bluff of Cape Three-points bore S. 64° W., seven or eight miles, and was found to lie in 33° 32½' south and 151° 23½' east. In steering northward along the coast, at from six to two miles distance, we passed two rocky islets lying under the high shore; and at sunset, Coal Island, in the entrance of Port Hunter, bore N. 9° W., five or six miles. This port was discovered in 1797 by the late captain John Shortland, and lies in 32° 56' south, longitude 151° 43' east.

We passed Port Stephens a little before midnight; and the breeze being fresh at W. by S., the Lady Nelson was left astern, and we lay to for an hour next morning [FRIDAY 23 JULY 1802], to wait her coming up. The land was then scarcely visible, but a north course brought us in with the Three Brothers (Atlas Plate IX.); and at four in the afternoon, they bore from S. 56° to 65° W., the nearest land being a low, but steep point, distant four or five miles in the first direction. The Three Brothers lie from one to five miles behind the shore, at the eastern extremity of a range of high land, coming out of the interior country. The northernmost hill is the broadest, most elevated, and nearest to the water side; and being visible fifty miles from a ship's deck, is an excellent landmark for vessels passing along the coast: its latitude is 31° 43' south, and longitude 152° 45' east.

To the northward of the Three Brothers there is four leagues of low. and mostly sandy shore; and after passing it, we came up with a projection, whose top is composed of small, irregular-shaped hummocks, the northernmost of them being a rocky lump of a sugar-loaf form; further on, the land falls back into a shallow bight, with rocks in it standing above water. When abreast of the projection, which was called Tacking Point, the night was closing in, and we stood off shore, intending to make the same part next morning; for some of this coast had been passed in the dark by captain Cook, and might therefore contain openings.

SATURDAY 24 JULY 1802

At daybreak of the 24th, Tacking Point was distant three miles, and the breeze fresh at S. W. by W. with fine weather. Our little consort being out of sight, we stood an hour to the southward; and not seeing her in that direction, bore away along the coast until noon, when our situation was as under:

The coast from Tacking Point to Smoky Cape is generally low and sandy; but its uniformity is broken at intervals by rocky points, which first appear like islands. Behind them the land is low, but quickly rises to hills of a moderate height; and these being well covered with wood, the country had a pleasant appearance. Smoky Cape was found to answer the description given of it by captain Cook; its centre lies in 30° 55' south, and 153° 4' east. The three hummocks upon it stand on so many projecting parts; and at half a mile from the southernmost lie two rocks, and a third two miles further south, which were not before noticed. On the north side of Smoky Cape, the coast falls back four or five miles to the westward, forming a bight in the low land, where there may probably be a shallow inlet; it afterwards resumed a northern direction, and consisted as before of sandy beaches and stony points.

Our consort was not yet in sight; but we kept on until five in the evening, when the nearest land was two miles off, and the northern hummock on Smoky Cape bore S. 4° W. nine leagues. I had before seen the coast further northward, as far as 29° 20'; and having therefore no inducement to lose a night's run for its examination, we steered onward, passing without side of the Solitary Isles. At three in the morning [SUNDAY 25 JULY 1802], hove to until day-light; and at eight o'clock made the south head of a bay discovered in the Norfolk (Introd. Vol I, "In latitude 29° 43', we discovered a small opening like a river, with an islet lying in the entrance; and at sunset, entered a larger, to which I gave the name of SHOAL BAY, an appellation which it but too well merited."), and named Shoal Bay. One of the marks for finding this small place is a peaked hummock on the low land, thirteen miles distant; and it was now set over the south head of the bay at S. 20° W. In steering northward close along the coast, we passed two small reefs, and the water shoaled to 10 fathoms; they lie two miles off the land, and there did not seem to be any safe passage within them. Our latitude at noon was 29° 4', and longitude by time keepers 153° 31'; the shore was three miles off but until we came up with Cape Byron at five in the evening, there was no projection worthy of being particularly noticed. From Shoal Bay to Cape Byron is fifty miles, where the coast, with the exception of two or three rocky heads, is mostly low and sandy; and the soundings, at from two to four miles off, vary between 10 and 32 fathoms, on a sandy bottom. A few miles back the land rises to hills of moderate elevation, which were poorly covered with wood in the southern part, but towards the cape had a more fertile appearance.

Cape Byron is a small steep head, projecting about two miles from the low land, and in coming along the coast makes like an island; its latitude is 28° 38', and longitude 153° 37', or 7' east of the situation assigned to it by captain Cook. There are three rocks on its north side; and in the direction of N. 57° W., eight or nine leagues from it, is the peaked top of a mass of mountains, named by its discoverer Mount Warning; whose elevation is about 3300 feet, and exceeds that of Mount Dromedary, or any other land I have seen upon this East Coast. To Mr. Westall's sketch of this remarkable peak (Atlas, Plate XVIII. View 3.) it may be added, that the surrounding hills were well covered with wood, whose foliage announced a soil more fertile than usual so near the sea side.

The sun was near setting at the time Cape Byron bore west, three or four miles; and the coast from thence to Point Look-out having been seen by captain Cook, we steered off in order to avoid falling in with the reefs of Point Danger in the night. At eleven, hauled more in for the land; and at eight next day [MONDAY 26 JULY 1802], Mount Warning was set at S. 25° W., twenty leagues. On coming in with Point Look-out, I took observations for the latitude and longitude, which fixed it in 27° 27' south, and 153° 31' east. The latitude is the same as it had been made in the Norfolk, (Introd. Vol. I), but is 19' south, and 3' west of the situation given in captain Cook's chart. The bearings of the land at noon were,

A strange vessel seen to the southward, had induced me to carry little sail all the morning; it was now perceived not to be the Lady Nelson, but probably one of the two whalers known to be fishing off the coast; we therefore made sail for Cape Moreton, and came up with it at four o'clock. I was much surprised to see a small, but dangerous reef lying between four and five miles off this cape to the north-east, which had not been noticed in the Norfolk; in entering Glass-house Bay I had then hauled close round Cape Moreton at dusk in the evening, and in coming out had passed too far westward to observe it. The longitude of Cape Moreton was now fixed by the time keepers at 153° 26½' east, differing only 1½' from the lunar observations before taken in the Norfolk; when its latitude had been settled at 27° 0½' south.

(Atlas, Plate X.)

TUESDAY 27 JULY 1802

After passing the dangerous reef, we steered northward until three in the morning; and then hove to until