without cafting anchor. At noon we were about two leagues from the main, and four from the inlands without us. Our latitude, by obfervation, was 20° 56', and a high promontory, which I named CAPE HILLSBOROUGH, bore W. N. diftant feven miles. The land here is diverfified by mountains, hills, plains, and vallies, and feems to be well clothed with herbage and wood. The islands which lie parallel to the coaft, and from five to eight or nine miles diftant, are of various height and extent, fcarcely any of them are more than five leagues in circumference, and many are not four miles: befides this chain of islands, which lies at a distance from the coaft, there are others much less, which lie under the land, from which we faw smoke rising in different places. We continued to steer along the thore at the diftance of about two leagues, with regular foundings from nine to ten fathoms. fun-fet the fartheft part of the main bore N. 48 W. and to the northward of this lay fome high land, which I took to be an island, and of which the north-west point bore 41 W. but not being fure of a paffage, I came to an anchor about eight o'clock in the evening, in ten fathoms water, with a muddy bottom. About ten we had a tide fetting to the northward, and at two it had fallen nine feet; after this it began to rife, and the flood came from the northward, in the direction of the islands which lay out to fea; a plain indication that there was no paffage to the N. W. This, however, had not appeared at day-break, when we got under Sunday 3. fail and ftood to the N. W. At eight o'clock in the morning we discovered low land, quite across what we took for an opening, which proved to be a bay, about five or fix leagues deep; upon this we hauled our wind to the eastward round the north point of the bay, which at this time bore from us N. E: by N. diftant four leagues: from this point we found the land trend away N. by W. W. and a streight or passage At between between it and a large ifland, or iflands, lying parallel 1770. to it. Having the tide of ebb in our favour, we flood, June. for this paffage, and at noon were just within the entrance; our latitude, by obfervation, was 20° 26′ S. Cape Hillsborough bore S. by E. diftant ten leagues; and the north point of the bay S. 19 W. diftant four miles. This point, which I named CAPE CONWAY, lies in latitude 26° 36' S. longitude 211° 28′ W. and the bay, which lies between this Cape and Cape Hillfborough, I called REPULSE BAY. The greatest depth of water which we found in it was thirteen fathoms, and the least eight. In all parts there was safe anchorage, and I believe that, upon proper examination, fome good harbours would be found in it, especially at the north fide within Cape Conway; for juft within that Cape there lie two or three fmall islands, which alone would shelter that fide of the bay from the foutherly and fouth-easterly winds, that seem to prevail here as a trade. Among the many islands that lie upon this coaft, there is one more remarkable than the reft; it is of a small circuit, very high and peaked, and lies E. by S, ten miles from Cape Conway, at the fouth end of the paffage. In the afternoon we fteered through this paffage, which we found to be from three to feven miles broad, and eight or nine leagues in length, N. by W. W. S. by E.E. It is formed by the main on the weft, and by the islands on the east, one of which is at leaft five leagues in length; our depth of water, in running through, was from twenty to five-and-twenty fathoms, with good anchorage every where; and the whole paffage may be confidered as one fafe harbour, exclufive of the small bays and coves which abound on each fide, where fhips might lie as in a bafon. The land both upon the main and the islands is high, and diverfified by hill and valley, wood and lawn, with a green and pleasant appearance. On one of the islands we difcovered, with our glaffes, two men and a woman, and a canoe with an outrigger, which appeared to be larger, and of a conftruction very different from those of bark tied together at the ends, which we had seen upon other parts of the coaft; we hoped therefore that the people here had made fome farther advances beyond mere animal life, than thofe that we had seen Y 3 before 1770. June. Mond. 4. before. At fix o'clock in the evening we were nearly as |