which stopped our progress did not run off from Shoal Cape, as
captain Bligh had supposed, but from a smaller and nearer island, two
miles from my station. Within the large island, of which Shoal Cape forms
the north-western point, I saw water like an inclosed port, probably the
Wolf's Bay of captain Edwards; and it seemed possible that the land may
be there divided; but the best information I can give of the forms and
extent of all these islands, will be seen in the particular chart.

It was now ascertained, that the figures resembling sentry boxes were ant
hills, of eight or more feet high; Pelsert found similar hills on the
West Coast, and says they might have been taken for the houses of
Indians, as in fact we did take them at a distant view. They were also
seen by Dampier on the North-west Coast, who mistook them in the same
way; but says he found them to be so many rocks, probably from not making
the examination with his usual care. The insects which inhabit, and I
suppose erect these structures, are small, reddish, with black heads, and
seemed to be a sluggish and feeble race. We found the common black flies
excessively numerous here; and almost as troublesome as Dampier describes
them to be on the North-west Coast.

Good's Island is between one and two miles long, and resembles the rest
of the cluster in being hilly, woody, and rocky, with small beaches on
the leeward side. The stone is granitic and brittle; but there is also
porphyry, and in one place I found streaks of verdegrease, as if the
cliffs above had contained copper ore. A log of wood, resembling the
cedar of Port Jackson, was thrown up on the beach, but none of the trees
were seen; those scattered over the island, though of various kinds, were
small and fit for little else than the fire. A species of silk-cotton
plant was plentiful; the fibres in the pod are strong, and have a fine
gloss, and might perhaps be advantageously employed in manufacture.

From two supplements of the sun's meridian altitude to the north, the
_latitude_ of our anchorage would be 10 deg. 34' 12"; but the supplements
observed on the 31st having given 1' 14" too far south, the correct
latitude is taken to be 10 deg. 32' 58". The _longitude_ from nine sets of
distances of the sun west of the moon, was 142 deg. 23'; but by the corrected
time keeper, which I prefer, it was 142 deg. 101/2' east. To compare this
longitude with that of captain Cook, it must be reduced to some point