t is obstructed by either islands or reefs that
leave very little passage.) they are of Various Extent both for height
and Circuit, and many of them seem'd to be indifferently well Cloath'd
with wood, etc., and, from the smokes we saw, some, if not all of them,
must be inhabited. It is also very probable that among these Islands are
as good, if not better, passages than the one we have come thro', altho'
one need hardly wish for a better, was the access to it from the Eastward
less dangerous; but this difficulty will remain until some better way is
found out than the one we came, which no doubt may be done was it ever to
become an object to be looked for.* (* It is the western and not the
eastern approach of Endeavour Strait that forms the difficulty, now the
locality has been charted, for vessels of deeper draught than the
Endeavour; though for small craft, as Cook says, you can hardly wish for
a better.) The northern Extent of the Main or outer reef, which limit or
bounds the Shoals to the Eastward, seems to be the only thing wanting to
Clear up this point; and this was a thing I had neither time nor
inclination to go about, having been already sufficiently harrass'd with
dangers without going to look for more.* (* The east coast of Australia,
which Cook had now followed from end to end, is 2000 miles in extent. He
took four months over it, much less time than he had given to New
Zealand; but this is easily accounted for. His people were getting worn
out, and he was haunted by fears of not getting off the coast before the
North-West monsoon set in, which would have been a foul wind for him in
getting from Torres Straits to Batavia, and his provisions were running
short. Besides this, there was the grave doubt whether Australia and New
Guinea were really separated. If this turned out to be false, there was a
long round to make, back to the eastern extremity of the latter, and the
voyage to Batavia would have been infinitely extended. Considering these
circumstances, Cook's exploration of the coast was wonderful, and the
charts attached to this book attest the skill and unwearied pains taken
in mapping it from such a cursory glance. He only stopped at four places:
Botany Bay, Bustard Bay, Thirsty Sound, and the Endeavour River; and from
the neighbourhood of these, with the view obtained as he coasted along,
he had to form his opinion of the country--an opinion, as we shall see,
singularly correct.)

This passage, which I