The _Norfolk_ passes the strait
Observations thereon
Proceeds to the southward
Passes the S. W. Cape; and S. Cape
Remarks on the latter
De Witt's Isles
Storm Bay Passage
Tasman's Head
Fluted Cape
Frederick Henry Bay
Enter the Derwent river, first seen in the ship _Duke_, of Bengal
Observations on the Derwent
Some natives seen
Particulars of one
Venomous snake
One destroys itself
Comparison between New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land
Arrive at Port Jackson
Advantages of the strait
Mr. Bass and his fellow voyager, Lieutenant Flinders, did not hesitate
now to think that they had passed through the strait, and from the
Pacific had entered the southern Indian ocean; for what within the extent
of a vast sea could give birth to the monstrous swell that was rolling in
before their eyes? and the coast was evidently trending towards the SW
cape.
Mr. Bass says (with all the feeling and spirit of an explorer), that 'he
already began to taste the enjoyment resulting from the completion of
this discovery, which had been commenced in the whale-boat, under a
complication of anxieties, hazard, and fatigue, known only to those who
conducted her;' modestly sharing the praises, to which he alone was
entitled, with those who accompanied him.
It was worthy of remark (Mr. Bass says), that the northern shore of the
strait from Wilson's Promontory (seen in the whale-boat) to Western Port
resembled the bluff bold shore of an open sea, with a swell rolling in,
and a large surf breaking upon it; while the southern shore, or what is
the coast of Van Diemen's land, appeared like the inner shore of a
cluster of islands, whose outer parts break off the great weight of the
sea. The cause of this is immediately obvious, on recollecting that the
swell of the Indian ocean enters the strait from the southward of west.
The greater part of the southern shore lies in a bight, whose western
extreme is Hunter's Isles, and the NW Cape of Van Diemen's land. Now as
the swell comes from the southward, as well as the westward, it must,
after striking upon the northwest part of the southern shore, evidently
run on in a direction somewhat diagonal with the two sides of the strait,
until it expands itself upon the northern shore, where both swell and
surf are found. But to the southward of this diagonal line the swell must
quickly take off, and totally disappear, long before it can reach the
shore to make a surf. Hence arises the difference.
That the swell of the Indian ocean comes, by far the greater part of the
way, from the southward of west, can hardly be doubted, since it is well
known that the prevailing winds are from that quarter.
Early in the afternoon (of the 11th) a piece of land stood out from the
line of the coast like an island, but it was soon found to be joined to
the main by a sandy beach. The shore beyond it looked rugged and craggy,
and the land equalled the most sterile and stoney that had been seen. At
night the vessel stood off to the westward from abreast of a pyramidal
rock lying close to the main. At daylight the following morning, they
came in again with the land at the same place, and ran along the shore
with a fresh breeze at NW, the coast trending in a waving line to the SSE.
Towards noon the coast began to rise into chains of lofty mountains,
which ran along in nearly the same line as the coast. The latitude was 43
degrees 07 minutes, the longitude 145 degrees 42 minutes. A large smoke
that got up astern of the vessel was the first sign of inhabitants that
had been seen upon this west coast, the appearance of which was miserably
barren.
On the morning of the 13th they found that they had been carried in the
night to leeward of a break in the land, which had been seen the
preceding evening, and had the appearance of being the entrance to a
harbour. The north point of this imaginary inlet was named Point
St. Vincent. The coast here trended to the eastward, the land of which
was mountainous and steep to the sea. Some islands were in sight ahead,
lying near the land.
At 8 in the evening they passed the SW cape of Van Diemen's land,
hitherto known as that of New Holland. It is a narrow piece of land,
projecting from the higher land at no great distance, with two flattish
hummocks, that gave it some little resemblance to the Ram Head near
Plymouth. Having passed the Cape, they hauled up, and went between the
islands, which are De Witt's Isles, and the main. At sunset they were
about a mile and a half from the South Cape.
The south west and south Capes lie nearly east and west of each other,
and are distant about fifteen leagues. The intermediate coast forms the
southern boundary of Van Diemen's land; but if taken upon the more
extensive scale of the whole southern hemisphere, it appears, as the
south point of New Holland, to be of equal respectability with the
extremity of Terra del Fuego, and of the Cape of Good Hope, the south
points of the continents of America and Africa.
