elxxviii 
INTRODUCTION. 
{Prior Discoveries. 
Flinders land, at sunset, deduced from the sun's amplitude and sextant angles, 
were as follow : 0 
Mount De Witt, - - - - N. 18 E. 
Point St. Vincent, distant five miles, - N. 57 E. 
Steep head on the east side of the opening, dist. 8 m. N. 86 E. 
Pyramidal rock, lying off a cliffy head, - S. 46 E. 
At a further distance, and in the same bearing with the pyramidal 
rock, was a steep, jagged point, which proved to be the south-west 
cape of Van Diemen's Land. Our latitude at this time was 43 0 18^', 
the passage of the moon having allowed me to get an observation at 
four o'clock ; from whence to eight, our position had changed only 
one-and-half mile to the east. 
It remained nearly calm all night; and on the 13th, at daybreak, 
I was much surprised to find our situation near ten miles to the 
southward, instead of being in the same place. This circumstance, 
and a breeze which arose at north, precluded me from examining 
the opening as I had intended ; for a width of three or four miles 
at the entrance, and the form of the mountains behind, made it 
probable that a considerable river discharged itself there; and 
the offset during the night strengthened the supposition. At six 
o'clock, 
Mount De Witt bore - - North. 
Point St. Vincent, N. f E. 
Steep head on the east side of the opening, N. 27 E. 
Pyramidal rock, off the cliffy head, - N. 33 E. 
South-west Cape, the extreme, - S. 82 E. 
We were then steering for the South-west Cape, and at nine I set 
Mount De Witt over it at N. 22 0 W., our distance from the cape being 
then about three miles. 
Seven islands and rocks were counted to the eastward, lying at 
different distances from the coast; and the wind having veered 
to west, permitted us to pass within them. At noon, the shore to 
the north being too near for the sun's altitude to be observed, its 
