82 cook's first voyage may, 



which gave the latitude 34 S., the variation of the 

 needle was 11 3' E. 



Early the next morning, the body of Forby Su- 

 therland, one of our seamen, who died the evening 

 before, was buried near the watering-place ; and from 

 this incident I called the south point of this bay 

 Sutherland Point. This day we resolved to make an 

 excursion into the country. Mr. Banks, Dr. Solan- 

 der, myself, and seven others, properly accoutred 

 for the expedition, set out, and repaired first to the 

 huts near the watering-place, whither some of the 

 natives continued every day to resort ; and though 

 the little presents which we had left there before had 

 not yet been taken away, we left others of somewhat 

 more value, consisting of cloth, looking-glasses, 

 combs, and beads, and then went up into the coun- 

 try. We found the soil to be either swamp or light 

 sand, and the face of the country finely diversified by 

 wood and lawn. The trees are tall, straight, and 

 without underwood, standing at such a distance from 

 each other, that the whole country, at least where 

 the swamps do not render it incapable of cultivation, 

 might be cultivated without cutting down one of 

 them. Between the trees the ground is covered with 

 grass, of which there is great abundance, growing in 

 tufts about as big as can well be grasped in the hand, 

 which stand very close to each other. We saw many 

 houses of the inhabitants, and places where they had 

 slept upon the grass without any shelter ; but we saw 

 only one of the people, who, the moment he discovered 

 us, ran away. At all these places we left presents, 

 hoping that at length they might produce confidence 

 and good-will. We had a transient and imperfect 

 view of a quadruped, about as big as a rabbit. Mr. 

 Banks's greyhound, which was with us, got sight of 

 it, and would probably have caught it, but the mo- 

 ment he set off he lamed himself against a stump 

 which lay concealed in the long grass. We after- 

 wards saw the dung of an animal which fed upon 



