cxxxviii 
INTRODUCTION. 
[Prior Discoveries. 
Flinders In September following, His Excellency, governor Hunter, had 
an j 7 9g"' the goodness to give me the Norfolk, a colonial sloop of twenty-five 
tons, with authority to penetrate behind Furneaux's Islands ; and 
should a strait be found, to pass through it and return by the south 
end of Van Diemen's Land ; making such examinations and surveys 
on the way as circumstances might permit. Twelve weeks were 
allowed for the performance of this service, and provisions for that 
time were put on board ; the rest of the equipment was completed 
by the friendly care of captain Waterhouse of the Reliance. 
I had the happiness to associate my friend Bass in this new expe- 
dition, and to form an excellent crew of eight volunteers from the 
king's ships ; but a time keeper, that essential instrument to accu- 
racy in nautical surveys, it was still impossible to obtain. 
My report of the seals at Furneaux's Islands had induced Messrs. 
Bishop and Simpson, the commander and supracargo of the snow 
Nautilus, to prepare their vessel for a sealing speculation to that 
quarter; and on Oct. 7, we sailed out of Port Jackson together.* 
(Atlas, The wind being fair, we passed Hat Hill at four in the afternoon, 
PI VIII ) 
and next morning, made Mount Dromedary. I took this opportu- 
nity of passing between Montague Isle and the main ; but the depth 
of water being uncertain, the Nautilus was desired by signal not to 
follow. There was no bottom with 13, and afterwards with 20 
fathoms, at a mile distance from the island ; and the passage seemed 
perfectly free from danger, and is five or six miles wide. Mount 
Dromedary, from which the island lies E. by N. ~ N., is the highest 
land upon this part of the coast ; its elevation being, I think, not less 
than 3000 feet. The top is about three miles long, and the south 
end is somewhat the most elevated part ; it is covered with wood, 
* Mr. Bass' Journal of observations upon the lands, &c. discovered or seen in this 
voyage, has been published by colonel Collins, in his Account of the English Colony in 
New South Wales, Vol. II. page 143 et seq,; his observations will, therefore, be gene- 
rally omitted in this account. 
