and Bass. 
1798, 
East Coast, Sf V. D\s Land.-] INTRODUCTION. c j vii 
cause why so many of the swans, though not young birds, were F WNP ehs 
unable to fly : they moult their wing feathers, probably at stated 
periods, though not, I should think, every year. This sandy projection 
was named Swan Point. 
On steering southward from thence, I found that the bight in 
which this great number of birds had assembled, was full of shoals 
producing the long aquatic grass which forms the principal part, if 
it be not their sole food. We sailed through the flock, and might 
have procured a good number, had not the progress of the sloop 
obliged us to hasten onward to Shoal Point : one incautious bird was 
caught by his long neck as we sailed past him. 
The change in the direction of the river, from south-east to south, 
made the extension of a new base necessary. From the end of 
Shoal Point, I ran thirty-two chains westward, across a small stream 
of fresh water ; and having taken the necessary angles, returned to 
the sloop, which had then anchored at half a mile from the point, 
in 4 fathoms. The shoal was dry in the evening, within two cables 
length of the vessel, and rendered the fresh stream inaccessible to a 
boat. 
The time of our absence from Port Jackson being restricted to the 
beginning of January, I did not think it advisable to take the sloop any 
further up the river; but determined, after devoting one day more 
to an excursion in the boat, to return and proceed along the north 
coast of Van Diemen's Land, in prosecution of the main object of 
the voyage. 
Nov. 11, Mr. Bass landed near Shoal Point, to go as far back into 
the country as the limited time would permit. I steered from thence 
over to a red bank on the east side of the river, measured a base of 
seventy nine chains, and took angles from a variety of stations. At 
the Crescent Shore, the river was contracted to a quarter of a mile in 
width, the water was half fresh, and the depth across as follows : 
*h 3> 5| 8, 8i i 2 i, i i, 6, 4 fathoms at half flood. 
