South Coast.] INTRODUCTION. Ixxi 
on Dec. 5, 1792, about twenty-eight leagues to t^he north-west of D'Entre- 
Cape Chatham.* The coast, from the South-west Cape to the longi- CAS j.7 9 2. 
tude of Termination Island, was explored by the admiral, with all 
the minuteness that the state of the weather could permit ; and he 
was, generally, able to keep the shore closer abord than captain 
Vancouver had done, and to supply the deficiencies in his chart. The 
broken land to the north of Termination Island was found to be 
conformable to what Nuyts had laid down : it made part of a very 
extensive group of islands, one of which afforded timely shelter to 
the French ships on Dec. 9, from a gale which had arisen at south- 
west. 
They remained a week at this anchorage, whilst the naturalists 
explored the surrounding country, and the surveyors examined such 
of the islands as were visible from the ships. Seals, pinguins, and 
some kanguroos were seen ; but no fresh water, accessible to ship- 
ping, could any where be found ; the country within their reach 
being sandy and sterile. From Dec. 17 to 24, the ships were oc- 
cupied in coasting eastward, along the outskirt of the group of 
islands, and then found it to terminate at 2^-° of longitude from its 
commencement. The main land at the back of the islands had been 
generally visible, but at too great a distance for the precise form of 
the coast to be ascertained, or to allow of fixing the positions of, or 
even seeing, many of the inner islands and reefs. 
This group is the first of the two marked upon the chart of Nuyts ; 
and admiral D'Entrecasteaux praises the general accuracy of the 
Dutch navigator, in that " the latitude of Point Leeuwin, and of 
" the coast of Nuyts' Land, were laid down with an exactness, sur- 
" prising for the remote period in which they had been discovered." 
This liberal acknowledgment renders it the more extraordinary, 
* When the Investigator sailed, the journal of M. LabillardQre, naturalist in D'Entre- 
casteaux's expedition, was the sole account of the voyage made public ; but M. de RossEr 
one of the principal officers, ha-, since published the voyage from the journals of the rear-* 
admiral, and it is from this last that what follows is extracted. 
