The point of the main which forms the side of the channel through which we passed, opposite to the island, is the northern promontory of the country, and I called it York Cape. Its longitude is 218° 24' W., the latitude of the north point is 10° 37', and of the east point 10° 42' S. The land over the east point, and to the southward of it, is rather low, and as far as the eye can reach, very flat, and of a barren appearance. To the southward of the Cape the shore forms a large open bay, which I called Newcastle Bay, and in which are some small low islands and shoals; the land adjacent is also very low, flat, and sandy. The land of the northern part of the Cape is more hilly, the vallies seem to be well clothed with wood, and the shore forms some small bays, in which there appeared to be good anchorage. Close to the eastern point of the Cape are three small islands, from one of which a small ledge of rocks runs out into the sea: There is also an island close to the northern point. The island that forms the streight or channel through which we had passed, lies about four miles without these, which, except two, are very small: The southermost is the largest, and much higher than any part of the main land. On the north-west side of this island there appeared to be good anchorage, and on shore, vallies that promised both wood and water. These islands are distinguished in the chart by the name of York Isles. To the southward, and south-east, and even to the eastward and northward of them, there are several other low islands, rocks, and shoals: Our depth of water in sailing between them and the main, was twelve, thirteen, and fourteen fathom.
We stood along the shore to the westward, with a gentle breeze at S.E. by S., and when we had advanced between three and four miles, we discovered the land ahead, which, when we first saw it, we took for the main, to be islands detached from it by several channels: Upon this we sent away the boats, with proper instructions, to lead us through that channel which was next the main; but soon after discovering rocks and shoals in this channel, I made a signal for the boats to go through the next channel to the northward, which lay between these islands, leaving some of them between us and the main: The ship followed, and had never less than five fathom water in the narrowest part of the channel, where the distance from island to island was about one mile and a half.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, we anchored, being about a mile and a half, or two miles, within the entrance, in six fathom and a half, with clear ground: The channel here had begun to widen, and the islands on each side of us were distant about a mile: The main-land stretched away to the S.W., the farthest point in view bore S. 48 W., and the southermost point of the islands, on the north-west side of the passage, bore S. 76 W. Between these two points we could see no land, so that we conceived hopes of having, at last, found a passage into the Indian sea; however, that I might be able to determine with more certainty, I resolved to land upon the island which lies at the south-east point of the passage. Upon this island we had seen many of the inhabitants when we first came to an anchor, and when I went into the boat, with a party of men, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, in order to go ashore, we saw ten of them upon a hill: Nine of them were armed with such lances as we had been used to see, and the tenth had a bow, and a bundle of arrows, which we had never seen in the possession of the natives of this country before: We also observed, that two of them had large ornaments of mother-of-pearl hanging round their necks. Three of these, one of whom was the bowman, placed themselves upon the beach abreast of us, and we expected that they would have opposed our landing, but when we came within about a musket's shot of the beach, they walked leisurely away. We immediately climbed the highest hill, which was not more than three times as high as the mast-head, and the most barren of any we had seen. From this hill, no land could be seen between the S.W. and W.S.W., so that I had no doubt of finding a channel through. The land to the north-west of it consisted of a great number of islands of various extent, and different heights, ranged one behind another, as far to the northward and westward as I could see, which could not be less than thirteen leagues. As I was now about to quit the eastern coast of New Holland, which I had coasted from latitude 38 to this place, and which I am confident no European had ever seen before, I once more hoisted English colours, and though I had already taken possession of several particular parts, I now took possession of the whole eastern coast, from latitude 38° to this place, latitude 10 1/2 S. in right of his Majesty King George the Third, by the name of New South Wales, with all the bays, harbours, rivers, and islands situated upon it: We then fired three vollies of small arms, which were answered by the same number from the ship. Having performed this ceremony upon the island, which we called Possession Island, we re-embarked in our boat, but a rapid ebb-tide setting N.E. made our return to the vessel very difficult and tedious. From the time of our last coming among the shoals, we constantly found a moderate tide, the flood setting to the N.W. and the ebb to the S.E. At this place, it is high water at the full and change of the moon, about one or two o'clock, and the water rises and falls perpendicularly about twelve feet. We saw smoke rising in many places from the adjacent lands and islands, as we had done upon every part of the coast, after our last return to it through the reef.
