The 6th of Auguft, in the morning, we faw an opening in the land, and we ran into it, and anchored in feven and a half fathom water, two miles from the fhore, clean fand. It was fomewhat difficult getting in here, by reafon of many fhoals we met with: but I fent my boat founding before me. The mouth of this found, which I called Shark's Bay, lies in about 25° fouth latitude, and our reckoning made its longitude from the Cape of Good Hope to be about 87°, which is lefs by one hundred and ninetyfive leagues than is ufually laid down in our common draughts, if our reckoning was right, and our glaffes did not deceive us. As foon as I came to anchor in this bay, I fent my boat afhore to feek for fresh water; but in the evening my men returned, having found none. The next morning I went ashore myself, carrying pick-axes and shovels with me, to dig for water, and axes to cut wood. We tried in feveral places for water, but finding none after feveral trials, nor in feveral miles compafs, we left any farther fearch for it, and fpending the rest of the day in cutting wood, we went aboard at night.

The land is of an indifferent height, fo that it may be feen nine or ten leagues off. It appears at a distance very even; but as you come nigher you find there are many gentle rifings, though none fteep or high. It is all a fteep fhore againit the open fea; but in this bay or found we were now in, the land is low by the fea-fide, rifing gradually in with the land. The mould is fand by the fea-fide, producing a large fort of fampier, which bears a white flower. Farther in, the mould is reddifh, a fort of fand producing fome grafs, plants, and fhrubs. The grafs grows in great tufts, as big as a bufhel, here and there a tuft; being intermixed with much heath, much of the kind we have growing on our commons in England. Of trees or fhrubs here are divers forts; but none above ten feet high: their bodies about three feet about, and five or fix feet high before you come to the branches, which are bushy and compofed of finall twigs there spreading abroad, though thick fet, and full of leaves, which were moftly long and narrow: the colour of the leaves was on one fide whitish, and on the other green; and the bark of the trees was generally of the fame colour with the leaves, of a pale green. Some of thefe trees were fweet-fcented, and reddish within the bark, like faffafras, but redder. Most of the trees and fhrubs had at this time either bloffoms or berries on them. The bloffoms of the different forts of trees were of feveral colours, as red, white, yellow, &c. but mostly blue; and thefe generally felt very sweet and fragrant, as did fome alfo of the reft: there were alfo befide fome plants, herbs, and tall flowers, fome very fmall flowers growing on the ground, that were sweet and beautiful, and for the most part unlike any I had feen elsewhere.

There were but few land fowls; we faw none but eagles, of the larger forts of birds; but five or fix forts of small birds: the biggest fort of thefe were not bigger than larks, fome no bigger than wrens, all finging with great variety of fine fhrill notes; and we saw some of their nefts with young ones in them. The water-fowls are ducks (which had young ones now, this being the beginning of the fpring in thefe parts), curlews, galdens, crab-catchers, cormorants, gulls, pelicans, and fome water-fowl, fuch as I have not feen any where befides.

The land animals that we faw here were only a fort of raccoons, different from those of the Weft-Indies, chiefly as to their legs, for these have very fhort fore legs, but go jumping upon them as the others do (and like them are very good meat), and a fort of guanos, of the fame fhape and fize with other guanos defcribed, but differing from them in three remarkable particulars; for thefe had a larger and uglier head, and had no tail, and at the rump, instead of the tail there, they had a stump of a tail, which appeared like another head, but not really fuch, being without mouth or eyes;

VOL. XI.

30

yet

yet this creature feemed by this means to have a head at each end, and, which may be reckoned a fourth difference, the legs alfo feemed all four of them to be fore-legs, being all alike in fhape and length, and feeming by the joints and bending to be made as if they were to go indifferently either head or tail foremoft; they were speckled black and yellow like toads, and had scales or knobs on their backs like those of crocodiles, plated on to the skin, or stuck into it, as part of the fkin: they are very flow in motion; and when a man comes nigh them they will stand still and hifs, not endeavouring to get away: their livers are alfo fpotted black and yellow; and the body, when opened, hath a very unfavory fmell. I did never fee fuch ugly creatures any where but here. The guanos I have obferved to be very good meat, and I have often eaten of them with pleasure; but though I have eaten of fnakes, crocodiles and alligators, and many creatures that look frightfully enough, and there are but few I fhould have been afraid to eat of, if preft by hunger, yet I think my stomach would scarce have served to venture upon these New Holland guanos, both the looks and the smell of them being so offenfive.

