but finding it to be a little creek which
even our boat could not enter, I determined to seek a more convenient
watering place higher up the Derwent.

[* The first settlement was made in Risdon Cove, in 1803, by captain John
Bowen of the navy, who was sent from Port Jackson for that purpose, by
his Excellency governor King; but on the arrival of colonel Collins in
1804, it was removed to Sullivan Cove.]

Dec. 24, the wind being adverse to proceeding upward, an extensive set of
angles was taken from the top of Mount Direction; and next day, I carried
the survey up the river, whilst Mr. Bass ascended the great _Mount
Table_, on the western side. At the northern foot of this mount lie _King
George's Plains_, a name given by Mr. Hayes to about three hundred acres
of pasture land; and in the front of the plains is his _Prince of Wales'
Bay_, a small shallow cove. Such names as these led us, at first, into
some errors with respect to the importance of the places sought; but
after the above examples, we were no longer deceived by them.

In the afternoon of the 25th, we got the sloop, with much difficulty,
five or six miles further up the river, to an inlet which I called
_Herdsman's Cove_, from the pastoral appearance of the surrounding
country. Two streams fall into it; and up the principal one, in the
north-east corner, I went two miles with the boat. The water was there
found to be fresh, and the depth sufficient to allow of its being reached
by the sloop; but the banks being steep and channel narrow, I was
deterred from watering in this place, by the fear of detention from foul
winds.

The width of the Derwent abreast of Herdsman's Cove is half a mile; but
except a very narrow channel close to the eastern shore, it is too
shallow even for boats. The intention of proceeding further with the
sloop was therefore abandoned; but so soon as the rainy, blowing weather
permitted, which was not until the 28th, I accompanied Mr. Bass in a boat
excursion up the river. Three miles above Herdsman's Cove the banks open
out to a mile in width; the river, from running north-westward, turns to
the south-west; and the deep channel makes a short cut across to the
convex bank, leaving the mud to collect in the opposite elbow. A great
deal of long, aquatic grass growing upon these mud flats, seemed to have
attracted the black swans, for the number collected there was not
estimated at less than five hundred.

The width of the Derwent is co