Observing this, he gave it to one of the people to take away; but this he afterwards thought was wrong, as tending to make them suspicious of every thing they saw, and thus be a means of destroying their friendly intercourse. By this shot belt they seemed to recognise Mr Flinders as the person who had fired upon them before, and were more desirous that he should keep at a distance than any other person. Three of the sailors, who were Scotch, were desired to dance a reel, but, for want of music, they made a very bad performance, which was contemplated by the natives without much amusement or curiosity. Finding they could not be persuaded to visit the sloop, our people parted with them, but in a very friendly manner.
Having weighed the anchors (Thursday the 25th) they turned two or three miles further up the river in the afternoon, for the convenience of being nearer to the Glass-House peaks, which he now intended to visit. In the deepest parts of the river, there were from four to six fathoms water; but the channel was much divided, and narrow. They anchored near that place on the western shore where the man who had a family with him had called to them; and at this time they saw a fire, and heard several younger female voices in the same place.
On the following morning Mr. Flinders took the boat up a small branch that pointed toward the peaks, but afterwards, joining the same stream, formed two low mangrove islands, leaving the Glass Houses at some distance on the left hand. About half past nine he left the boat, accompanied by two seamen and the native. Steering NW by W through a low swampy country, brought them to the side of a creek, the banks of which were low, muddy, and covered with mangroves. This creek carried them by the south west near the head of it, where the stream, passing through a rocky swamp, permitted them to wade over it. Thence they steered between N 50 degrees and 60 degrees West, getting a sight of the flat-topped peak at times, which, appearing to be considerably nearer than the highest Glass-House, was that which he first meant to visit; but observing that one of the round mounts with sloping sides was still nearer, he altered his course for it; and, after walking about nine miles from the boat, reached the top.
The country through which they had passed was low, swampy, and brushy, and in the latter part of the way somewhat uneven. In those parts which were swampy, the surface was full of winding holes, where the water, lodging, rendered walking both difficult and tiresome. The places that were somewhat higher were either sandy or stony, and in these the grass tree (or gum rush) abounded; but, in general, the trees were the same as before mentioned, except that the pine was not observed to be among them.
The mount was a pile of stones of all sizes, mostly loose near the surface. The decayed vegetable matter that was lodged in the cavities produced a thick covering of long, but rather spindly grass, very fit for thatch from its length. The ascent was difficult, and similar to that up Mount Direction, which stands on the east bank of the Derwent river in Van Diemen's Land. The trees upon the mount were the same as on the level ground, but taller and more straight.
From the summit of this mount, the view of the bay and neighbouring country was very extensive. The uppermost part of the bay appeared at S 24 degrees E and most probably communicated with a line of water which was visible at S 12 degrees E where there were several distinct columns of smoke. This last bearing, which Mr. Flinders apprehended to be near the head of the river, he was not permitted to enter with the sloop, from the intricacy of the channel, and the shortness of the time which remained for his excursion.
Near the head of Pumice-Stone river there was a large spread of water, bearing S 72 degrees E and seeming to divide off into small branches. There were other small branches falling into this below, the whole forming into channels, which, ramifying through the low country, drew off whatever water might collect within the ridge of the back mountains. These appeared to be within the distance of between ten and twenty miles, lying in a north and south direction; and the intermediate country to be nearly as low as that which they had walked over. There was a large smoke near the foot of them.
From this mount, the way was over an irregular country, the higher parts of which were sandy and stony, the lower swampy as before. At about two thirds of the distance between it and the flat-topped peak (one mile and a half), they were induced by a stream of water to rest for the night, the sun being then below the trees. At seven the next morning they found themselves under the steep cliffs of the flat-topped peak. The stone of which this was composed was of a whitish cast, close-grained and hard, but not heavy. It was not stratified, but there were many fissures in it. At a little distance from the peak there were some pieces of a reddish-coloured stone, and some small pieces of granite scattered about.
Mr. Flinders was somewhat surprised at not meeting with any volcanic appearances, as the pumice stone in the river, and the situation of these stupendous peaks, standing upon low flat ground, led him to form some anxious expectations upon that head. But it must be observed, that, although he could not distinguish any traces of scoria, lava, basaltes, or other igneous remains, yet they might still exist, more especially about the high Glass-House, which he did not visit.
As the steepness of its sides utterly forbade all idea of reaching the summit of the flat-topped peak, he directed his course downwards to the river, steering SSE to go clear of the head of the creek, and of the swamps in its vicinity; but this direction took him a great way inland; and upon his altering the course to reach the place where he had left the boat, he had to cross a broad stream of fresh water which fell in lower down, and to walk near three miles to reach the water side. He, however, hit the place with unexpected readiness, and was very acceptably presented with a black swan, which the people in the boat had caught, and which was at the moment ready for satisfying the appetites of his party, which were not trifling, for a more laborious and tiresome walk of the same length would seldom be experienced.