ud, which was supposed to be
a signal, for a lance was immediately thrown at him out of the wood,
which very narrowly missed him. When the Indians saw that the weapon had
not taken effect, they ran away with the greatest precipitation; but on
turning about towards the place whence the lance had been thrown, he saw
a young Indian, whom he judged to be about nineteen or twenty years old,
come down from a tree, and he also ran away with such speed as made it
hopeless to follow him. Mr Monkhouse was of opinion that he had been
watched by these Indians in his passage through the thicket, and that
the youth had been stationed in the tree, to discharge the lance at him,
upon a signal as he should come by; but however this be, there could be
no doubt that he was the person who threw the lance.

In the afternoon I went myself with a party over to the north shore, and
while some of our people were hauling the seine, we made an excursion a
few miles into the country, proceeding afterwards in the direction of
the coast. We found this place without wood, and somewhat resembling our
moors in England; the surface of the ground, however, was covered with a
thin brush of plants, about as high as the knees: The hills near the
coast are low, but others rise behind them, increasing by a gradual
ascent to a considerable distance, with marshes and morasses between.
When we returned to the boat, we found that our people had caught with
the seine a great number of small fish, which are well known in the
West-Indies, and which our sailors call leather-jackets, because their
skin is remarkably thick. I had sent the second lieutenant out in the
yawl a-striking, and when we got back to the ship, we found that he also
had been very successful. He had observed that the large sting-rays, of
which there is great plenty in the bay, followed the flowing tide into
very shallow water; he therefore took the opportunity of flood, and
struck several in not more than two or three feet water: One of them
weighed no less than two hundred and forty pounds after his entrails
were taken out.

The next morning, as the wind still continued northerly, I sent out the
yawl again, and the people struck one still larger, for when his
entrails were taken out he weighed three hundred and thirty-six pounds.

The great quantity of plants which Mr Banks and Dr Solander collected in
this place induced me to give it the name of _Botany Bay_.[72] It is
situated in the latitude