Philip Parker King

“ The coast in front of this range is of pleasing and verdant appearance; two or three small openings in the sandy beach, with an evident separation in the hills behind, particularly one in latitude 28 degrees 36 minutes, bore indications of rivulets; and the smokes of natives' fires, and the more wooded character of the coast, showed that the country was evidently more fertile and productive than any other part between Cape Leeuwin and the North-west Cape. The bottom at from ten to twelve miles off, is from twenty to twenty-five fathoms deep, and composed of a fine sand, of a dark gray colour. ”

“ PALMAE. On considering the vast expanse of the continent of Terra Australis, and that great extent of coast which passes through climates favourable for the production of certain genera of this remarkable natural family, it is singular that so few of the order should have been discovered: a fact in the history of the Australian vegetation, which (upon contemplating the natural economy of many other genera of plants) can only be considered as accounted for, by the great tendency to drought of at least three-fifths of its shores. ”

“ At four o'clock we were abreast of a bare sandy point which appeared to be the north head of Jurien Bay, in which two rocky islets were seen, fronted by reefs, on which the sea in many parts was breaking violently. To the southward of the point the coast hills are rather high and principally formed of very white sand, bearing a strong resemblance, from the absence of vegetables, to hills covered with snow. Here and there however a few shrubs partially concealed the sand, and gave a variety to the scene which was dismally triste. The country to the northward bears a different character ”

“ The tide, having been before in our favour, was now against us, and, setting with great strength, drove us near the rocks that front the islands to the northward of Island 40; the wind was however sufficiently strong to enable us to clear the dangerous situation we found ourselves in, but soon afterwards it fell to a light air and we were carried by the tide rapidly towards the low rocky extremity of the islets, which we were nearly thrown upon, when a breeze suddenly sprung up again from the South-East and enabled us to clear this impending danger. ”

“ The uniformity of the coastlines is remarkable also in some other quarters of Australia; and their direction, as well as that of the principal openings, has a general tendency to a course from the west of south to the east of north. This, for example, is the general range of the south-east coast, from Cape Howe, about latitude 37 degrees, to Cape Byron, latitude 29 degrees, or even to Sandy Cape, latitude 25 degrees; and of the western coast, from the south of the islands which enclose Shark's Bay, latitude 26 degrees, to North-west Cape, about latitude 22 degrees. ”

“ Much, however, of the coast yet remains to be examined; and although, for the general purposes of navigation, it has been quite sufficiently explored, yet there are many spaces upon the chart left blank that would be highly interesting to examine and really important to know. We have but a slight knowledge also of the natural history of the continent; slight however as it is, no country has ever produced a more extraordinary assemblage of indigenous productions; no country has proved richer than Australia in every branch of natural history ”

“ Between this strait and Point Swan, a distance of eleven miles, the space is occupied by a multitude of islands and islets, separated from each other by narrow and, probably, by deep channels, through which the tide rushes with frightful rapidity. Sunday Strait is more than four miles wide, and appears to be free from danger. The tide sets through it at the rate of four or five miles an hour, and forms strong ripplings, which would be, perhaps, dangerous for a boat to encounter. ”

“ CAPE BOWLING-GREEN is very low, and projects for a considerable distance into the sea: its north-east extremity is in latitude 19 degrees 19 minutes 10 seconds, and longitude 147 degrees 23 minutes East; the mountainous ranges are at least thirty miles in the rear, and, were it not for Mounts Upstart and Eliot, both of which are very visible, and serve as an excellent guide, this part of the coast would be very dangerous to approach, particularly in the night, when these marks cannot be seen, when great attention must be paid to the lead. ”

“ The sandstones of the west and north-west of New Holland are so like those of the west of England, and of Wales, that the specimens from the two countries can scarcely be distinguished from each other; the arenaceous cement in the calcareous breccia of the west coast is precisely the same with that of Sicily; and the jasper, chalcedony, and green quartz approaching to heliotrope, from the entrance of Prince Regent's River, resemble those of the Tyrol, both in their characters and association. ”

“ LEGENDRE ISLAND is the northernmost of Dampier's Archipelago: it is nine miles long, and from half to one and a half mile broad: near its south-east end, which is connected to HAUY ISLAND, there are several rocky islets, and near its extremity it has three remarkable hillocks; its North-West point is in latitude 20 degrees 18 minutes 45 seconds, and longitude 116 degrees 46 minutes; its north-east coast and north-west extremity are of bold approach: the latter has a reef that fronts its shores, extending for about a quarter of a mile into the sea ”

“ In the month of December hot winds from the north-west will sometimes last for two or three days, and are almost always suddenly terminated by a gust of wind from the southward. The most prevailing winds, during all seasons, are from the south, and are probably oftener from the eastward of that point than from the westward. The current always sets to the southward, and has been found by us on several occasions to set the strongest during a South-East gale. The general course of the current is in the direction of the coast, but this is not constant ”

“ Billardiera, whose species are wholly volubilous, and which are not found north of the parallel of Port Jackson, is frequent on the South-west Coast, and has been recently remarked on the West Coast of Van Diemen's Land. Bursaria on the other hand, appearing limited to New South Wales, has been traced within the tropic to latitude 19 degrees South on those eastern shores, and although the genus Pittosporum is even more extensively diffused on that coast, it has not been met with upon the north-western shores, whilst the islands off the West Coast furnished me with two new species. ”

