g. 46' S., which was seventeen miles to the southward of the
log; our longitude was 206 deg. 26' W. Mount Warning bore S. 26 W. distant
fourteen leagues, and the northermost land in sight bore N. We pursued
our course along the shore, at the distance of about two leagues, in the
direction of N. 1/4 E. till between four and five in the afternoon, when
we discovered breakers in our larboard bow. Our depth of water was
thirty-seven fathom, and at sun-set, the northermost land bore N. by W.
the breakers N.W. by W. distant four miles, and the northermost land set
at noon, which formed a point, and to which I gave the name of _Point
Look-out_, W. distant five or six miles, in the latitude of 27 deg. 6'. On
the north side of this Point, the shore forms a wide open bay, which I
called _Moreton's Bay_, in the bottom of which the land is so low that I
could but just see it from the top-mast head. The breakers lie between
three or four miles from Point Look-out; and at this time we had a great
sea from the southward, which broke upon them very high. We stood on
N.N.E. till eight o'clock, when having passed the breakers, and deepened
our water to fifty-two fathom, we brought-to till midnight, when we made
sail again to the N.N.E. At four in the morning, we had 135 fathom, and
when the day broke, I perceived that during the night I had got much
farther northward, and from the shore, than I expected from the course
we steered, for we were distant at least seven leagues; I therefore
hauled in N.W. by W. with a fresh gale at S.S.W. The land that was
farthest to the north the night before, now bore S.S.W. distant six
leagues, and I gave it the name of _Cape Moreton_, it being the north
point of Moreton's Bay: Its latitude is 26 deg. 56', and its longitude is
206 deg. 28'. From Cape Moreton the land trends away west, farther than can
be seen, for there is a small space, where at this time no land is
visible, and some on board having also observed that the sea looked
paler than usual, were of opinion that the bottom of Moreton's Bay
opened into a river. We had here thirty-four fathom water, and a fine
sandy bottom: This alone would have produced the change that had been
observed in the colour of the water; and it was by no means necessary to
suppose a river to account for the land at the bottom of the Bay not
being visible, for supposing the land there to be as low as we knew it
to be in a hundred other parts of the coast, it would have been