The relative situations of these three points, when viewed upon
a chart drawn on the plane of the equator, or upon an artificial globe,
are particularly striking. They will be found to lie at nearly equal
distances from each other in the circumference, and each extending
itself so directly towards the south, that, if continued on in the
same line, they would certainly meet somewhere near the pole. The effect
that is produced upon the whole globe, by this peculiar disposition of
three of its most prominent points, seems indeterminable.
Like that of Terra del Fuego, the extremity of Van Diemen's land presents
a rugged and determined front to the icy regions of the south pole; and,
like it, seems once to have extended further south than it does at
present. To a very unusual elevation is added an irregularity of form,
that justly entitles it to rank among the foremost of the grand and
wildly magnificent scenes of nature. It abounds with peaks and ridges,
gaps and fissures, that not only disdain the smallest uniformity of
figure, but are ever changing shape, as the point of view shifts. Beneath
this strange confusion, the western part of this waving coast-line
observes a regularity equally remarkable as the wild disorder which
prevails above. Lofty ridges of mountain, bounded by tremendous cliffs,
project from two to four miles into the sea, at nearly equal distances
from each other, with a breadth varying from two miles to two and a half.
The bights or bays lying between them are backed by sandy beaches. These
vast buttresses appear to be the southern extremities of the mountains of
Van Diemen's land; which, it can hardly be doubted, have once projected
into the sea far beyond their present abrupt termination, and have been
united with the now detached land, De Witt's Isles.
If a corresponding height of similar strata was observable on the islands
and on the main, it would amount to a proof that they were originally
connected; but this proof was wanting. The same kind of strata appeared
in both; but, as far as could be determined in passing hastily by, the
necessary correspondence seemed to be deficient. They did not land upon
either the islands or the main; but two kinds of rock, one with strata
and the other without, were plainly discernible. That without strata
formed by far the largest part; it appeared whitish and shining, was
certainly a quartz, and probably a granite. The layers of the rock with
strata were of various dark colours, and perfectly distinct.
It was evident, that land so much exposed to the violence of extensive
oceans must have undergone some very material changes, by the incessant
attrition of their vast waves. Two of the isles, either from this or a
more sudden cause, have so far deviated from their centre, that their
parallel strata form angles of between sixteens and eighteen degrees in
one instance, and in another between twenty-five and thirty degrees, with
the horizontal line. But it is difficult to explain, by the action of
water, how a large block of the white stone without strata is caused to
overhang an almost perpendicular corner of one of the islands, which
beneath that block consists of the dark coloured stone lying in strata.
De Witt's Isles, (so named, probably, by Tasman) twelve in number, are of
various sizes. The two largest are from three to four miles in circuit.
Their sides are steep, but their height is inferior to that of the main.
The largest is the lowest. The smaller isles are little more than large
lumps of rock, of which that named by Captain Cook the mew stone is the
southernmost. Their aspect, like that of the main, bespeaks extreme
sterility; but, superior to the greater part of it, they produce a
continued covering of brush; and upon the sloping sides of some of their
gullies are a few stinted, half dead gum trees.
They could not account for the vestiges of fires that appeared upon the
two inner large islands; the innermost in particular, which lay at some
distance from the nearest point of the main, was burnt in patches upon
different parts of it. It must have been effected either by lightning, or
by the hand of man; but it was so much unlike the usual effects of the
former, that, with all its difficulties, they chose to attribute it to
the latter cause.
A great smoke that arose at the back of one of the bights showed the main
to be inhabited; but they could not suppose the people of this place to
be furnished with canoes, when those of Adventure Bay, in their
neighbourhood, were unprovided with them. Nothing, therefore, was left to
their choice, but to allow that they might transport themselves over,
either upon logs of wood, or by swimming across: and, as the most
probable reward of such an exertion would be the capture of birds, whilst
breeding, or the seizure of their eggs, the utility of spreading fires in
facilitating such operations is obvious.
The south cape may be easily distinguished from any other projection in
its vicinity. Besides being the southernmost, it is a promontory making
like a foreland, and sloping very gradually as it runs towards the sea,
where it ends in a perpendicular cliff.
About sunset the fresh NW wind died away suddenly; and a strong squall
from the westward, with thunder, lightning, and heavy rain, soon carried
them round the south cape, and, by dark, brought them off what was
formerly called Storm Bay, where they hauled to the wind with the sloop's
head up the bay, intending, in the morning, to proceed by this Storm Bay
passage into the Derwent river.
