A Voyage to Terra Australis. Matthew Flinders

10, the observed latitude of 31° 38' showed a set of 33' to the south; whereas it had the day before been 8' the contrary way. Our distance from the shore had then become six leagues, owing to a foul wind; but we got in with it again in the evening, and steered northward with a fair breeze. On the 11th we sailed amongst the Solitary Isles, of which five were added to the number before seen; and the space from thence to twelve leagues northward having been passed by captain Cook in the night, I continued to keep close in with the coast.

      In latitude 29° 43', we discovered a small opening like a river, with an islet lying in the entrance; and at sunset, entered a larger, to which I gave the name of SHOAL BAY, an appellation which it but too well merited. On the south side of the entrance, which is the deepest, there is ten feet at low water; and within side, the depth is from 2 to 4 fathoms in a channel near the south shore: the rest of the bay is mostly occupied by shoals, over which boats can scarcely pass when the tide is out. High water appeared to take place about seven hours after the moon's passage; at which time, a ship drawing not more than fourteen feet might venture in, if severely pressed. Shoal Bay is difficult to be found, except by its latitude, which is 29° 26½'; but there is on the low land about four leagues to the southward, a small hill somewhat peaked, which may serve as a mark to vessels coming from that direction.

      July 12. The morning was employed in examining the bay, and in looking round the country. The sloop had sprung a bad leak, and I wished to have laid her on shore; but not finding a convenient place, nor any thing of particular interest to detain me longer, we sailed at one o'clock, when the tide began to rise. Cape Byron, in latitude 28° 38', and the coast for twelve miles to the north and south, were passed on the 13th: but no particular addition or correction could be made to captain Cook's chart. At Moreton Bay, further on, that navigator had left it in doubt whether there were any opening; and therefore we closed in again with the land at Point Look-out, on the 14th. At noon, the point bore S. 42° E., three or four miles, and a small flat islet E. 3° N. three miles; the opening in Moreton Bay was then evident, and bore W. N. W. It is small, and formed by two sandy points, beyond which a large extent of water was visible. Our latitude at this time, was 27° 24', giving that of Point Look-out to be 27° 27' south. Captain Cook says it is "in latitude 27° 6';"* a difference which probably arose from his having allowed for a strong northern current during the run of four or five hours from the preceding noon, whereas, in reality, none existed; for his course and distance by log, from the noon's observation, would give the point in its true latitude.

      [* Hawkesworth's Voyages, Vol III. page 119.]

      We stood on to within two miles of the opening in Moreton Bay; but seeing it blocked up by many shoals of sand, and the depth having diminished from 12 to 4 fathoms, the course was altered for Cape Moreton, which was visible seven or eight leagues to the northward. At eight in the evening, the anchor was dropped in 7 fathoms at the entrance of Glass-house Bay, Cape Moreton bearing E. S. E. two or three miles.

      But little progress was made up the bay on the 15th, owing to the many shoals in it, and to a foul wind. At noon, the latitude of Cape Moreton was ascertained to be 27° 0½' south, and the longitude from distances of stars east and west of the moon, corrected by the observations at Greeenwich, was 153° 25' east; being 4½' south, and 7' west of its position by captain Cook. In the evening, when the lunar distances were observed, the sloop was at anchor in 11 fathoms on the west side of the entrance, within two miles of a low projection which an unfortunate occurrence afterwards caused to be named Point Skirmish.

      On the 16th, whilst beating up amongst the shoals, an opening was perceived round the point; and being much in want of a place to lay the sloop on shore, on account of the leak, I tried to enter it; but not finding it accessible from the south, was obliged to make the examination with the boat, whilst the sloop lay at anchor five miles off. There was a party of natives on the point, and our communication was at first friendly; but after receiving presents they made an attack, and one of them was wounded by our fire. Proceeding up the opening, I found it to be more than a mile in width; and from the quantities of pumice stone on the borders, it was named Pumice-stone River. It led towards the remarkable peaks called the Glass Houses, which were now suspected to be volcanic, and excited my curiosity.

      On board the sloop, the leak had, in the mean time, been found to arise from a plank having started from the timbers, at three or four streaks above the keel; and the open space being filled up with oakum from the inside, very little water came in; I therefore left the river and the Glass Houses for a future examination, and proceeded up the bay with the afternoon's flood. On the 18th at noon, we had passed two low islands surrounded with shoals, and were at anchor in 6 fathoms, abreast of a third. The south point of the opening from Moreton Bay then bore N. 77° E., ten miles; and the observed latitude being 27° 27¼', confirmed the observation taken without side on the 14th. Next day, we beat up against a southern wind to a sixth island; but the shoals then became more numerous, and the channels between them so narrow, that it was very difficult to proceed further.

      The latitude observed upon the sixth island was 27° 35', being thirty-four miles south of Cape Moreton at the entrance of the bay. Above this island, the east and west shores, from being nine or ten miles apart, approach each other within two miles, and the space between them takes the form of a river; but the entrance was too full of shoals to leave a hope of penetrating by it far into the interior, or that it could be of importance to navigation. Under this discouragement and that of a foul wind, all further research at the head of Glass-house Bay was given up; and I returned on board to seek in Pumice-stone River for a place to stop the leak, and the means of visiting the Glass Houses. On the 22nd, we got into the river after many difficulties, arising principally from shoals in the entrance, which could only be passed at high water. The place chosen for laying the sloop on shore was on the east side, five miles above Point Skirmish, at a small beach, close to which the depth was 7 fathoms.

      July 25. The leaky plank being secured, and the sloop restowed and completed with water, we proceeded two miles further up the river, amongst mangrove islets and muddy flats. Next morning I landed on the west side, as far above the sloop as the boat could advance; and with my friend Bongaree and two sailors, steered north-westward for the Glasshouse peaks. After nine miles of laborious walking, mostly through swamps or over a rocky country, we reached the top of a stony mount, from whence the highest peak was four miles distant to the north-west. Three or four leagues beyond it was a ridge of mountain, from which various small streams descend into Pumice-stone River; the principal place of their junction seeming to be at a considerable extent of water which bore N. 80° E., and was about six miles above the sloop. Early on the 27th, we reached the foot of the nearest Glass House, a flat-topped peak, one mile and a half north of the stony mount. It was impossible to ascend this almost perpendicular rock; and finding no marks of volcanic eruption, we returned to the boat, and to the sloop the same evening.

      July 28, we proceeded down the river; but owing to strong winds and squalls from the south-east, did not clear it before the 31st. Some communications with the natives had been obtained whilst the sloop was lying on shore; and this detention afforded opportunities of repeating them. I am happy to say they were all friendly, which is attributable to their opinion of us having undergone a salutary change from the effect of our fire arms at Point Skirmish.

      These people were evidently of the same race as those at Port Jackson, though speaking a language which Bongaree could not understand. They fish almost wholly with cast and setting nets, live more in society than the natives to the southward, and are much better lodged. Their spears are of solid wood, and used without the throwing stick. Two or three bark canoes were seen; but from the number of black swans in the river, of which eighteen were caught in our little boat, it should seem that these people are not dextrous in the management either of the canoe or spear.

      The entrance of Glass-house Bay, from Point Skirmish to the inner part of Cape Moreton, is eight miles wide; but it contains so many shoals that a ship would have much difficulty in finding a passage. These shoals are of sand, and in the channels between them are various depths from 5 to 13 fathoms upon similar ground; but towards the head of the bay, both on the shoals and in the deeper parts, the bottom is almost universally of mud. The land on the borders of Pumice-stone River is low; and is either sandy or rocky, with a slight superficies of vegetable soil; yet not ill clothed