64 A VOYAGE TO [South Coast 
S ° Uth ' Ion & itude 1 S7" 21 ' east - ° n the sout h side of this point 
Thurs. is. or island, for I could not fully ascertain its connexion, the shore falls 
back seven or eight miles to the east ; and then trends southward. 
It is low and very sandy; but rises gradually to a level country, of the 
same description as that near Point Riley. At sunset, the land was 
seen as far as south-west-by-south ; and the wind favouring us a. 
little, we made a stretch for it. A fire upon the shore served as a 
mark to steer by ; and on approaching it at ten o'clock, the anchor 
was let go in 6 fathoms, upon a bottom of coarse sand and small 
stones ; the weather being fine, and wind moderate off the land. 
The howling of dogs was heard during the night ; and at 
Friday 19. daylight the shore was found to be distant two or three miles, and 
was woody, rising land, but not of much elevation. A remarkable 
point, which I named Corny Point, bearing S. 73 0 W. three miles, 
was the furthest land visible to the westward; its latitude, from 
meridian observations of Jupiter and the moon, is 34,° 52' south, and 
longitude from the time keepers 137 0 6|' east. Between this point 
and Point Pearce, twenty-eight miles to the north-north-east, is a 
large bay, well sheltered from all southern winds, and none others 
seem to blow with much strength here. The land trends eastward 
about seven leagues, from Corny Point to the head of the bay ; but 
what the depth of water may be there, or whether any fresh stream 
fall into it, I am not able to state ; the land, however, was better 
wooded, and had a more fertile appearance than any before seen in 
the neighbourhood. I called this Hardwicke Bay, in honour of the 
noble earl of that title. 
Several observations for the variation of the compass had been 
taken whilst beating in the neighbourhood of Point Pearce. On its 
north side, eight miles from the shore, an amplitude with the ship's 
head S. W. by S. gave 4 0 38' east ; at E. by N., when fourteen miles 
off, another gave i° 13' east; but azimuths three or four miles 
nearer in, o° 10' west; and at S. E., when six miles off, o° 35' west. 
On the south side of Point Pearce, the head being S. S. W., and the 