The night was squally, and by day light the next morning (the 14th), it
was found that the vessel had drifted across the mouth of Storm Bay, or
more properly Storm Bay Passage. Tasman's Head, its eastern point, bore
NE distant three miles. Being too far to leeward to fetch up the passage,
and the gale continuing, they bore away round Tasman's Head, and hauled
up along shore for Adventure Bay.
Nothing remarkable was observed about Tasman's Head, except two
small islands lying off it, at the distance of half or three quarters
of a mile; and close to them were the two conical basaltic rocks
named by Captain Furneaux the Friars. The vegetation upon the inner
most of the two small islands had been burnt in a manner similar to that
on the De Witt's isles. If it were possible to account for those fires in
any other way than by the agency of man, it would be more satisfactory,
than to suppose that people, always believed to be without canoes, had
crossed over from a rather steep and rocky head, to an island equally
rocky, but more steep.
Having passed Fluted Cape, a fine piece of basalt, and Penguin island,
they fetched up under Cape Frederick Henry, the north point of Adventure
Bay; but, as the wind blew strong directly off it, and the sloop was
light and leewardly, they bore away round the Cape Frederick Henry,
hauling upon the north side of it into the bay of that name, purposing to
go into the Derwent river, discovered a few years since by Mr. Hayes,
master of the ship _Duke_, of Bengal: but, finding that they were
likely to lose ground by tacking, they stood into Henshaw's bay (so named
by Hayes), and were greatly surprised to find that, instead of its being
a mere shallow bight, as laid down in Mr. Hayes's chart, it extended many
miles to the northward. The whole now bears the name of Frederick Henry
Bay; that given by Hayes is lost. In this very extensive bay they
remained a week, traversing and measuring various parts of its shores.
The surrounding country was found to be miserable, presenting but very
little that was fit even for pasturage, and none good enough for
cultivation, except near a shallow lagoon on the west side, on the border
of which were seven or eight hundred acres of low ground, of a black
mould, rather sandy, which might be cultivated with great advantage.
Contiguous to the best part, was a large fresh water swamp, overgrown
with reeds and bulrushes.
In the evening of the 21st they entered the mouth of the Derwent.
In passing between two islands, the heads of the seaweed, which, from its
size, is named the Gigantic, were showing themselves above the surface in
six or eight fathoms water: a diminutive plant when compared with those
of the kind seen in higher latitudes, but of vast magnitude in comparison
with the generality of seaweeds.
On their various movements in the Derwent, Mr. Bass is silent, confining
his narrative to a general account of what he learned and saw of the
neighbouring country.
If the Derwent river have any claim to respectability, it is indebted for
it more to the paucity of inlets into Van Diemen's land, than to any
intrinsic merits of its own. After a sleepy course of not more than
twenty-five or twenty-seven miles to the NW it falls into Frederick Henry
Bay. Its breadth there is two miles and a quarter, and its depth ten
fathoms. A few hundred yards above its mouth, it is joined, on the west
side, by the Storm Bay Passage, and this union makes an island of that
slip of land which is Adventure Bay. This island, the Derwent river, and
the Storm Bay Passage, were the discovery of Mr. Hayes, of which he made
a chart; wherein it was found, by the minute examination of the whole
scene which it now underwent, that the smallest runs had been magnified
into rivers, and coves into bays and ports. Such glaring errors could not
be suffered to exist; but the name, where it was possible, was retained,
though the geographical term was necessarily altered.
This dull lifeless stream, the Derwent, is so little affected by the
tides, that its navigation is extremely tedious with a foul wind. It
takes its way through a country that on the east and north sides it
hilly, on the west and north mountainous. The hills to the eastward arise
immediately from the banks; but the mountains to the westward have
retired to the distance of a few miles from the water, and have left in
their front hilly land similar to that on the east side. All the hills
are very thinly set with light timber, chiefly short she oaks; but are
admirably covered with thick nutritious grass, in general free from brush
or patches of shrubs. The soil in which it grows is a black vegetable
mould, deep only in the valleys, frequently very shallow, with
occasionally a small mixture of sand or small stones. Many large tracts
of land appear cultivable both for maize and wheat, but which, as pasture
land, would be excellent.
The hills descend with such gentle slopes, that the valleys between them
are extensive and flat. Several contain an indeterminate depth of rich
soil, capable of supporting the most exhausting vegetation, and are
tolerably well watered by chains of small ponds, or occasional drains,
which empty themselves into the river by a cove or creek.
