exviii 
INTRODUCTION. 
[Prior Discoveries. 
Bah. eastwardly , he again steered E. b. N. ; the wind blowing a fresh gale 
at W. S. W., with a following sea. At daylight, Feb. 10, the beach 
was distant two miles, and trending parallel to the boat's course. 
The western gale died away in the morning, and was succeeded 
by one from the eastward. The boat was in no condition to struggle 
against a foul wind ; and Mr. Bass, being unwilling to return to 
Corner Inlet, ventured through a heavy surf and took refuge upon 
the beach ; having first observed the latitude to be 37 0 47' south. 
The country at the back of the beach consisted of dried-up swamps 
and barren sand hills. Some natives came down with very little 
hesitation, and conducted themselves amicably : they appeared never 
to have seen or heard of white people before. 
Feb. 11, the foul wind had ceased to blow, and the clouds threat- 
ened another gale from the south-west. So soon as there was suf- 
ficient daylight, the boat was launched, and at four the same 
afternoon anchored under the Ram Head. Mr. Bass was kept 
there till the 14th in the evening; when a strong breeze sprung 
up suddeniy at south-west, and he sailed immediately, passing 
Cape Howe at ten o'clock. By noon of the 15th, he had reached 
Two-fold Bay, where the latitude was observed to be 36 0 53' south ;* 
and having ascertained that Snug Cove, on its north-west side, afforded 
Plate viii.) shelter for shipping, he steered northward, and passed Mount Dro- 
medary soon after midnight. At noon, Feb. 16, Mr. Bass landed 
upon a small island lying under the shore to the south-east of the 
Pigeon House, to examine a pole which he had before observed, 
and supposed might have been set up as a signal by shipwrecked 
people ; but it proved to be nothing more than the dead stump of 
a tree, much taller and more straight than the others. He sailed 
next morning ; but the wind hung so much in the north and east 
* The true latitude of the mouth of Two-fold Bay is 37° 5', shewing an error of 12' to 
the north, nearly similar to what has bee«r specified in the observations near Wilson'* 
Promontory. 