The fea-fish that we faw here (for here was no river, land or pond of fresh water to be feen), are chiefly fharks: there are abundance of them in this particular found, that I therefore gave it the name of Shark's Bay. Here are also skates, thornbacks, and other fish of the ray kind (one fort efpecially like the fea-devil), and gar-fish, bonetas, &c. Of fhell-fish we got here muscles, periwinkles, limpits, oysters, both of the pearl kind and alfo eating oyfters, as well the common fort as long oyfters, befide cockles, &c. The fhore was lined thick with many other forts of very strange and beautiful shells for variety of colour and shape, moft finely spotted with red, black or yellow, &c. fuch as I have not feen any where but at this place. I brought away a great inany of them, but loft all except a very few, and thofe not of the best.

There are alfo fome green turtle weighing about two hundred pounds. Of these we caught two, which the water ebbing had left behind a ledge of rock, which they could not creep over. Thefe ferved all my company two days, and they were indifferent fweet meat. Of the sharks we caught a great many, which our men eat very favourily. Among them we caught one which was eleven feet long. The fpace between its two eyes was twenty inches, and eighteen inches from one corner of his mouth to the other. Its maw was like a leather fack, very thick, and fo tough that a sharp knife could fcarce cut it, in which we found the head and bones of a hippopotomus, the hairy lips of which were still sound and not putrified, and the jaw was alfo firm, out of which we plucked a great many teeth, two of them eight inches long, and as big as a man's thumb, fmall at one end, and a little crooked, the reft not above half fo long. The maw was full of jelly, which ftank extremely: however I faved for a while the teeth and the fhark's jaw; the flesh of it was divided among my men, and they took care that no waste should be made of it.

It was the 7th of Auguft when we came into Shark's-Bay, in which we anchored at three feveral places, and staid at the first of them (on the weft fide of the bay) till the 11th; during which time we fearched about, as I faid, for fresh water, digging wells, but to no purpofe; however, we cut good ftore of fire-wood at this first anchoring-place, and my company were all here very well refreshed with raccoons, turtle, fhark, and other fish, and fome fowls, fo that we were now all much brifker than when we came in hither; yet still I was for standing farther into the bay, partly because I had a mind to increase my stock of fresh water, which was began to be low, and partly for the fake of discovering this part of the coaft. I was invited to go further, by feeing from this anchoring place all open before me, which therefore I defigned to search

I

fearch before I left the bay: fo on the 11th, about noon, I fteered farther in, with an eafy fail, because we had but fhallow water; we kept therefore good looking out for fear of fhoals, fometimes fhortening, fometimes deepening the water. About two in the afternoon we saw the land a-head that makes the fouth of the bay, and before night we had again fholdings from that fhore, and therefore fhortened fail and ftood off and on all night, under two topfails, continually founding, having never more than ten fathom, and feldom less than feven, The water deepened and fholdned fo very gently, that in heaving the lead five or fix times we should scarce have a foot difference. When we came into seven fathom either way, we presently went about. From this fouth part of the bay we could not fee the land from whence we came in the afternoon; and this land we found to be an island of three or four leagues long, but it appearing barren, I did not strive to go nearer it, and the rather because the winds would not permit us to do it without much trouble, and at the openings the water was generally shoal : I therefore made no farther attempts in this fouth-west and fouth part of the bay, but steered away to the eastward, to fee if there was any land that way, for as yet we had feen none there. On the 12th, in the morning, we paffed by the north point of that land, and were confirmed in the perfuafion of its being an ifland, by feeing an opening to the east of it, as we had done on the weft. Having fair weather, a fmall gale and fmooth water, we stood further on in the bay, to fee what land was on the east of it. Our foundings at first were seven fathom, which held fo a great while, but at length, it decreased to fix. Then we faw the land right a-head. We could not come near it with the ship, having but fhoal water, and it being dangerous lying there, and the land extraordinary low, very unlikely to have fresh water (though it had a few trees on it, feemingly mangroves), and much of it probably covered at highwater, I stood out again that afternoon, deepening the water, and before night anchored in eight fathom, clean white fand, about the middle of the bay. The next day we got up our anchor, and that afternoon came to an anchor once more near two islands and a fhoal of coral rocks that face the bay. Here I fcrubbed my fhip; and finding it very improbable I fhould get any further here, I made the best of my way out to fea again, founding all the way, but finding, by the fhallownefs of the water, that there was no going out to fea to the east of the two iflands that face the bay, nor between them, I returned to the weft entrance, going out by the fame way I came in at, only on the east instead of the weft fide of the fmall fhoal: in which channel we had ten, twelve, and thirteen fathom water, ftill deepening upon us till we were out at fea. The day before we came out I fent a boat a-fhore to the most northerly of the two iflands, which is the least of them, catching many small fish in the mean while with hook and line: the boat's crew returning, told me that the isle produces nothing but a fort of green, fhort, hard prickly grafs, affording neither wood nor fresh water, and that a fea broke between the two iflands, a fign that the water was fhallow. They faw a large turtle, and many fkates and thornbacks, but caught none.

