orth-West, parallel with the shore of the main, which
appeared to be very low.

June 12.

The next morning we were steering towards Mount Upstart, and at noon
passed within two miles of its extremity. Behind the Mount, which rises
with remarkable abruptness from the low land in its rear, are two
prominent hills; the highest of which, Mount Abbott, has a peaked summit;
the irregular and mountainous appearance of the range upon which this
Mount stands, and a very evident break in the hills on its western side,
would lead one to suspect the existence of a river, of which the bay on
the western side of the Mount may be the mouth. There is also a bay on
the eastern side of Mount Upstart, which also has a river-like
appearance. In fact, it is not at all certain whether Mount Upstart may
not be an island, and the bay behind it the mouth of a considerable
stream.

The variation observed by Captain Cook off Mount Upstart was 9 degrees
East; but by an Azimuth observed by me close to the Cape, it was found
not more than 6 degrees 16 minutes East. The result of Captain Cook's
observation must therefore be attributed to some other cause than, as he
supposed, to a magnetical power in the hills of this promontory.

June 13.

At daylight of the 13th we passed within four miles of the extremity of
Cape Bowling-green, which, although it is very low and sandy, is not
destitute of wood or verdure; between Cape Bowling-green and the back
mountainous ranges, a distance of nearly thirty miles, the country
appears to rise gradually, and gave us reason to regret that the nature
of my instructions did not warrant our making a more particular
examination of this part of the coast, for it appears to offer a much
greater degree of interest and importance than any part of the southward
without the tropic. Indeed, this bay appeared to be equally promising in
its appearance with those near Mount Upstart; and the peculiar feature of
Cape Bowling-green, jutting out into the sea between them, considerably
increases the probability of there being more than one or two rivers of
importance hereabouts. The barren range, which has almost uninterruptedly
continued from the back of Cape Palmerston, a distance of 150 miles, here
ceases or retires, and leaves a gap of ten or twelve miles wide of low
land; to the North-West of which, Mount Eliot, a hill of considerable
height, rises rather abruptly; and, as the shores of the bay were not
distinctly traced, t