We continued at anchor all night, and between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, we saw three or four of the natives upon the beach gathering shell-fish; we discovered, by the help of our glasses, that they were women, and, like all the other inhabitants of this country, stark naked. At low water, which happened about ten o'clock, we got under sail, and stood to the S.W. with a light breeze at E. which afterwards veered to N. by E.: Our depth of water was from six to ten fathom, except in one place, where we had but five. At noon, Possession Island bore N. 53 E., distant four leagues, the western extremity of the main-land in sight bore S. 43 W., distant between four and five leagues, and appeared to be extremely low, the south-west point of the largest island on the north-west side of the passage bore N. 71 W., distant eight miles, and this point I called Cape Cornwall. It lies in latitude 10° 43'S., longitude 219° W.; and some lowlands that lie about the middle of the passage, which I called Wallis's Isles, bore W. by S. 1/2 S., distant about two leagues: Our latitude, by observation, was 10° 46' S. We continued to advance with the tide of flood W.N.W. having little wind, and from eight to five fathom water. At half an hour after one, the pinnace, which was a-head, made the signal for shoal-water, upon which we tacked, and sent away the yawl to sound also: We then tacked again, and stood after them: In about two hours, they both made the signal for shoal-water, and the tide being nearly at its greatest height, I was afraid to stand on, as running aground at that time might be fatal; I therefore came to an anchor in somewhat less than seven fathom, sandy ground. Wallis's Islands bore S. by W. 1/2 W., distant five or six miles, the islands to the northward extended from S. 73 E. to N. 10 E., and a small island, which was just in sight, bore N.W. 1/2 W. Here we found the flood-tide set to the westward, and the ebb to the eastward.
After we had come to an anchor, I sent away the master in the long-boat to sound, who, upon his return in the evening, reported that there was a bank stretching north, and south, upon which there were but three fathom, and that beyond it there were seven. About this time it fell calm, and continued so till nine the next morning, when we weighed with a light breeze at S.S.E.; and steered N.W. by W. for the small island which was just in sight, having first sent the boats a-head to sound: The depth of water was eight, seven, six, five, and four fathom, and three fathom upon the bank, it being now the last quarter ebb. At this time, the northermost island in sight bore N. 9 E., Cape Cornwall E., distant three leagues, and Wallis's Isles S. 3 E., distant three leagues. This bank, at least so much as we have sounded, extends nearly N. and S., but to what distance I do not know: Its breadth is not more than half a mile at the utmost. When we had got over the bank, we deepened our water to six fathom three quarters, and had the same depth all the way to the small island a-head, which we reached by noon, when it bore S., distant about half a mile. Our depth of water was now five fathom, and the northermost land in sight, which is part of the same chain of islands that we had seen to the northward from the time of our first entering the streight, bore N. 71 E. Our latitude by observation was 10° 33' S., and our longitude 219° 22' W.: In this situation no part of the main was in sight. As we were now near the island, and had but little wind, Mr Banks and I landed upon it, and found it, except a few patches of wood, to be a barren rock, the haunt of birds, which had frequented it in such numbers as to make the surface almost uniformly white with their dung: Of these birds the greater part seemed to be boobies, and I therefore called the place Booby Island. After a short stay, we returned to the ship, and in the mean time the wind had got to the S.W.; it was but a gentle breeze, yet it was accompanied by a swell from the same quarter, which, with other circumstances, confirmed my opinion that we were got to the westward of Carpentaria, or the northern extremity of New Holland, and had now an open sea to the westward, which gave me great satisfaction, not only because the dangers and fatigues of the voyage were drawing to an end, but because it would no longer be a doubt whether New Holland and New Guinea were two separate islands, or different parts of the same.[86]
[Footnote 86: Here it may be proper to introduce a paragraph from M. Peron's Historical Relation of a Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Islands, as presented to the Imperial Institute in June 1806. It will show his conception of the difficulties attendant on navigating these parts: "In fact, it is not in voyages on the high seas, however long they may be, that adverse circumstances or shipwrecks are so much to be dreaded; those, on the contrary, along unknown shores and barbarous coasts, at every instant present new difficulties to encounter, with perpetual dangers. Those difficulties and dangers, the woeful appendage of all expeditions begun for the purposes of geographic detail, were of more imminent character from the nature of the coasts we had to explore; for no country has hitherto been discovered more difficult to reconnoitre than New Holland, and all the voyages of any extent made for the purpose in this point, have been marked either by reverses or infructuous attempts. For example, Paliser on the western coast was one of the first victims of these shores; Vlaming speaks of wrecks by which Rottnest island was covered when he landed there in 1697; and we ourselves observed others of much more recent date. Captain Dampier, notwithstanding his intrepidity and experience, could not preserve his vessel from grounding when on the northwest coast of this continent, a coast already famous for the shipwreck of Vianin; on the east, Bougainville, menaced with destruction, was constrained to precipitate flight; Cook escaped by a kind of miracle, the rock which pierced his ship remaining in the breach it made, and alone preventing it from sinking; on the south-west, Vancouver and D'Entrecasteaux were not more fortunate in their several plans of completing its geography, and the French admiral nearly lost both his ships. Towards the south, but a few years have elapsed since the discovery of Bass's Straits, and already the major part of the islands of this strait is strewed with the wrecks of ships; very recently, and almost before our face, I may say, the French ship Enterprize was dashed to pieces against the dangerous islands which close its eastern opening. The relation of our voyage, and the dangers incurred, will still farther demonstrate the perils of this navigation; and the loss of the two vessels of Captain Flinders, sent by the English government to compete with us, will but too clearly furnish a new and lamentable evidence. The circumstance of Cook's escape, we see, is allowed its due impression on the mind of this gentleman. It is very probable that had Dr Hawkesworth himself ever been in such critical perils, and experienced any thing like such a remarkable deliverance, the placidity of his principles would have given way to more lively emotions. The deductions of reason, it is certain, are not unusually at variance with the instantaneous, but perhaps more real and genuine productions of our feelings, which it is the cant of modern days to denominate the lower parts of our constitution.--E.]
