East Coast, 8f V. D. s Land.] INTRODUCTION. 
cxv 
south-west; and he sought shelter behind a cape since named Cape ^ ASS - 
Liptrap. Next morning, he ran over to the islands on the west side 
of Furneaux's Land ; but was obliged to return to his former place 
of shelter, where a succession of gales kept him until the 26th. 
A quantity of petrels had been taken on the islands, and this week 
of detention was mostly employed in salting them for the homeward 
bound voyage. 
At length, Mr. Bass was able to execute the project he had formed 
for the seven convicts. It was impossible to take them all into the 
boat; therefore to five, whom he set upon the main land, he gave a 
musket, half his ammunition, some hooks and lines, a light cooking 
kettle, and directions how to proceed in their course toward Port 
Jackson. The remaining two, one of whom was old and the other 
diseased, he took into the boat with the consent of the crew, who 
readily agreed to divide the daily bannock into nine with them. He 
then bore away, with a fresh wind at west, round Furneaux's Land.* 
From Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, Mr. Bass was detained by eastern gales 
from proceeding on his return. The boat lay in Sealers Cove, whilst 
he occupied the time in examining Wilson's Promontory. The 
height of this vast cape, though not such as would be considered 
extraordinary by seamen, is yet strikingly so from being contrasted 
with the low, sandy land behind it ; and the firmness and durability 
of its structure make it worthy of being, what there was reason to 
believe it, the boundary point of a large strait, and a corner stone 
to the new continent. It is a lofty mass of hard granite, of about 
twenty miles long, by from six to fourteen in breadth. The soil 
upon it is shallow and barren ; though the brush wood, dwarf gum 
trees, and some smaller vegetation, which mostly cover the rocks, 
give it a deceitful appearance to the eye of a distant observer. 
* I have continued to make use of the term Furneaux's Land conformably to Mr. Bass' 
journal; but the position of this land is so different from that supposed to have been seen 
by captain Furneaux, that it cannot be the same, as Mr. Bass was afterwards convinced. 
At our recommendation governor Hunter called it Wilson's Promontory, in compliment 
to my friend Thomas Wilson, Esq. of London. 
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