le hill, which stood a little way inland,
and somewhat resembled the crown of a hat: And at noon, our latitude, by
observation, was 32 deg. 53' S., and our longitude 208 deg. W. We were about two
leagues distant from the land, which extended from N. 41 E. to S. 41 W.,
and a small round rock, or island, which lay close under the land, bore
S. 82 W. distant between three and four leagues. At four in the
afternoon, we passed, at the distance of about a mile, a low rocky
point, which I called _Point Stephens_, on the north side of which is an
inlet, which I called _Port Stephens_: This inlet appeared to me, from
the mast-head, to be sheltered from all winds. It lies in latitude 32 deg.
40', longitude 207 deg. 51', and at the entrance are three small islands,
two of which are high; and on the main near the shore are some high
round hills, which at a distance appear like islands. In passing this
bay, at the distance of two or three miles from the shore, our soundings
were from thirty-three to twenty-seven fathom, from which I conjectured
that there must be a sufficient depth of water within it. At a little
distance within land, we saw smoke in several places; and at half an
hour past five, the northermost land in sight bore N. 36 E. and Point
Stephens S.W. distant four leagues. Our soundings in the night, were
from forty-eight to sixty-two fathom, at the distance of between three
and four leagues from the shore, which made in two hillocks. This Point
I called _Cape Hawke_: It lies in the latitude of 32 deg. 14' S., longitude
207 deg. 30' W.; and at four o'clock in the morning bore W. distant about
eight miles; at the same time the northermost land in sight bore N. 6 E.
and appeared like an island. At noon, this land bore N. 8 E. the
northermost land in sight N. 13 E. and Cape Hawke S. 37 W. Our latitude,
by observation, was 32 deg. 2' S. which was twelve miles to the southward of
that given by the log; so that probably we had a current setting that
way: By the morning amplitude and azimuth, the variation was 9 deg. 10' E.
During our run along the shore, in the afternoon, we saw smoke in
several places, at a little distance from the beach, and one upon the
top of a hill, which was the first we had seen upon elevated ground
since our arrival upon the coast. At sun-set, we had twenty-three
fathom, at the distance of a league and a half from the shore: The
northermost land then bore N. 13 E. and three hills, remarkably large
and hi