AUSTRALASIA. 



129 



Australu- 



1700-1810. 



Grant. 



Haraelin, 

 J'reycinct. 



this survey, and sail for Timor in Match 1803, but 

 soon returning, he completed the circumnavigation 

 of New Holland in eighteen months. In August 

 1803, he again sailed with the command of the Por- 

 poise and Cato, and a third ship in company. Both 

 the former were wrecked on a reef of rocks in 32 

 11' S. latitude, and 155 13' E. longitude, nearly SDO 

 miles from Botany Bay. A party of his men esca- 

 ped thither in an open boat : and after procuring as- 

 sistance from that settlement, Captain Flinders saw 

 the remainder, anc all his officers, safely embarked for 

 China. Impatient to convey his papers, plans, and 

 charts of discovery to England, he embarked once 

 more from Port Jackson in a vessel of only 19 tons 

 burden, which carried him across the great ocean to 

 the Isle of France, where, though he possessed pass- 

 ports from the French government, he was detained 

 with all his dispatches. In consequence of an appli- 

 cation by the Royal Society of London to the Na- 

 tional Institute, an order to liberate Captain Flin- 

 ders was transmitted from the French government to 

 the Isle of France in 1805 or 1806. The governor, 

 however, declined compliance, on pretence " that 

 the English captain was so well acquainted with his 

 island, he would be able to take it :" and we believe 

 that Captain Flinders still remains a prisoner. 



A small vessel, the Lady Nelson of 60 tons, built 

 on a particular construction, sailed from England un- 

 der the command of Lieutenant Grant, in March 

 1800, on a voyage of discovery to the Australasian 

 shores. In December, she made the coast of New 

 Holland, where a fine fertile looking country came in 

 view, covered with trees in some places down to the 

 water's edge. Lieutenant Grant followed the coast 

 from 38 S. latitude, and longitude 141 20' E, 

 through Bass's Straits to Botany Bay ; and fixed 

 the geographical position of several islands and head- 

 lands, which he discovered in the route. In March 

 1801 he sailed from Sydney Cove, and made an 

 accurate survey of the coast from Western Poilit, 

 in latitude 38 32' S., and longitude 146 19' E. 

 to Wilson's promontory, a great cape stretching 

 twenty miles into the sea. This cape, which is the 

 most southern point of New Holland, was discovered 

 by the Captain of an Eaot Iudiaman. In May 1801, 

 the Lady Nelson made a voyage to the northward of 

 this settlement to Coal River. Abundance of coals 

 appeared on a spot covered by low grass for many 

 acres ; and they could also be gathered on the shore 

 at low water. Copper ar.l iron ore were likewise 

 discovered. Peculiar circumstances, it would.ippear, 

 opposed to Lieutenant Grant's own opinion, prevent- 

 ed the further extension of the survey in which he 

 was employed. 



Here we have given but brief abstracts of the dis- 

 coveries by English navigators, while accounts by those 

 of foreign nations are more detailed, from being less 

 accessible. Certain it is, however, that no voyages, if 

 viewed with the strictest impartiality, can be"compared 

 with the expeditions which sail from our own country. 

 This decided superiority of the English, their settle- 

 ments, and discoveries in Australasia, excited the emu- 

 lation of the French. An expedition was, therefore, 

 planned with the utmost care, chiefly for the purpose 

 of exploring the Australasian region*. Its object was 



VOL. III. PART I. 



:Vulra!a- 

 bia. 



great and comprehensive, perhaps attempting to em- 

 brace, in the course of a short and limited period, what 

 might more reasonably have been the operations of ifgo-jsto. 

 many successive years. First the southern part of 

 Van Diemen's Land was to be approached ; Cape 

 - South doubled ; D'Entrecasteaux harbour examined; 

 all the rivers that could be found were to be navi- 

 gated ; and the whole eastern coast of this great island 

 surveyed. After an examination of Bass's straits, 

 and Hunter's isles, it was proposed to run along the 

 south-west coast of New Holland, to genetrate be- 

 hind the islands of St Peter and St Francis, where 

 the existence of a strait reaching to the gulf, of Car- 

 pentaria was suspected. The position of. Lewin's, 

 Edel's, and Endracht's land was to be fixed, and 

 Swan's river navigated to the utmost extent : the 

 Abrolhos, where Pelsart was wrecked; Shark's bay, 

 De Witt's land, King William's river, the Romarin 

 ieladds, were to be minutely inspected ; and this 

 part oi the voyage was to terminate at Cape North- 

 W_est. The future object of the expedition, so far 

 as respects Australasia, was a survey of the coast 

 of New Guinea, and a search for the strait supposed 

 to divide it into two equal parts consisting of se- 

 veral islands. Next advancing by Endeavour straits, 

 it was to reach the eastern point of the great gulf oi 

 Carpentaria ; to visit the mouths of the many rivers 

 which were said to discharge themselves into it : then 

 traversing Arnheim's and North Van Diemen's Land, 

 to terminate the second part of the voyage also at 

 Cape North-Wcst. Having completed these exten- 

 sive operations, the expedition was to navigate the 

 Indian ocean, determine the longitude of Tryal islands, 

 and then proceed to the Isle of France. 



Though we are yet but partially acquainted with 

 the whole result of this expedition, we shall briefly 

 relate some of the particulars, which have recently 

 come to our knowledge. Two vessels, the Geo- 

 grapher and Naturalist, sailed in October 1800, 

 from Havre de Grace. Much wa6 to be expected 

 from the scientific department ; for the French pay- 

 ing infinitely more attention to it than the British go- 

 vernment had done in the later voyages of discovery, 

 sent out no less than 23 individuals, well qualified in all 

 the ditFerent branches of science. The vessels made 

 Cape Lewin, the most western point of New Holland, 

 in latitude 34 7' 50" S. in the end of May 1801, 

 where the lands were dark, low, and sandy. Endracht's 

 land they found sterile, and surrounded by reefs : then 

 entering Shark's bay, they landed on Bernier's island, 

 which was among their earliest discoveries. The sub- 

 stance of the island is chiefly calcareous, with shells, 

 principally univalves, incrusted in masses of rock, 

 sometimes 150 feet above the level of the sea. Vege- 

 tation, from the nature of the soil, was low and lan- 

 guishing ; a kind of fig-tree, with fruit hardly larger 

 than a nut, and several small odoriferous mimosa?, 

 were seen ; also a sort of spinifex, consisting of in- 

 numerable sharp, slender leaves, dangerous to touch 

 for wounding the flesh. It grows in the most arid 

 places, is easily decomposed from the multiplicity of 

 spines, and in this decomposition is the essential 

 source of the soil of the island. The striped kan- 

 garoo, the most beautiful of its singular race, swarm- 

 ed"' here, as well as on two neighbouring islands. 



