66 AVOYAGETO 



December. NaVBS Refolution 



^ ' ' et Difcovery 



de Rege Magjice Br'itajima;^ 

 Decembris lyjh, 



I then put it again into a bottle, together with a filver two- 

 penny piece of 1772; and having covered the mouth of the 

 Saturday 28. bottlc with a leaden cap, I placed it, the next morning, in 

 a pile of Hones erected for the purpofe, upon a little emi- 

 nence on the North fliore of the harbour, and near to the 

 place where it was firil found ; in which pofition it cannot 

 efcape the notice of any European, whom chance or defign 

 may bring into this port. Here I difplayed the Britifli flag, 

 and named the place Chrijlmas Harbour, from our having ar- 

 rived in it on that feRival. 



It is the firfl, or nonhernmoft inlet that we meet with on 

 the South Eaft fide of Cape St. Louis *, which forms the 

 North fide of the harbour, and is alfo the Northern point of 

 this land. The fituation alone is fufiicient to didinguifli it 

 from any of the other inlets ; and, to make it more remark- 

 able, its South point terminates in a high rock, which is 

 perforated quite through, fo as to appear like the arch of a 

 bridge. We faw none like this upon tlie whole coafl f-. The 

 harbour has another dilUnguifliing mark within, from a 



Angle 



* Cape Francois, for reafons already affigned. 



f If there could be the lead doubt remaining of the identity of the Baie de I'Oifeau, 

 and ChrifliTias harbour, the ciicumftance of the perforated rock, which divides it from 

 another bay to the South, would amount to a ftrift demonftration. For Monfieur de 

 Pages had obferved this difci iminating mark before Captain Cook. His words are as 

 fol!o'.vs : " L'on vit que la cote de I'Efl, voifine du Cap Francois, avoit deuxbaies ; 

 •♦ elles etoient feparees par une pointe tres reconnciflable par fa forme, qui reprefcntoit 

 •' une forte cochere, au travers de laquclle Von voyoit lejour," Voyages du M. de Pace's, 

 Vol. ii. p. 67. Lvery one knows how exactly the form of a forte cochere, or arched 



gateway. 



