CXI 
Bass. 
1798. 
E ast Coast, & V. D.s Land.] INTRODUCTION. 
shore, and could perceive no point or projection which would be dis- 
tinguishable from a ship : the coast continued to be straight, low 
and sandy, similar to what had been passed in the morning. There' 
arose many large smokes from behind the beach ; probably from the 
sides of lagoons, with which, there was reason to think, the back 
country abounded. 
The breeze continuing to be fresh and favourable, Mr. Bass ven- 
tured to steer onward in the night, and kept the shore close a-bord. 
At two in the morning, the increased hollowness of the waves made 
him suspect the water was becoming shallow ; and he hauled off for 
an hour, until there was sufficient daylight to distinguish the land. 
It was still low, level, and sandy, and trended S. W. by W., nearly 
as the boat was steering. At seven o'clock, high land appeared at 
a considerable distance in the south-west ; and the beach then trended 
in the same direction. It, however, changed soon afterward, to run 
nearly west; and Mr. Bass quitted it to keep on his course'for the 
high land. The latitude at noon was 3 8° 41'; and the difference 
made from the noon before, upon the average course of S. W. by W., 
makes the distance run 107 miles; which, added to the preceding' 
thirty or .thirty-five, gives the length of the beach from the Ram 
Head, to be about 140 miles.* 
The high land extended from the bearing of S. W. by S to 
W. N. W„ and was distant in the latter direction two or three leagues 
North of it there was a deep bight ; and further eastward, two or 
three places in the Long Beach which had the appearance of inlets. 
1 o the south there were several rocky islets ; and great numbers of 
Petrels, and other sea-birds, were flying about the boat. 
* But the latitude observed appears to be 8' or 1CV too little; and if so, the length of 
the beach would be something more than 150 miles. It is no matter of surprise if obser- 
vations taken from an open boat, in a high sea, should differ ten miles from the truth ; 
ut judge that Mr. Bass' quadrant must have received some injury during the night of 
t le 31st, for a similar error appears to pervade all the future observations, even those taken 
wnder favourable circumstances. 
