Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/276

50

The shore abreast was seven or eight miles distant; and behind it ran a continuation of the same ridge of sandy hillocks which surrounds the bight, and it extended to the southern extreme. Over this ridge were perceived, here and there, the tops of some higher, and less sandy hills, standing a few miles inland; but the general aspect of the country was that of great sterility; nor was there, as yet, any appearance of its being inhabited.

Soon after four we passed the noon's extreme at the distance of four miles. It is a steep, rocky cape, named in the French chart, Point D'Entrecasteaux; and is one of the most remarkable projections of this coast. I make its latitude, from the bearings, to be 34° 52′ south, and longitude by time keepers 116° 1′ east. A low rock lies two or three miles to the east-south-east, from the point, and a patch of breakers nearly the same distance to the south; and soon after passing the point, two other rocks, white and rather high, were seen lying from it five leagues to the south-east. At a quarter past seven, when the night closed in, The wind was then at south-west, and we stretched onward until one in the morning, before tacking to the north-west for the land. At day light, the ship was found to have been carried to the eastward, and neither Point D'Entrecasteaux nor the two white rocks were in sight; but in the N. 19° E., about eight miles, was a head not far from the extreme set in the evening. It afterwards proved to be a smooth, steep rock, lying one mile from the main; and is the land first made upon this coast by captain Vancouver,