o f iron was vifible in feveral parts, the'ftone breaking eafily in thofe
parts into plates correfpondent to the length and direction of the
ruft; but where that was not, it broke with great difficulty. On the
firft view, the (tone looked like a c la y ; but as it produced fire with
fteel, there mull have been a large portion o f flint in it. It appeared
to contain iron in rather a large quantity, and probably fome
other metallic fubftances.
Notwithftanding the information given by the European, not a
fingle fwan was found upon the ifland ; but feveral geefe were breeding
there, and the footy petrel poffeffed the graffy par t s the fwans
o f the failor, in this infiance, therefore, turned out to be geefe. This
bird had been feen before upon Prefervation Ifland, and was either
a Brent or a Barnacle goofe, or between the two. It had a long and
flender neck, with a fmall fhort head, and a rounded crown ; a lhort
thick arched bill, partly covered with a pea-green membrane, which
foon fhrivelled up, and came away in the dried fpecimens. Its plumage
was, for the moft part, o f a dove colour, fet with black fpots.
It had a deep, hoarfe, clanging, and, though a fhort, yet an inflected
voice. In fize it was rather lefs than our tame geefe, and lived
upon grafs.- The flefh-was excellent.
Early in the morning o f the firft o f November they left the Swan
Ifles, fleering to the weftward along fhore. At nine o’clock the
North coaft of Van Diemen’s land lay extended from about S.
E . by E. to Weft, the neareft part o f it being diftant two and a half
or three , miles. Its general trending Teemed to be about E-.
S. E. and W. N. W. with a fmall ifland lying off the weftern extreme.
The fhores were chiefly beaches, the front land was o f a
moderate height, the back was mountainous. One ridge o f mountains
that bore fouth was very high and rugged, and from the
white patches in it was concluded to be rocky and barren.
- I f any judgment could be hazarded o f the quality of the country,
at the diftance the floop was at, it might be fuppofed, from the
beauty of the lower head-land, to be fomewhat above 'mediocrity.
Extenfive
i6r
Extenfive traCIs o f open ground that come down towards the fea
in gradual green Hopes were varied by clumps o f wood and large
fingle trees.
A column of finoke that arofe fome few miles inland, was the
only fign o f its being inhabited.
At noon the latitude was 40° 44' 08” , the peak o f Cape Barren
Ifland then in fight. At this time they were two miles to the
weftward o f the fmall ifland, which was low and rocky, lying
about two miles and a half off a Iharp, fandy point, with which it
was nearly connected by fome lumps o f rock that almoft clofed up
the paffage. A long curved line o f ripple extended to the northward.
The afpeft of the low land here became lefs pleafing, the mountains
approaching nearer to the fea, and the country appearing to be more
wooded. The coaft feemed inclined to a more foutherly direction,
and the weftern extremity, which bore S. W , by W., appeared broken,
like Iflands.
At five in the afternoon they anchored two miles and a half to
the weftward o f the fmall ifland, it being calm, and the tide o f ebb
fetting the veffel to the Northward.
They weighed at nine the next morning with an eafterly wind,
and fleered in towards a fmall break that prefented itfelf in the bottom
o f an extenfive but not deep bay, or rather bight, lying between
the two extremes then in view. The break was not fufficiently diftinCt
to have juftified in itfelf alone a reafonable fuppofition o f an inlet,
but that it was corroborated by the direction o f the ebb tide, which,
while the floop was at anchor, was obferved to come from the S. S.
W. or diredly out of the bight, running at the rate o f two miles
and a half per hour. B y noon, it being ascertained that there was
not any inlet, they bore away to the Weftward along the land.
Their diftance from the fhore did not exceed a mile and a half.
The back country confifted of high hummocky mountains, whofe
parallel edges were lying elevated one above another to a confidervcl.
ii, y able