“ The channel in, on the north side of the island, is free from danger, but, on the south side, between it and Cape Clinton, there is an extensive shoal on which the sea breaks heavily: it was not ascertained whether it is connected with the bank off the south end of the island, but there is every probability of it. The inlet round Cape Clinton affords good anchorage: but in the mid-channel the depth is as much as eighteen fathoms; the sands on the western side of the inlet are steep to, and should be avoided, for the tide sweeps upon them. ”

“ Ships detained during the westerly monsoon, as far to leeward as the meridian of 125 degrees, would find an advantage in putting into Hanover Bay, and remaining there until the wind should veer round: by which they would avoid the necessity of beating to windward, over such dangerous ground as extends between this part to Timor; and, by being to the southward, out of the strength of the westerly winds, at the latter end of February and beginning of March, when southerly and south-east winds prevail on the coast, they might much earlier effect their passage to the westward. ”

“ Although the several genera of plants lately observed on the north-western shores are also frequent in other equinoctial parts of the continent, there is, among the many species which are absolutely proper to that coast, a Capparis of such extraordinary habit, as to form a feature in the landscape of a limited extent of its shores, in the enormous bulk of its stem and general ramification, bearing a striking analogy to the Adansonia of the west coast of Africa. ”

“ Whether they cohabit one man to one woman, or promiscuously, I know not; but they do live in companies, twenty or thirty men, women, and children together. Their only food is a small sort of fish, which they get by making weirs of stone across little coves or branches of the sea; every tide bringing in the small fish, the there leaving them for a prey to these people, who constantly attend there to search for them at low water. ”

“ The usual course of the winds near the coast in the months of April, May, and June, is as follows: after a calm night, the land-wind springs up at daylight from South or South-South-East; it then usually freshens, but, as the sun gets higher, and the land becomes heated, gradually decreases. At noon the sea-wind rushes in towards the land, and generally blows fresh from East; at sunset it veers to the North-East, and falls calm, which lasts the whole night, so that if a ship, making a course, does not keep at a moderate distance from the land, she is subject to delay ”

“ CLEVELAND BAY affords good anchorage in all parts, in four, five, and six fathoms; a considerable flat extends for a mile from the shore on the western side of the cape, and is left dry at half ebb; it fronts a sandy beach that commences at a mile and a half to the south of the cape, and extends to the southward for nearly two miles; over this beach, two or three streams of fresh water communicate with the sea; they take their rise from the hills, and probably are seldom dry. ”

“ WHITSUNDAY PASSAGE, formed by the northern group of the Cumberland Islands, is from three to six miles wide, and, with the exception of a small patch or rocks within a quarter of a mile from Cape Conway, and a sandbank (that is probably dry, or nearly so at low water) off Round Head, is free from danger. The shores appear to be bold to, and the depth, in the fairway, varies between twenty and thirty fathoms; the shoal off Round Head stretches in a North-North-West direction, but its extent was not ascertained. ”

“ In turning to windward, go no nearer to the Sow and Pigs than three and a quarter fathoms, unless your vessel is small; nor within two hundred yards of the shore, for although it is bold in most parts close to, yet there are some few straggling rocks off the south point of Watson's Bay, and also some round Shark's Island. There is good anchorage in all parts of the harbour, when within Middle and the South Heads. There is also anchorage in North Harbour, but not to be recommended, for the swell sometimes rolls into the mouth of the harbour ”

“ No vessel of a greater draught than twelve feet should enter the harbour; and this vessel may even moor in four fathoms within her own length of the shore, with the outer trend just shut in by the mangrove point a. The watering-place is a stream that empties itself into the port through the mangroves, about two hundred yards to the south: and if this should fail, there is a good stream at the north end of the long north sandy beach. The latter, although very high coloured, is of wholesome quality; but in bad weather is inconvenient to be procured on account of the surf. ”

“ A solitary and very remarkable deviation from the usual natural economy of Loranthus, is observed in a species (L. floribunda) described and figured by M. Labillardiere, which is found on the shores of King George's Sound, where, in no way recognising the dependent habits of its congeners, it rises from the soil to a tree fifteen feet high, being never remarked relying upon other vegetables for its subsistence. Viscum is found in the colony of Port Jackson, to which it is not confined, having been also gathered at Endeavour River, on the same coast, within the tropic. ”

“ LIZARD ISLAND, about three miles long, is remarkable for its peaked summit, the latitude of which is 14 degrees 40 minutes 20 seconds, and longitude 145 degrees 23 minutes: on its south side is an extensive reef encompassing three islets, of which two are high and rocky: the best anchorage is on its western side under the summit; with the high northernmost of the Direction Islands in sight over the low land, bearing about South-East by compass: the depth is six and seven fathoms sandy bottom. ”

“ No native fires were seen between this part and Rottnest Island, nor was there any other indication of the coast being inhabited; it is however likely to be as populous as any other part, for the hills in the interior, which we occasionally got a glimpse of, seemed to be wooded, and would therefore furnish subsistence to natives from hunting, even if the seashore failed in supplying them with fish. Between the bare sandy point and Island Point there is a deep bay, the shores of which are fronted by a reef partly dry, extending from the shore two miles. ”

“ After procuring some bearings from its summit we re-embarked and pulled up Munster Water, supposing that it was connected with the strait at the back of Greville Island; but as the tide then flowing was running in a contrary direction to what was expected from the hypothesis we had formed, we began to suspect some other communication with the sea, and in this we were not deceived; for a narrow but a very deep strait opened suddenly to our view, at the bottom of the Water, through which some of the islands in the offing were recognised. ”