On coming to an anchor, Cook, Banks, and Tupia went on shore, and Canon Bennett, a second cousin of Mrs. Cook's, and one who knew her personally, relates that the family legend was that on reaching the shore Cook ordered the midshipman to "Jump out, Isaac," and Isaac Smith (afterwards Admiral) also a cousin of Mrs. Cook's, was the first Englishman to set his foot on the soil of New South Wales. The few natives who were near ran away, excepting two, who came forward to oppose any landing. A musket was fired over them, and they retired to where they had left their spears, and then one threw a stone at the boat, and as they were too far away for any serious damage to be done, Cook fired a charge of small shot at him. He then ran off to a small hut near, picked up a wooden shield, and returned to take up his position alongside his comrade, and they threw a couple of spears, receiving a second discharge of small shot in return, which caused them to retire slowly. As Banks, suspicious of some gummy substance on the points of the spears, suggested poison, they were not followed up. The huts, found near the landing-place, were constructed of sticks covered with pieces of bark somewhat similar to those seen in Tierra del Fuego. Some children found carefully covered up were left undisturbed, but forty or fifty spears were taken, and payment in the shape of beads, cloth, nails, etc., was left, but still untouched, on visiting the camp the next morning. The canoes from which the natives were seen fishing are described by Cook as the worst he ever saw, being merely sheets of bark tied with withies at the end and kept open in the middle by a stick.
Considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining water, and whilst the crew were procuring it, Cook made a survey of the harbour. He describes the country as lightly timbered, with a sandy soil growing a plentiful crop of coarse grass, of which a quantity was cut for the sheep. The soil was interspersed with rocks and swamps, but at the head of the bay appeared richer. A few natives were seen, who ran away when observed, and though one or two spears were thrown no damage was done to any one. Large heaps of oyster, mussel, and cockle shells were found, amongst them, says Cook, "being some of the largest oyster shells I ever saw." An account, said to have been obtained from the blacks, published in a work on Australian discovery (anonymous, Sydney), agrees as far as it goes with those of Cook and Banks, and it is almost unnecessary to say the ship was at first taken for a large bird.
SUTHERLAND'S DEATH.
Whilst here, a seaman named Forbes (Forby, in the Muster Roll) Sutherland, died of consumption, from which he had suffered throughout the voyage, was buried on shore, and the point named Point Sutherland in his memory. The anonymous pamphlet referred to above, says that Cook does not give the cause of Sutherland's death, and that he had been fatally wounded by the blacks whilst trying to secure a metal plate he had found affixed to a tree, recording that the Dutch had previously been on the spot. The pamphlet goes on to say that Cook suppressed these facts in order to have the credit of being the first discoverer, but that the plate had been secured by some one and deposited in the British Museum. Unfortunately, Cook does give the cause of Sutherland's death, and the plate is not in the British Museum, nor has it ever been heard of there. Before leaving, an inscription was cut on a tree near the watering place, giving the ship's name and date; the English colours were displayed on shore every day during their stay, but they could not establish any friendly intercourse with the blacks. A plate has since been attached to the rocks about fifteen feet above high water, and as near as possible to the supposed place of landing.
After leaving Botany Bay the coast was followed up to the north, and Cook noted an "entrance" which he thought might prove a safe anchorage, to which he gave the name of Port Jackson, after Mr. George Jackson, one of the Secretaries to the Admiralty. Within this entrance is now the city of Sydney, and it was to this place that Captain Phillip removed his headquarters when he had discovered the unsuitability of Botany Bay for settlement. Broken Bay, named from the number of small islands therein, was passed, and the voyage was rendered very slow by the light northerly winds, and passing Cape Hawke, he found the set of the current had placed him twelve miles in advance, when reckoned by the log, of his real position given by observation.
Almost the only thing to be seen beyond the outline of the coast was the constantly recurring smoke; one point received the name of Smoky Cape on account of the great quantity seen in its vicinity. Cook, of course, was unaware that these "smokes" were probably, many of them, signals from one party of blacks to another of the arrival of something strange on the coast. That these "smokes" are used by the blacks as a means of communication is a well recognised fact, and the news they can convey by this means is perfectly astonishing to a white man.
The country appeared to increase in height with:
"an agreeable variety of Hills, Ridges, and Valleys, and large plains all clothed with wood, which to all appearance is the same as I have before mentioned as we could discover no visible difference in the soil."
After escaping a reef off Point Danger they discovered a bay, which Cook called Morton Bay after the Earl of Morton, P.R.S.; now wrongly spelt as Moreton Bay. Here, from the colour of the water, they supposed a river emptied into the sea; the surmise was correct, for they were at the mouth of the Brisbane River. At the same time some curiously-shaped hills were given the name of the Glasshouses, from their resemblance to the buildings in which glass is manufactured, and the resemblance is most striking.
After rounding Breaksea Spit, Cook found himself in a large bay, and conjectured, from the birds and the direction of their flight, that there was fresh water to the south-west; and rightly, for here the Mary River enters Hervey's Bay. On 23rd May they landed for the second time, and Cook says this was "visibly worse than the last place," that is Botany Bay. They managed to shoot a bustard of 17 1/2 pounds, and Banks says it was "as large as a good turkey, and far the best we had eaten since we left England." It was so much appreciated that its name was conferred on Bustard Head and Bustard Bay. This bird is known in Australia as the Plain Turkey. Oysters of good quality were also obtained, and Banks made the personal acquaintance of the green tree ant and the Australian mosquito, neither of which were appreciated.