East Coast, Sf V. D. '« Land.] INTRODUCTION. 
cvii 
Point Bass ; after which it turns north-westward. In the direction Bass. 
of west from Shoals Haven, and in all the space to the south of 1797 ' 
that line, was an extensive, flat country, where a party desirous of 
penetrating into the interior might reasonably hope to avoid those 
impediments which, at the back of Port Jackson, have constantly 
proved insurmountable. 
In an excursion from the boat towards the southern end of the 
mountains, Mr. Bass fell in with a considerable stream, which he 
traced down to the shore, about three miles north of Shoals' Haven : 
this is the first inlet of the long bay, which had been observed from 
the sea, with a bar running across the entrance. The soil on the 
southern bank of this stream he compared, for richness, to the banks 
of the Hawkesbury ; and attributes this unusual fertility to the same 
cause : repeated inundations. In fact, the stream has since been 
found to descend from the mountains at twelve or fifteen miles from 
the coast, and to run along their southern extremity to the sea ; so 
that it performs the same office here that the Hawkesbury does 
further north — that of being a channel for the waters which descend 
from the high back land; but as, in the heavy rains, it is also une- 
qual to the task, the banks are overflowed, and the low country to 
the south and west is inundated and fertilized. There are, however, 
at the back of Shoals Haven, many thousand acres of open ground, 
whose soil is a rich vegetable mould, and now beyond the reach of 
the floods. 
Dec. 10. The boat left Shoals Haven and entered Jervis Bay, a 
large open place of very unpromising appearance. On the north side 
of the entrance, between Point Perpendicular and Long Nose, there is 
a small cove, where a ship's boat might lie at half tide ; and with 
a hose fill water from the back of the beach, at two pits which 
appeared to be always full. The best anchorage for ships seemed 
to be on the east side of the bay, between Long Nose and the 
northern beach, though they would not, even there, be entirely 
land-locked. Bowen's Island lies a quarter of a mile from the south 
