North Coast.] INTRODUCTION. 
xv 
Cook. 
did not land upon the main ; but, at Possession Island, he saw ten 
natives : " Nine of them were armed with such lances as we had 177 °" 
" been accustomed to see, and the tenth had a bow, and a bundle of 
" arr ows, which we had never seen in the possession of the natives 
" of this country before/'* 
At the end of the year 1791, lieutenant John M s . Cluer of the M'.Cluer. 
Bombay marine, in returning from the examination of the west side 
of New Guinea, made the Land of Arnhem, in longitude 135^°, east 
of Greenwich. He then sailed westward, along the shore, to 1 29 0 55'; 
when the coast was found to take a southern direction. The point 
of turning is placed in 1 1° i 5 > south latitude ; and is, doubtless, the 
Cape Van Diemen of the old charts, and the west extremity of the 
north coast of Terra Australis. 
It does not appear that any other account has been given of this 
navigation, than the chart published by Mr. Dalrymple, in 1792. 
According to it/though lieutenant M°. Cluer constantly had soundings, 
m from 7 to 40 fathoms ; yet he was generally at such a distance 
from the land, that it was not often seen ; and, consequently, he was 
unable to identify the particular points. No landing seems to have 
been effected upon the main ; but some service was rendered to navi- 
gation, by ascertaining the positions of several small islands, shoals, 
and projecting parts of the coast; and in conferring a certain degree 
of authenticity upon the discoveries of the early Dutch navigators. 
Lieutenant M«. Cluer is the last person, who can strictly be said 
to have added to our knowledge of the north coast of Terra 
Australis, previously to the time in which the voyage of the Investi- 
gator was planned ; but several navigators had followed captain 
Cook through Torres' Strait, and by considerably different routes : 
these it will be proper to notice ; as their discoveries are intimately 
connected with the present subject. 
* HawkeswortKs Voyuges, Vol. III. page 211. 
