Hauling up for an opening which he was desirous of examining, he came to a small sandy islet, which lay at the mouth of it. Being unable to find a passage into the opening with the sloop, he came to an anchor, and went ashore upon this island, which was surrounded with shoal water. The base of it he found to be a hard stone, over which was a covering of sand, mixed with pieces of coral and shells. There was a little cluster of palms upon it, and some other small trees. Two or three large trees were lying upon the shore, thrown down either by wind or the flood, assisted by the weight of the trees themselves, which the depth of soil was not sufficient to support. They were a tough, hard, and close-grained wood. Being about half ebb, the surrounding shoal was dry. On it were some thousand curlews and gulls, and some pelicans; but all too shy to allow of his approach within musket shot. Upon one of the trees was stuck the cap of a small whale's skull, and in one of the sockets of the eyes was a bird's nest apparently of the last season.
This islet must at times be visited by natives; for they found three spears, and near them was hidden a small shield, of the same form and substance as that seen in Pumice-Stone river. The spears were of solid wood, of twelve feet in length, and could not have been used with a throwing-stick. One of them was barbed with a small piece of some animal's bone.
From the trending of the shores of this harbour, it was divided into two bays, an upper and a lower bay; the former of which was the smallest, and, in comparison with the latter, resembled the cod to a seine. The shore on the east side of this bay (the upper) was high, and bounded by white, steep cliffs; whence Mr. Flinders was induced to hope that a deep channel might be found there, being unwilling to believe that there was not a good passage even to the head of a sheet of water of six or seven miles square, and into which most probably one or more streams of water emptied themselves.
With the intention of attempting the eastern passage into this upper bay, he returned on board from his visit to the islet (which he named Curlew-Islet, and which is in the latitude of 25 degrees 17 minutes S) and got the sloop under weigh; but was obliged to give up the idea, on finding the shoal water so extensive as to make it probable that it joined a line of breakers; and, the sun being near the horizon, to get clear of the shoal water before dark became a principal concern, and together induced him to shape a course for a sloping hummock on the west side of the bay.
The soundings deepened gradually to six fathoms; but, shoaling again to three and even two fathoms, Mr Flinders suspected that the flood tide might have set the vessel to the southward toward the shore; this, however, did not appear to have happened; for at daylight the following morning her situation was what he supposed it would be, the sloping hummock bearing W 5 degrees N and their distance off shore about two miles, the wind having remained at SW during the whole night.
Keeping along the shore until nine o'clock, the water shoaled to nine feet, and obliged them to haul off to the NE. Being now to the northward of where Captain Cook had laid down the coast line, and the land being visible at W 10 degrees N from the deck, and as far as NW from the mast head, he judged it unnecessary to pursue the research any longer, under the supposition of there being a double bay, and therefore continued his course for the extreme of Break Sea Spit, the sloping hummock bearing S 9 degrees E at the time of altering the course.
The coast round Hervey's Bay was, in general, low near the shore, and on the west side the low land extended to some distance inwards. On that side the land wore a different appearance from that of Sandy Cape, there being few marks of sand, and the shore was mostly rocky. Advancing toward the head, the beaches presented themselves, and continued with little interruption into the upper bay. A large island lying off the entrance to the upper bay showed no marks of sand, but was well covered with wood and verdure. In height, it was equal to the higher parts of the main, and being four or five miles in length, seemed to be a fine island. On the eastern shore the sand was more or less apparent every where increasing in quantity toward the cape. The white cliffs that were noticed before very probably contained chalk; the upper stratum, two or three feet in thickness, being of a superior whiteness in those which were best seen.
With respect to fertility, the general aspect only can be spoken of. About the head of the bay, the trees were of a fair growth; grass seemed sufficiently abundant, and there were few appearances of sand. Some parts of it Mr. Flinders thought were stony.
Of the inhabitants he could only observe, that their smokes were numerous about the bay, and that they at times frequented Curlew islet.
Of the animal, vegetable, or fossil productions of the bay, he could not speak, the shortness of his stay not permitting any examination.