The north-east entrance of this passage or streight lies in the latitude of 10° 39' S., and in the longitude of 218° 36' W. It is formed by the main, or the northern extremity of New Holland, on the S.E., and by a congeries of islands, which I called the Prince of Wales's Islands, to the N.W., and it is probable that these islands extend quite to New Guinea. They differ very much both in height and circuit, and many of them seemed to be well clothed with herbage and wood: Upon most, if not all of them, we saw smoke, and therefore there can be no doubt of their being inhabited: It is also probable, that among them there are at least as good passages as that we came through, perhaps better, though better would not need to be desired, if the access to it from the eastward were less dangerous: That a less dangerous access may be discovered, I think there is little reason to doubt, and to find it, little more seems to be necessary than to determine how far the principal, or outer reef, which bounds the shoals to the eastward, extends towards the north, which I would not have left to future navigators if I had been less harassed by danger and fatigue, and had had a ship in better condition for the purpose.
To this channel, or passage, I have given the name of the ship, and called it Endeavour Streights. Its length from N.E. to S.W. is ten leagues, and it is about five leagues broad, except at the north-east entrance, where it is somewhat less than two miles, being contracted by the islands which lie there. That which I called Possession Island is of a moderate height and circuit, and this we left between us and the main, passing between it and two small round islands which lie about two miles to the N.W. of it. The two small islands, which I called Wallis's Islands, lie in the middle of the south-west entrance, and these we left to the southward. Our depth of water in the streight was from four to nine fathom, with every where good anchorage, except upon the bank, which lies two leagues to the northward of Wallis's Islands, where at low water there are but three fathom: For a more particular knowledge of this streight, and of the situations of the several islands and shoals on the eastern coast of New Wales, I refer to the chart where they are delineated with all the accuracy that circumstances would admit; yet, with respect to the shoals, I cannot pretend that one half of them are laid down, nor can it be supposed possible that one half of them should be discovered in the course of a single navigation: Many islands also must have escaped my pencil, especially between latitude 20° and 22°, where we saw islands out at sea as far as an island could be distinguished; it must not therefore be supposed, by future navigators, that where no shoal or island is laid down in my chart, no shoal or island will be found in these seas: It is enough that the situation of those that appear in the chart is faithfully ascertained, and, in general, I have the greatest reason to hope that it will be found as free from error as any that has not been corrected by subsequent and successive observations. The latitudes and longitudes of all, or most of the principal head-lands and bays, may be confided in, for we seldom failed of getting an observation once at least every day, by which to correct the latitude of our reckoning, and observations for settling the longitude were equally numerous, no opportunity that was offered by the sun and moon being suffered to escape. It would be injurious to the memory of Mr Green, not to take this opportunity of attesting that he was indefatigable both in making observations and calculating upon them; and that, by his instructions and assistance, many of the petty officers were enabled both to observe and calculate with great exactness. This method of finding the longitude at sea may be put into universal practice, and may always be depended upon within half a degree, which is sufficient for all nautical purposes. If, therefore, observing and calculating were considered as necessary qualifications for every sea officer, the labours of the speculative theorist to solve this problem might be remitted, without much injury to mankind: Neither will it be so difficult to acquire this qualification, or put it in practice, as may at first appear; for, with the assistance of the nautical almanack, and astronomical ephemeris, the calculations for finding the longitude will take up little more time than the calculation of an azimuth for finding the variation of the compass.[87]
[Footnote 87: Reference is made above to Cook's large chart, which of course could not be given here with advantage corresponding to the expence of engraving it. This omission is of less moment, as the chart that accompanies the work is quite sufficient for general readers; and as any additional one that may be afterwards given, must derive much of its value from the labours of Cook. Important aids have been afforded the navigator since the date of this publication; and the two great problems in nautical astronomy, viz. the deducing the longitude from lunar distances, and the latitude from two altitudes of the sun, have been brought within the reach of every one who is in full possession of elementary arithmetic. See a Collection of Tables for those important, purposes, by Joseph de Mendoza Rios, published at London, 1806,--an account of which is given in the Edinburgh Review, vol. viii. p. 451.]--E.]
SECTION XXXIII.