fathoms, on a sandy bottom; nor was there much decrease until
noon, when the low shore of Cape Portland was at something less, and the
outer rocky islets something more than a mile distant, and we came rather
suddenly into 3 fathoms. The latitude observed was 40 deg. 43 2/3' south, and
the island last quitted bore N. 85 deg. to S. 84 deg. E., distant six miles.

There being little wind at this time, the sloop, in passing round the
rocky islets of Cape Portland, was carried by the tide over a ledge where
there was scarcely 2 fathoms; and was then driven westward on a curved
line of rippling water, which extended northward from the islets as far
as the eye could reach. We passed over the rippling in 9 fathoms; and the
wind being entirely gone, were then carried to the south-west.

Soon after four o'clock, the ebb appeared to be making; and the anchor
was dropped in 11 fathoms, sandy bottom, about one mile west of Cape
Portland. The shore on this side of the cape trends south, in rocky heads
and beaches, and afterwards curves westward, forming an extensive bay,
which terminates in a point. To this the name of _Point Waterhouse_ was
given, in honour of the commander of the Reliance, and an island, whose
top is level and moderately high, lying off the point, was named ISLE
WATERHOUSE.

The bottom of the large bay is sandy, and the hills of Cape Portland
there retiring further back, permitted a view of the inland mountains, of
which there was a high and extensive ridge. Mountains like these are
usually the parents of rivers; and the direction of the ebb tide, which
came from between S.W. by S. and S.W. by W. at the rate of two-and-a-half
miles an hour, gave hopes of finding some considerable inlet in the bay,
and increased our anxiety for a fair breeze.

A set of distances of the sun east of the moon, a meridian altitude of
the planet Mars, and a western amplitude of the sun were taken at this
anchorage, the results of which, with the bearings of the land, were as
under:

deg. '
Latitude observed, 40 44 S.
Longitude from lunar distances corrected, 147 56 E.
Variation of the compass (the sloop's head being S.W.) 12 30 E.
C. Barren peak, over the outer islets of C. Portland, N. 47 E.
Mount Chappell, North.
Isle Waterhouse, centre, dist. 5 or 6 leagues, S.