and S. S. E. It is remarkable that when on board the fhip
_ we had fix fathom, the boat, which was fcarcely a quarter
1770. May. In the afternoon, we flood in for the land, fleering S. W. 1770.
Sun ay zo. a mpe t0 the fouthward, had little more than five, and
that immediately after fix fathom we had thirteen, and then
twenty, as fall as the man could eaft the lead : from thefe
circumftances, I conjectured that the weft fide of the fhoal
was fteep. This fhoal I called the B r e a k S e a S p i t , becaufe
we had now fmooth water, and to the fouthward of it we
had always a high fea from the S. E. At fix in the evening,
the land of Sandy Cape extended from S. 17 E. to S. 27 E. at
the diftance of eight leagues ; our depth of water was twenty-
three fathom: with the fame foundings we flood to the weft-
Mondayzi. ward all night. At feven in the morning; we faw, from the
maft-head, the land of Sandy Cape bearing S. E. .I E. diftant
about thirteen leagues : at nine, we difcovered land to the
weftward, and foon after faw fmoke in feveral places. Our
depth of water was now decreafed to feventeen fathom, and
by noon we had no more than thirteen, though we were
feven leagues from the land, which extended from S. by W.
to W. N. W. Our latitude at this time was 240 3$' S. Eor a
few days paft we had feen feveral of the fea birds called boobies,
not having met with any of them before; laft night a
fmall flock of them pafied the fhip, and went away to the
N. W. and in the morning, from about half an hour before
fun-rife, to half an hour after, flights of them were continually
coming from the N. N. \V. and flying to the S. S, E,
nor was one of them feen to fly in any other direction;
we therefore conjectured that there was a lagoon,, river, or
inlet o f fhallow water, in the bottom of the deep bay, to the
fouthward of us, whither thefe birds reforted to feed in the
day, and that not far to the northward there were fome,
iflands to which they repaired in the night, To this bay I
gave the name of H e r v e y ’s B a y , in honour of Captain Hervey.
In
with a gentle breeze at S. E. till four o’clock, when, being ■ ay.~ ■
in latitude 24“ 36',‘ about two leagues from the fliore, and Mondl>'2''
having nine fathom water, we bore away along the coaft
N. W. by W. and at the fame time could fee land extending
to the S. S. E. about eight leagues. Near the fea the land is
very low, but within there are fome lofty hills, all thickly
clothed with wood. While we were running along the
lliore, we fhallowed our water from nine to feven fathom,
and at one time we had but fix, which determined us to anchor
for the night.
At fix in the morning we weighed, with a gentle breeze Tuerday zz..
from the fouthward, and fleered N. W. 4 W. edging in for
the land till we got within two miles of it, with water from
feven to eleven fathom: we then fleered N. N. W. as the
land lay, and at noon, our latitude was 240 19'. We continued
in the fame courfe, at the fame diftance, with from
twelve fathom to feven, till five in the evening, when we
were abreaft of the fouth point of a large open bay, in which
I intended to anchor. During this courfe, we difcovered
with our glafles that the land was covered with palm-nut-
trees, which we had not feen from the time of our leaving,.-,
the iflands within the Tropick: we alfo faw two men walking
along the fhore, who did not condefcend to take the leaft
notice of us. In the evening, having hauled clofe upon a
wind, and made two or three trips, we anchored about eight
o’clock in five fathom, with a fine fandy bottom. The fouth
point of the bay bore E. $ S. diftant two miles, the north
point N. W. fN . and about the fame diftance from the fhore-
Early the next morning I went afhore, with a party of k t e f ,3.
men, in order to examine the country, accompanied by Mr.
Banks, Dr. Solander, the other gentlemen, and Tupia: the
P 2 wind