It was Auguft the 14th when I failed out of this bay or found, the mouth of which lies, as I faid, in 25o 5', defigning to coaft along to the north-eaft till I might commodioufly put in at fome other port of New Holland. In paffing out we faw three waterferpents fwimming about in the fea, of a yellow colour, fpotted with dark brown spots; they were each about four foot long, and about the bignefs of a man's wrift, and were the first I saw on this coaft, which abounds with feveral forts of them; we had the winds at our first coming out at north, and the land lying north-eafterly; we plied off and on, getting forward but little till the next day, when the wind coming at fouthfouth-west and fouth, we began to coast it along the shore on the northward, keeping

at fix or seven leagues off fhore, and founding often, we had between forty and fortyfix fathom water, brown fand, with fome white fhells. This 15th of August we were in latitude 24° 41'. On the 16th day, at noon, we were in 23° 22'. The wind coming at eaft by north, we could not keep the fhore aboard, but were forced to go farther off, and loft fight of the land; then founding we had no ground with eighty fathom line; however the wind fhortly after came about again to the fouthward, and then we jogged on again to the northward, and faw many fmall dolphins and whales, and abundance of fcuttle-fhells fwimming on the fea, and fome water-fnakes every day. The 17th we saw the land again, and took a fight of it.

The 18th, in the afternoon, being three or four leagues off fhore, I faw a fhoalpoint stretching from the land into the fea, a league or more; the fea broke high on it, by which I faw plainly there was a fhoal there. I ftood farther off, and coafted along fhore, to about feven or eight leagues diftance; and at twelve o'clock at night we founded, and had but twenty fathom hard fand. By this I found I was upon another fhoal, and so presently steered of weft half an hour, and had then forty fathom. At one in the morning of the 18th day we had eighty-five fathom; by two we could find no ground, and then I ventured to fteer along fhore again due north, which is two points wide of the coaft (that lies north-north-eaft) for fear of another fhoal. I would not be too far off from the land, being defirous to fearch into it wherever I fhould find an opening or any convenience of fearching about for water, &c. When we were off the fhoal-point I mentioned where we had but twenty fathom water, we had in the night abundance of whales about the fhip, fome a-head, others a-ftern, and fome on each fide blowing and making a very difmal noife, but when we came out again into deeper water they left us; indeed, the noise that they made by blowing and dashing of the fea with their tails, making it all of a breach and foam, was very dreadful to us, like the breach of the waves in very shoal-water, or among rocks. The shoal these whales were upon had depth of water fufficient, no less than twenty fathom, as I faid, and it lies in latitude 22° 22'. The fhore was generally bold all along; we had met with no fhoal at fea fince the Abrohlo-fhoal, when we first fell on the New Holland coaft in the latitude of twenty-eight, till yefterday in the afternoon, and this night. This morning alfo, when we expected by the draught we had with us to have been eleven leagues off fhore, we were but four, fo that either our draughts were faulty, which yet hitherto and afterwards we found true enough as to the lying of the coaft, or elfe here was a tide unknown to us that deceived us, though we had found very little of any tide on this coaft hitherto; as to our winds in the coafting thus far, as we had been within the verge of the general trade (though interrupted by the ftorm I mentioned), from the latitude of 28, when we first fell in with the coaft, and by that time we were in the latitude of 25, we had ufually the regular trade wind (which is here fouth-fouth-east), when we were at any distance from fhore; but we had often fea and land breezes, efpecially when near fhore, and when in Shark's-Bay, and had a particular north-west wind or storm that fet us in thither. On this 18th of Auguft we coafted with a brifk gale of the true trade wind at fouth-fouth-east, very fair and clear weather; but hauling off in the evening to fea, were next morning out of fight of land; and the land now trending away north-easterly, and we being to the northward of it, and the wind alfo fhrinking from the fouth-fouth-eaft to the east fouth-eaft (that is, from the true trade-wind to the fea-breeze, as the land now lay), we could not get in with the land again yet-awhile, fo as to fee it, though we trimmed sharp and kept clofe on a wind. We were this 19th day in latitude 21° 42'. The 20th we were in latitude 19° 37', and kept close on a wind to get fight of the land again, but could

