128 



AUSTRALASIA. 



Austral- 

 ana. 



1700-1810. 



Wilson. 



Bass. 



Flinders. 



led by the natives Ouarido, which is covered with 

 large trues, and mountainous throughout. The na- 

 wenl nearly naked : the chiefs only being clo- 

 thed in studs obtained from the Chinese, and some- 

 had silver bracelets. From the great value set on 

 iron, it was suspected that they were acquainted with 

 r.ome method of forging it ; but the European commo- 

 dity which they chiefly coveted was red cloth. Their 

 which wen- built of bamboo, and covered with 

 reeds, resembled those of the Papuans, in being sup- 

 ported several feet above the ground on posts. The 

 French were visited by several chiefs, one of whom 

 even ventured to sleep on board the Esperance : but 

 whenever preparations were made for getting under 

 way, he precipitately threw himself into the sea. 

 The Dutch had live months before treacherously se- 

 duced his brother into captivity, when he was invited 

 to partake of an entertainment on board of their vessel. 

 Although this voyage has not added mjtch to geo- 

 graphical discovery in Australasia, it is valuable on 

 account of its illustration of the natural history of 

 the different countries, and the accuracy with which 

 the astronomical observations seem to have been made. 

 The two vessels lost nearly half their men, which af- 

 fords a striking demonstration of the superior skill 

 of British officers, who have been known to circum- 

 navigate the globe, arid hardly lose one of the crew 1 . 

 We arc indebted to M. Labillardiere for an account 

 of this voyage. 



During the interval at which we are now arrived, 

 between the expeditions of M. de la Perouse in 1786, 

 and M. Labillardiere in 1794, the occasional voyages 

 of the English between New Holland and Britain, or 

 her eastern possessions, had been productive of some 

 less important discoveries. In the course of the ex- 

 traordinary, or rather the extravagant voyage per- 

 formed by the ship Duff, a groupc of about eleven 

 islands, lying in 9 51' of S. latitude, and 167 E. 

 longitude, was discovered in 1797. The two largest 

 were entirely covered with wood, and bore the ap- 

 pearance of great fertility. The natives were stout 

 and well made, and of a copper colour. Their canoes 

 were twelve or fourteen feet long, only fifteen inches 

 wide, and made of a single tree sharpened at the ends. 

 But we hasten to a voyage of greater importance, 

 by Captain Flinders, which ascertained the fact of 

 Van Diemen's Land being no part of New Hol- 

 land. The merit of this discovery does not be- 

 long to him alone, for Mr Bass, surgeon of his majes- 

 p Reliance, had previously made an excursion 

 in (01 open boat to the southward of Port Jackson, to- 

 wards the end of the year 1797. He sailed as far as 

 40 of south latitude, and visited every opening in 

 the coast during his voyage. Between 39 and 40 

 of south latitude, he thought he had sufficient reason 

 to believe that there was an extensive strait, or rather 

 an open sea : and conjectured that Van Diemen's Land 

 consisted of a groupe of islands south of New Hol- 

 land. The want of a better vessel prevented him 

 at that time from completing their circumnavigation. 

 rer, this w medied by the governor of 



the English Colo ng out Captain 11: 



suitably provided, on . of discovery, accom- 



panied by Mr B88. They sailed for Van Diemen's 

 Land in October 1798, and visited Furneaux's islands, 

 3 



red in 1771 by the captain of the Adventure. 

 Preservation Island, which had received that name 

 from proving an asylum to a shipwrecked crew, on 

 being particularly examined, exhibited a singular 

 kind of petrifaction that had taken place in the stumps 

 of the trees. It extended far above the ground, 

 but did not penetrate more than two or three inches 

 downwards into a sandy soil. On standing further 

 into the supposed strait, ti .Ted a large har- 



bour, which they called Port Dalrymple, in . lati- 

 tude41, on the northof Van Diemen's Land. Though 

 tli'-y were able to make interesting remarks on the 

 animals, vegetables, and minerals, the shyness of the 

 inhabitants prevented any intercourse or communi- 

 cation with them. To judge by appearances, they 

 seemed even in a greater state of barbarity than the na- 

 tives of the neighbouring continent, and to be quite un- 

 acquainted with navigation in the rude canoes construct- 

 ed bythe most savage of the Australasians. One island, 

 fifteen or twenty miles in circuit, was next discover- 

 ed, and another in latitude 40 24', E. longitude 145 # 

 2', which, from the innumerable quantities of alba- 

 trosses frequenting it, they called Albatross island. 

 The wings of these birds expanded between seven and 

 nine feet. Other ten islands were discovered in the 

 vicinity, and the whole received the general name 

 of Hunter's isles. In this latitude the navigators 

 concluded that they had passed through a strait be- 

 tween one- and two degrees in width, which separated 

 New Holland from Van Diemen's Land. The ap- 

 peurar.ee of the coast changed ; a great swell rol- 

 led in, and a surf breaking on a bold shore announced 

 the vicinity of the open ocean. On the 8th of Ja- 

 nuary they passed the south-west cape of Van Die- 

 men's Land ; and what had hitherto been universally de- 

 scribed as part of New Holland, proved a large island, 

 completely separated from the continent. After being 

 out twelve weeks, they arrived at Port Jackson. The 

 discovery of this passage, named by the governor Bass's 

 Straits, promised great advantages. In voyages from 

 New Holland to the Cape of Good Hope, it was 

 judged that a whole week would be gained, and some 

 mariners affirmed, that no other course would ever 

 afterwards be taken. In the year 1804, the China 

 fleet entered the strait on the 28th of October, pas- 

 sed it in safety, and reached the coast of China on the 

 28th of December. The real value of such a disco- 

 very will be best appreciated by the importance at- 

 tached to it by our countrymen in the remote settle- 

 ments of Australasia. There, we are told by recent 

 French navigators, that the remains of the vessel 

 which made the discovery are preserved with a kind of 

 religious veneration ; and that parts of the keel, made 

 into various little articles, are presented to foreign 

 officers as donations, which no pecuniary recompence 

 can obtain. 



Captain Flinders was soon afterwards engaged in 

 subsequent voyages of discovery. In the earlier part 

 of the year 1802) he surveyed King George's sound, 

 and the west coast of New Holland, from Lewin's 

 land to Western Port. He again left Port Jackson 

 in Jlily of the same year, and sailing through Torres 

 or Endeavour straits in thirty-six hours, arrived in 

 the gulf of Carpentaria in the latter end of the sea- 

 son. The sickness of his crew obliged him to interrupt- 



Austra'- 



1700-1810, 



