om Point Bass; after which
it turns north-westward. In the direction of west from Shoals Haven, and
in all the space to the south of that line, was an extensive, flat
country, where a party desirous of penetrating into the interior might
reasonably hope to avoid those impediments which, at the back of Port
Jackson., have constantly proved insurmountable.

In an excursion from the boat towards the southern end of the mountains,
Mr. Bass fell in with a considerable stream, which he traced down to the
shore, about three miles north of Shoals' Haven: this is the first inlet
of the long bay, which had been observed from the sea, with a bar running
across the entrance. The soil on the southern bank of this stream he
compared, for richness, to the banks of the Hawkesbury; and attributes
this unusual fertility to the same cause: repeated inundations. In fact,
the stream has since been found to descend from the mountains at twelve
or fifteen miles from the coast, and to run along their southern
extremity to the sea; so that it performs the same office here that the
Hawkesbury does further north--that of being a channel for the waters
which descend from the high back land; but as, in the heavy rains, it is
also unequal to the task, the banks are overflowed, and the low country
to the south and west is inundated and fertilized. There are, however, at
the back of Shoals Haven, many thousand acres of open ground, whose soil
is a rich vegetable mould, and now beyond the reach of the floods.

Dec. 10. The boat left Shoals Haven and entered _Jervis Bay_, a large
open place of very unpromising appearance. On the north side of the
entrance, between Point Perpendicular and Long Nose, there is a small
cove, where a ship's boat might lie at half tide; and with a hose fill
water from the back of the beach, at two pits which appeared to be always
full. The best anchorage for ships seemed to be on the east side of the
bay, between Long Nose and the northern beach, though they would not,
even there, be entirely land-locked. _Bowen's Island_ lies a quarter of a
mile from the south side of the entrance, but the passage between does
not admit any thing larger than boats. There is a small beach at the back
of the island, off which ships might anchor in 8 fathoms sandy bottom,
and be sheltered as far round as south-east; but with the wind nearer to
east they would be exposed.

The east shore of Jervis Bay runs, for twelve or fifteen miles, so near