One mountain to the west, lying about three miles from the water, and so
remarkably conspicuous as to be seen from every part of the Derwent and
its vicinity, Mr. Bass ascended; and he was much surprised to find it
abounding with fine tall gum-tree timber uncommonly straight.
The shore on the east side of the river, proceeding up, is covered with a
good but shallow soil, and lightly wooded; cultivable for the greater
part with any kind of grain, and the whole fit for pasturage, though,
perhaps, not sufficiently watered for large cattle which require much
drink.
On the west side the country rises too suddenly into stony hills to be in
general so good as in most other places. It would, however, afford
tolerable pasturage; and a few patches of eighty or one hundred acres
each were excellent arable land.
The shore here, as in many other parts of the river, exhibited signs of
internal or subterraneous disturbance. The strata of cliffs were broken
and disjoined, lying sloping in different directions. Near a small point
several pieces of petrified wood, and lumps of stone of every kind and
every size, were enveloped, or rather stuck into the matter of the rock,
which, although in colour much like a yellow tinged clay, yet had the
usual rough porous surface peculiar to substances that have been in a
state of fusion. It was here, as in other places, hard, but did not
scintillate with steel, and was divided, by lines of a still harder
iron-tinged stone, into squares and parallelograms of various sizes. From
one of these intersecting lines, Mr. Bass took a small lump of this
ferruginous stone, that seemed to have bubbled up, and to have hardened
in the form of an ill-shaped bunch of small grapes. Some of the
neighbouring cliffs, for several yards, were formed into basaltic
columns.
In walking across one of the steep heads between two small bays, he met
with a large deep hole in the ground, that appeared to have been
occasioned by the falling-in of the earth which had formerly occupied its
space. Its extent was about twenty-two yards by seventeen; its depth
perhaps sixty feet. The sides were not excavated, but rather smooth and
perpendicular. They were rocks of the same yellow tinge as those of the
shore. A little surf that washed up within it showed a communication with
the river, by a narrow subterraneous passage of some ten or sixteen feet
in height, and, according to the distance of the hole from the edge of
the cliff, about thirty-five yards in length. Appearances seemed to
agree, that the period at which this earth fell in could not be very
remote.
Continuing on the west side from Point William to Shoal Point (places
named by Mr. Hayes), the land is too stony upon the hills for
cultivation, but is proper for pasturage. The valleys are, as usual,
adapted to grain.
The land round Prince of Wales's Cove is rather level, and frequently
clayey: the worst of it produces excellent food for cattle, even up to
the foot of the high mountain lying at its back. Being a stiff close
soil, it is perhaps adapted to the growth of grape vines, rather than of
grain. About three hundred acres of open ground, called by Mr. Hayes King
George's Plains (could this have been in derision?) seem well calculated
for this purpose, and for this only.
The land at the head of Risdon creek, on the east side, seems preferable
to any other on the banks of the Derwent. The creek runs winding between
two steep hills, and ends in a chain of ponds that extends into a fertile
valley of great beauty. For half a mile above the head of the creek, the
valley is contracted and narrow; but the soil is extremely rich, and the
fields are well covered with grass. Beyond this it suddenly expands, and
becomes broad and flat at the bottom, whence arise long grassy slopes,
that by a gentle but increasing ascent continue to mount the hills on
each side, until they are hidden from the view by the woods of large
timber which overhang their summits. With this handsome disposition of
the ground, the valley extends several miles to the SE in the figure of a
small segment of a circle. The tops of its hills, though stony, produce
abundance of tall timber, which, as it descends the slopes, diminishes in
size, and thins off to a few scattered she oaks and gum trees,
interspersed with small coppices of the beautiful flowering fern.
The soil along the bottom, and to some distance up the slopes, is a rich
vegetable mould, apparently hardened by a small mixture of clay, which
grows a large quantity of thick, juicy grass, and some few patches of
close underwood.
Herdman's Cove, (so named by Lieutenant Flinders from the surrounding
country) above Risdon Creek, has a large tract of good pasture land lying
at its head. The country, which is unusually thin of timber, is finely
rounded into grassy hills of various moderate ascent. The soil consists
of more brown earth than black vegetable mould; upon the sides and tops
of the hills, it is frequently stony; but in some of the valleys rich and
fine, and capable of profitable cultivation. A chain of ponds
intersecting the hills afforded an almost continual stream of fresh water
into the head of the Cove.
