4i6 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



A walk on 

 the South 

 side. 



Shore, " in the first sandy cove within the island, before 

 which the ship might lay almost land-locked, and wood for 

 fuel may be got everywhere." 



On the 2nd of May a party of ten explored the South 

 Shore, and " walked," says Banks, " till we completely 

 tired ourselves." The country, he notes, " consists of 

 either swamps or light sandy soil," and its products are 

 gum trees, and " vast quantities of grass." Cook's im- 

 pression was more favourable. The country, he says, 

 was " diversified with woods, lawns, and marshes. . . . The 

 woods are free from underwood of every kind, and the trees 

 are at such a distance from one another, that the whole 

 country, or at least great part of it, might be cultivated 

 without being obliged to cut down a single tree. 1 We 

 found the soil everywhere, except in the marshes, to be 

 of a light white sand, and produceth a quantity of good 

 grass, which grows in little tufts about as big as one can 

 hold in one's hand, and pretty close to one another ; in 

 this manner the surface of the ground is coated." One 

 hesitates to criticise the agricultural notions of a farmer's 

 son, especially when the farmer's son is James Cook. 

 But may one ask is " light white sand " particularly 

 suitable for " cultivation " ? In fact, no cultivators 

 have yet tried the experiment, and the "light white sand" 

 still remains unfurrowed and undug a few miles away from 

 a population of three quarters of a million. I understand, 

 however, that there are horses in the bush who agree with 

 Cook that the grass which it produceth is " good." 

 " As fine On the 4th of May, while Banks devoted the day to 



as ever was drying his "collections of plants, now grown immensely 

 seen." large," Cook went in the pinnace " almost to the head 



of the inlet." Here he landed, and travelled some distance 

 inland. The country was as before, but " much richer," 

 for " instead of sand," writes Cook, " I found in many 

 places a deep black soil, which we thought was capable of 

 producing any kind of grain. At present it produceth, 



1 Parkinson, Banks's botanical draughtsman, wrote that the country 

 was " very level and fertile." Pickersgill also says that the soil was 

 " fertile." 



