Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/17

Near Bustard Bay.]

from 10′ east to 7′ west; which must be considered a great degree of accuracy, considering the expeditious manner in which he sailed along the coast, and that there were no time keepers on board the Endeavour; but from Sandy Cape northward, where the direction of the coast has a good deal of westing in it, greater differences began to show themselves.

There was a little tide running past the ship in the first part of the night from N.N.W., which appeared to be the flood setting into Hervey's Bay. At daybreak we pursued our course along the shore, at the distance of four or five miles, in soundings between 5 and 9 fathoms. The coast was low, but not sandy; and behind it was a range of hills extending north-westward, and like the flat country, was not ill clothed with wood. There was no remarkable projection till we came to the south head of Bustard Bay; and the night being then at hand, we ran in and anchored on a sandy bottom, in 4½ fathoms, nearly in the same spot where the Endeavour had lain thirty-two years before.

The rocky south head of Bustard Bay, from the survey between the preceding and following noons, should lie in 24° 9′ south, and the time keepers placed it in 151° 52′ east; or 5′ south and 10′ east of captain Cook's situation; nor did the form of the Bay correspond to his chart. The variation observed a few miles from the anchorage, was 8° 20′ east, with the ship's head N.W. by N., or 6° 52′ reduced to the meridian; nearly as had been found in the morning, when it was 6° 56′ corrected. This is a full degree less than it was on the east side of Sandy Cape, and captain Cook's observations show a still greater diminution.

At daylight we proceeded along the coast; but the wind being very light, were no more than abreast of the north head of Bustard