upon this coast of sand the difficulty of procuring it was expected to be
very great. It was, on the contrary, plentiful; there being many little
runs which drained out from the sand hills, and either trickled over the
rocky spots at their feet, or sank through the beaches into the sea.

The western gale being at length succeeded by a breeze at E. N. E., Mr.
Bass left the Ram Head early on the 31st. His course was W. by S., close
to a low, sandy coast; the beach being interrupted by small, rocky
points, not oftener than once in ten or fifteen miles. The back land
consisted of short ridges of irregular hills, lying at no great distance
from the sea. At noon, the latitude was 37 deg. 42'; and the distance run
from the Ram Head, by computation, was thirty or thirty-five miles.

The furthest land seen by captain Cook, is marked at fifteen leagues from
the Ram Head, and called _Point Hicks_; but at dusk Mr. Bass had run much
more than that distance close along the shore, and could perceive no
point or projection which would be distinguishable from a ship: the coast
continued to be straight, low, and sandy, similar to what had been passed
in the morning. There arose many large smokes from behind the beach;
probably from the sides of lagoons, with which, there was reason to
think, the back country abounded.

1798.

The breeze continuing to be fresh and favourable, Mr. Bass ventured to
steer onward in the night, and kept the shore close a-bord. At two in the
morning, the increased hollowness of the waves made him suspect the water
was becoming shallow; and he hauled off for an hour, until there was
sufficient daylight to distinguish the land. It was still low, level, and
sandy, and trended S. W. by W., nearly as the boat was steering. At seven
o'clock, high land appeared at a considerable distance in the south-west;
and the beach then trended in the same direction. It, however, changed
soon afterward, to run nearly west; and Mr. Bass quitted it to keep on
his course for the high land. The latitude at noon was 38 deg. 41'; and the
difference made from the noon before, upon the average course of S. W. by
W, makes the distance run 107 miles; which, added to the preceding thirty
or thirty-five, gives the length of the beach from the Ram Head, to be
about 140 miles.*

[* But the latitude observed appears to be 8' or 10' too little; and if
so, the length of the beach would be something more than 150 miles. It is
no matter of su