As it was not supposed that the sloop could proceed above Herdsman's
Cove, Mr. Bass and his companion went up the river in her boat, imagining
that one tide would enable them to reach its source; but in this they
were mistaken, falling, as they believed, several miles short of it.
Where the returning tide met them, the water had become perfectly fresh;
the stream was two hundred and thirty yards in breadth, and in depth
three fathoms. It was wedged in between high grassy hills that descended
to the river upon a quick slope, and had a grand appearance. But the only
cultivable land that they saw was some few breaks in the hills, and some
narrow slips that were found at their foot close to the water's side.
In their way up, a human voice saluted them from the hills; on which they
landed, carrying with them one of several swans which they had just shot.
Having nearly reached the summit, two females, with a short covering
hanging loose from their shoulders, suddenly appeared at some little
distance before them, snatched up each a small basket, and scampered off.
A man then presented himself, and suffered them to approach him without
any signs of fear or distrust. He received the swan joyfully, seeming to
esteem it a treasure.
His language was unintelligible to them, as was theirs to him, although
they addressed him in several of the dialects of New South Wales, and
some few of the most common words of the South Sea islands. With some
difficulty they made him comprehend their wish to see his place of
residence. He pointed over the hills, and proceeded onwards; but his pace
was slow and wandering, and he often stopped under pretence of having
lost the track; which led them to suspect that his only aim was to amuse
and tire them out. Judging, then, that in persisting to follow him they
must lose the remaining part of the flood tide, which was much more
valuable to them than the sight of his hut could be, they parted from him
in great friendship.
The most probable reason of his unwillingness to be their guide seemed,
his not having a male companion near him; and his fearing that if he took
them to his women, their charms might induce them to run off with them--a
jealousy very common with the natives of the continent.
He was a short, slight made man of a middle age, with a countenance more
expressive of benignity and intelligence than of that ferocity or
stupidity which generally characterised the other natives; and his
features were less flattened, or negro-like, than theirs. His face was
blackened, and the top of his head was plastered with red earth. His
hair was either naturally short and close, or had been rendered so
by burning, and, although short and stiffly curled, they did not think
it woolly.* He was armed with two ill made spears of solid wood.
[* Mr. Raven, on his return to England in the _Buffalo_, putting into
Adventure Bay, close by where this man was seen, cut off some undoubted
wool from the head of a native that he fell in with there. This
circumstance was unknown to Mr. Bass.]
No part of their dress attracted his attention, except the red silk
handkerchief round their necks. Their fire arms were to him objects
neither of curiosity nor fear.
This was the first man they had spoken with in Van Diemen's land, and his
frank and open deportment led them not only to form a favourable opinion
of the disposition of its inhabitants, but to conjecture that if the
country was peopled in the usual numbers, he would not have been the only
one whom they would have met. A circumstance which corroborated this
supposition was, that in the excursions made by Mr. Bass into the
country, having seldom any other society than his two dogs, he could have
been no great object of dread to a people ignorant of the effects of fire
arms, and would certainly have been hailed by any one who might have seen
him.
They fell in with many huts along the different shores of the river, of
the same bad construction as those of Port Dalrymple, but with fewer
heaps of mussel shells lying near them. The natives of this place,
probably, draw the principal part of their food from the woods; the bones
of small animals, such as opossums, squirrels, kangaroo rats, and
bandicoots, were numerous round their deserted fire-places; and the two
spears which they saw in the hands of the man were similar to those used
for hunting in other parts. Many trees also were observed to be notched.
No canoes were ever seen, nor any tree so barked as to answer that
purpose. And yet all the islands in Frederick Henry Bay had evidently
been visited.
Besides the small quadrupeds already mentioned, they observed the grey
and red kangaroo, but not in any numbers, and once they heard the tread
of an emu.
The feathered tribes were apparently similar to those of Port Dalrymple.
Here again they daily ate their swan, the flocks of which even exceeded
those that they had before met with.
The most formidable among the reptiles was the black snake with venomous
fangs, and so much in colour resembling a burnt stick, that a close
inspection only could detect the difference. Mr. Bass once, with his eyes
cautiously directed towards the ground, stepped over one which was lying
asleep among some black sticks, and would have passed on without
observing it, had not its rustling and loud hiss attracted his attention
the moment afterwards.
