On the 22d, in the evening, we anchored In an open road or bay, round the north cape of the great bay. As we sailed along, this day, the country appeared very barren and sandy, having only a few low shrubs.*

On the 23d, the captain and some others went on shore, and saw a few of the natives, but could not get near them. We saw, too, about twenty of them from the ship, who stood gazing at us upon the beach; also smoke arising out of the woods, which, perhaps, was only an artifice of theirs, to make us think they were numerous. We observed nothing worthy of note on land, excepting a great variety of plants; one of which bore a fruit like a small crab-apple, having a large stone in it, the Eawharra of Otaheite, and the dung of some quadruped that fed on grass. We hauled the seine, and tore it in pieces, but caught no fish: though we saw great shoals of them in this bay, they would not take the bait. We found a nautilus pompilius, and some of a curious kind of hammer oysters; as also a number of porpoises. We shot a duck of a beautiful plumage, with a white beak, black body, and white and green on the wings. We likewise shot another large bird, of the bustard kind, coloured black, white, and brown, which weighed seventeen pounds. The hills seen in this bay, which was called Bustard Bay, appeared very barren, having nothing upon them but a few diminutive shrubs; but we saw a large tract of low and flat land, that was covered with small wood, had several lagoons in it, and some of the same kind of plants which grow on the island of Otaheite and in the East-Indies.

* This day the captain's clerk had his ears cut off, and his cloaths also cut off his back. The captain and officers offered. Come time after, at Batavia, a reward of fifteen guineas, to any one who should discover the person or persons who cut off his ears, and fifteen gallons of arrack, to any one that should discover him or them who had cut off his cloaths.

Voyaging Accounts