not yet fee it. We had very fair weather; and though we were fo far from the land as to be out of fight of it, yet we had the sea and land breezes. In the night we had the land-breeze at fouth-fouth-east a fmall gentle gale, which in the morning about fun-rifing would fhift about gradually (and withal increasing in strength) till about noon, we fhould have it at eaft-fouth-eaft, which is the true fea-breeze here; then it would blow a brifk gale, fo that we could fcarce carry our top-fails double reefed; and it would continue thus till three in the afternoon, when it would decrease again. The weather was fair all the while, not a cloud to be feen, but very hazy, especially nigh the horizon. We founded feveral times this 20th day, and at first had no ground, but had afterwards from fifty-two to forty-five fathom, coarse brown fand, mixt with small brown and white ftones, with dints befides in the tallow.

The 21ft day also we had small land-breezes in the night, and fea-breezes in the day; and as we faw fome fea-fnakes every day, fo this day we faw a great many, of two different forts or fhapes; one fort was yellow, and about the bignefs of a man's wrift, about four feet long, having a flat tail about four fingers broad; the other fort was much fmaller and fhorter, round and fpotted black and yellow: this day we founded feveral times, and had forty-five fathom fand; we did not make the land till noon, and then faw it firft from our topmaft-head; it bore fouth-eaft by east about nine leagues distance, and it appeared like a cape or head of land; the feabreeze this day was not fo ftrong as the day before, and it veered out more, fo that we had a fair wind to run in with to the fhore, and at funfet anchored in twenty fathom, clean fand, about five leagues from the Bluff-point, which was not a cape (as it appeared at a great distance), but the easternmost end of an island, about five or fix leagues in length, and one in breadth. There were three or four rocky islands about a league from us between us and the bluff point; and we faw and we faw many other islands both to the east and weft of it, as far as we could fee either way from our top-masthead; and all within them to the fouth there was nothing but iflands of a pretty height, that may be feen eight or nine leagues off; by what we faw of them they must have been a range of islands of about twenty leagues in length, ftretching from east-north-east to weft-fouth-weft and for ought I know, as far as to those of Shark's-Bay, and to a confiderable breadth alfo, for we could fee nine or ten leagues in among them) towards the continent or main land of New Holland, if there be any fuch thing hereabouts; and by the great tides I met with a while afterwards, more to the north-east, I had a strong fufpicion that here might be a kind of archipelago of islands, and a paffage poffibly to the fouth of New Holland and New Guinea into the great South Sea eastward, which I had thoughts alfo of attempting in my return from New Guinea, had circumstances permitted, and told my officers fo; but I would not attempt it at this time, because we wanted water, and could not depend upon finding it there. This place is in the latitude of 20° 21', but in the draught that I had of this coaft, which was Tafman's, it was laid down in 19° 50', and the fhore is laid down as all along joining in one body or continent, with fome openings appearing like rivers, and not like iflands, as really they are. This place lies more northerly by 40' than is laid down in Mr. Tafman's draught; and befide its being made a firm continued land, only with fome openings like the mouths of rivers, I found the foundings alfo different from what the pricked line of his course fhews them, and generally fhallower than he makes them; which inclines me to think that he came not fo near the shore as his line fhews, and fo had deeper foundings, and could not so well distinguish the islands; his meridian or difference of longitude from Shark'sBay,