He determined on taking him alive, in order to try the effect of his bite
upon a hawk which was at that time in the sloop. In the contest, he
turned round and bit himself severely; in a few minutes after which he
was mastered. His exertions, however, were still vigorous, and Mr. Bass
expected, as he began to recover himself, that they would increase; but
in less than ten minutes he died. Having never before known a snake of
this size to be killed by a few very slight blows with a stick so rotten
as scarcely to bear the weight of its own blow, he was at a loss to
conceive how death had so suddenly succeeded so much vigour in an animal
so tenacious of life. Was it possible that his own bite could have been
the cause? When, three hours afterwards, the skin was stripped off, the
flesh for some distance round the marks of his teeth, was found inflamed
and discoloured.
The account of the Derwent river being now closed, and the whole of what
was learned of Van Diemen's land related, it may not be improper, says
Mr. Bass, to point out the manner in which this country and New South
Wales appear to differ in their most essential quality, that of their
soil.
In adjusting their comparative fertility, the contrasted disposition of
their soils is much more prominent than any inequality in their quantity.
They are poor countries; but, as far as the eye of discovery has yet
penetrated into either, the cultivable soil of the latter is found lying
in a few distinct patches of limited extent, and of varying quality;
while the soil of the former, being more equally spread, those spots of
abundant richness, or large wilds of unimproveable sterility, are much
less frequently seen.
Although Van Diemen's land seems to possess few or none of those vast
depths of soil with which the happiest spots of New South Wales are
blessed; yet it seldom sickens the heart of its traveller with those
extensive tracts which at once disarm industry, and leave the warmest
imagination without one beguiling project.
In point of productive soil Mr. Bass gives the preponderance to Van
Diemen's land.
In one particular, which to the inhabitants of a civilized country is of
the utmost importance, both countries are but too much alike: each is
amply stored with water for the common purposes of life; but deficient in
those large intersections of it which, in other more fortunate countries,
so much facilitate the operations of man, and lead commerce to the door
of even the most inland farmer.
Two rivers only, Port Dalrymple and the Derwent, are known to descend
from Van Diemen's land; and by Point St Vincent possibly there may be a
third. But two rivers, or even three, bear but a scanty proportion to the
bulk of the island.
On the 3rd of January they left the Derwent, and proceeded to the
northward, coasting the east side of Frederick Henry Bay, which was for
the most part high and steep to the sea. The figure of the shore, between
what is now called Cape Basaltes and Cape Pillar, exhibited one of those
great works of nature which seldom fall to excite surprise: it was all
basaltic. The cape is a vast high wedge, which projects into the sea,
surmounted by lofty single columns.
After passing Cape Pillar, some islands came in sight to the northward;
but they did not fetch them, owing to the wind hanging in that quarter.
On the following day, they reached within five or six miles of one of
them, which in its general appearance bore some resemblance to Furneaux's
Islands. This group must be either Maria's or Schouten's islands, or
both; but it was not determined to which they belonged.
On the 7th, having until that day had but indistinct views of the land,
they saw Cape Barren Island. They did not pass through the channel, or
passage, which divides Furneaux's islands, but discovered why Captain
Furneaux named the place the Bay of Shoals.
Early on the morning of the 8th they were among the islands lying off the
Patriarchs. They were three in number; the largest of which was high,
rocky, and barren, with a basis of granite, which, like that of
Preservation Island, laid scattered about in large detached blocks.
Mr. Bass landed upon the outermost, and found it well inhabited. The
various tribes had divided it into districts. One part was white with
gannets, breeding in nests of earth and dried grass. Petrels and penguins
had their underground habitations in those parts of the island which had
the most grass. The rocks of the shore, and blocks of granite, were
occupied by the pied offensive shag and common gull; geese, red-bills and
quails, lived in common, and the rest was appropriated to the seals, who
seemed to be the lords of the domain. Mr. Bass remarked with surprise,
that though the principal herd scampered off like sheep, as is usual on
the first approach, yet the males, who possessed a rock to themselves,
where they sat surrounded by their numerous wives and progeny, on his
drawing near them, hobbled up with a menacing roar, and fairly commenced
the attack, while the wives seemed to rest their security upon the
superior courage and address of their lord; for, instead of retreating
into the water in the utmost consternation, they only raised themselves
upon their fore fins, as if ready for a march, keeping their eye upon
him, and watching the movements of his enemy.
