92 cook's first voyage may, 



ternoon, we saw smoke in several places upon the 

 shore, and in the evening, found the variation to 

 be 8 25' E. At this time we were between two 

 and three miles from the shore, in twenty-eight fa- 

 thom ; and at noon, the next day, we had not ad- 

 vanced one step to the northward. We stood oft* 

 shore, with the winds northerly, till twelve at night, 

 and at the distance of about five leagues, had seventy 

 fathom ; at the distance of six leagues we had 

 eighty fathom, which is the extent of the soundings; 

 for at the distance of ten leagues, we had no ground 

 with 150 fathom. 



The wind continuing northerly till the morning 

 of the 10th, we continued to stand in and off the 

 shore, with very little change of situation in other 

 respects ; but a gale then springing up at S. W., 

 we made the best of our way along the shore to the 

 northward. At sun-rise, our latitude was 33 2' S., 

 and the variation 8 E. At nine in the forenoon, 

 we passed a remarkable hill, which stood a little way 

 inland, and somewhat resembled the crown of a hat; 

 and at noon, our latitude, by observation, was 32 53 f 

 S., and our longitude 208 W. We were about two 

 leagues distant from the land, which extended from 

 N. 41 E. to S. 41 W., and a small round rock, or 

 island, which lay close under the land, bore S. 82 

 W., distant between three and four leagues. At four 

 in the afternoon, we passed, at the distance of about 

 a mile, a low rocky point, which I called Point 

 Stephens ; on the north side of which is an inlet, 

 which I called Port Stephens : this inlet appeared 

 to me, from the masthead, to be sheltered from all 

 winds. It lies in latitude 32 40', longitude 207 51', 

 and at the entrance are three small islands, two of 

 which are high ; and on the main near the shore are 

 some high round hills, which at a distance appear 

 like islands. In passing this bay, at the distance of 

 two or three miles from the shore, our soundings 

 were from thirty-three to twenty-seven fathom, from 



