Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander immediately employed themselves in botanizing near the beach, and I, taking a seaman with me, ascended one of the hills: when I reached the summit, I found a view of the inlet intercepted by hills, which in that direction rose still higher, and which were rendered inaccessible by impenetrable woods; I was, however, abundantly compensated for my labour, for I saw the sea on the eastern side of the country, and a passage leading from it to that on the west, a little to the eastward of the entrance of the inlet where the ship now lay. The main land which lay on the south east side of this inlet, appeared to be a narrow ridge of very high hills, and to form part of the south west side of the streight; the land on the opposite side appeared to trend away east as far as the eye could reach; and to the south east there appeared to be an opening to the sea, which washed the eastern coast: on the east side of the inlet also I saw some islands which I had before taken to be part of the main land. Having made this discovery, I descended the hill, and as soon as we had taken some refreshment, we set out on our return to the ship. In our way, we examined the harbours and coves which lie behind the islands that I had discovered from the hill; and in this rout we saw an old village, in which there were many houses that seemed to have been long deserted: we also saw another village which was inhabited, but the day was too far spent for us to visit it, and we therefore made the best of our way to the ship, which we reached between eight and nine o’clock at night.

Voyaging Accounts