The seal is reckoned a stupid animal; but Mr. Bass noticed many signs of
uncommon sagacity in them; and was of opinion that, by much patience and
perseverance, a seal might be trained to fish for man; in which there is
nothing, at first sight, more preposterous than the attempt to make a
hawk his fowler.
The seal appeared to branch off into various species. He did not
recollect to have seen them precisely alike upon any two islands in the
strait. Most of them were of that kind called by the sealers hair seals;
but they differed in the shape of the body, or of the head, the situation
of the fore fins, the colour, and very commonly in the voice, as if each
island spoke a peculiar language.
Having collected as much stock as was necessary, they stood to the
northward, and on the 12th reached Port Jackson.
On delivering the account of this voyage to the governor, he named the
principal discovery, which was the event of it, Bass Strait, as a tribute
due to the correctness of judgment which led Mr. Bass, in his first visit
in the whale boat, to suppose that the south-westerly winds which rolled
in upon the shores of Western Port, could proceed only from their being
exposed to the Southern Indian Ocean.
The most prominent advantage which seemed likely to accrue to the
settlement from this discovery was, the expediting of the passage from
the Cape of Good Hope to Port Jackson; for, although a line drawn from
the Cape to 44 degrees of south latitude, and to the longitude of the
south Cape of Van Diemen's land, would not sensibly differ from one drawn
to the latitude of 40 degrees, to the same longitude; yet it must be
allowed, that a ship will be four degrees nearer to Port Jackson in the
latter situation, than it would be in the former. But there is, perhaps,
a greater advantage to be gained by making a passage through the strait,
than the mere saving of four degrees of latitude along the coast. The
major part of the ships that have arrived at Port Jackson have met with
NE winds on opening the sea round the South Cape and Cape Pillar, and
have been so much retarded by them, that a fourteen days' passage to the
port is reckoned to be a fair one, although the difference of latitude is
but ten degrees, and the most prevailing winds at the latter place are
from SE to S in summer, and from WSW to S in winter. If by going through
Bass Strait these NE winds can be avoided, which in many cases would
probably be the case, there is no doubt but a week or more would be
gained by it; and the expense, with the wear and tear of a ship for one
week, are objects to most owners, more especially when freighted with
convicts by the run.
This strait likewise presents another advantage. From the prevalence of
the NE and easterly winds off the South Cape, many suppose that a passage
may be made from thence to the westward, either to the Cape of Good Hope,
or to India; but the fear of the great unknown bight between the South
Cape and the SW Cape of Lewen's land, lying in about 35 degrees south and
113 degrees east, has hitherto prevented the trial being made. Now the
strait removes a part of this danger, by presenting a certain place of
retreat, should a gale oppose itself to the ship in the first part of the
essay; and should the wind come at SW she need not fear making a good
stretch to the WNW, which course, if made good, is within a few degrees
of going clear of all. There is besides King George the Third's Sound,
discovered by Captain Vancouver, situate in the latitude of 35 degrees 03
minutes south, and longitude 118 degrees 12 minutes east; and it is to be
hoped, that a few years will disclose many others upon the coast, as well
as the confirmation or futility of the conjecture*, that a still larger
than Bass Strait dismembers New Holland.
[* To verify or confute this conjecture, Lieutenant, now Captain
Flinders (from whose journal these observations on the advantages
of the strait are taken), has lately sailed in his Majesty's ship
_Investigator_. He is accompanied by several professional men of
great abilities, selected by that liberal and distinguished patron of
merit Sir Joseph Banks, from whose exertions, joined with those of the
commander, navigation and natural history have much information and
gratification to expect. The _Investigator_ is to be attended by the
_Lady Nelson_, a small vessel of fifty tons burden, built under the
inspection and according to the plan of that truly respectable and
valuable man, and scientific officer, Commissioner Schank, whose
abilities are too well known to require any eulogium from this pen.]
The vessel that has the credit of having first circumnavigated Van
Diemen's land was built at Norfolk Island, of the fir of that country,
which was found to answer extremely well. Being only five-and-twenty tons
in burden, her comforts and accommodation must have been very
inconsiderable, but great when compared with those which could have been
found in a whale boat. Yet in a whale boat did Mr. Bass, as has been
already shown, run down the eastern coast of New South Wales from Port
Jackson to the entrance of the strait. Captain Flinders has not the
gratification of associating this gentleman with him in his present
expedition, he having sailed on another voyage and a different pursuit.